UK Sport - Associate pools to support the Coaching, Leadership, Talent and Culture Teams in their work with Olympic and Paralympic performance programmes

Role Purpose

To provide high-quality, confidential, and developmental executive coaching to leaders operating in high performance sport environments. The role aims to enhance leadership effectiveness, personal growth, and system -wide impact through reflective practice, challenge, and support.

Example Accountabilities (to be determined by needs of sports)

Deliver impactful 1:1 coaching to senior leaders across performance sport (e.g., Chairs, CEOs, Performance Directors, Head Coaches, Head of Performance).

Enable strategic leaders to improve self-awareness, human dynamics, decision-making, resilience, and influence in complex, high-pressure environments.

Build psychologically safe and trusting relationships that support deep reflection and learning.

Adapt coaching approaches to suit different leadership styles, disciplines, and stages of development.

Contribute to communities of practice or learning networks, where appropriate.

Maintain appropriate confidentiality, ethical practice, and supervision aligned to professional standards.

Provide insight to support UKS to support organisational learning and leadership development strategies, identifying the recurring features of practice in performance programmes

To shape and strengthen leadership, team and organisational culture in high performance sport by designing and delivering impactful development that fosters trust, clarity, cohesion, and sustainable performance. The role works alongside senior leaders, coaches, and multidisciplinary teams to build environments where people can thrive under pressure and perform consistently at the highest level.

Example Accountabilities (to be determined by needs of sports)

Design and deliver tailored development interventions that enhance leadership capability, team effectiveness, and cultural alignment.

Facilitate purposeful conversations around identity, values, behaviours, and performance expectations within teams and organisations.

Support leaders to embed high performing team principles such as psychological safety, clarity of purpose, and inclusive leadership.

Recognise and respond to culture flags, act as a thinking partner to performance leaders and coaches, offering insight, challenge, and support to shape environment and culture.

Collaborate with performance and people teams to align leadership and culture work with wider performance objectives.

Contribute to learning cycles by gathering feedback, reflecting on impact, and sharing insights across the system.

Provide insight to support UKS to support organisational learning and leadership development strategies, identifying the recurring features of practice in performance programmes

Role Purpose

UK Sport is seeking practitioners who have extensive experience of and with the relational, ethical, pedagogical and practical dimensions of working with coaches in high-performance environments. Associate practitioners will work alongside coaches and sports to plan, implement and evaluate bespoke programmes of learning that support coaches' personal and professional development.

Example Accountabilities (to be determined by needs of sports):

Provide targeted and embedded support for coaches and coaching teams working in Olympic and Paralympic programmes, acknowledging the interconnectedness of learning and practice.

Work collaboratively with UK Sport's Coaching Team and Sport Facing Advisors to identify recurring features of practice across Olympic and Paralympic programmes and what this could mean for broader system-level support for coaching.

Work collaboratively with UK Sport's Coaching Team and Sport Facing Advisors to support problem formulation, paying attention to the reasoning and strategising underpinning the work.

Encourage and support sports to build internal capability, enhancing long-term capacity and sustainability to effectively support coaching across the high-performance community.

Role Purpose

To provide expert advice, guidance, and support to organisations across high-performance sport system regarding on demand HR policy and procedures, Talent Management (attraction, identification, recruitment, and selection) of diverse and high-quality talent. The support ensures robust, inclusive, and future-focused recruitment practices are embedded across the system to strengthen leadership, coaching, and performance teams. It will also support development of optimal organisational design.

Example Accountabilities (to be determined by needs of sports):

Advise and support organisations on talent attraction, inclusive recruitment, and succession planning strategies tailored to the unique needs of high-performance environments.

Facilitate and contribute to the design of recruitment processes that are fair, transparent, evidence-informed, and aligned with best practice and innovative in approach.

Build hiring capability across the system by offering tools, guidance, and education to NGB leaders and hiring managers.

Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to develop inclusive outreach and candidate engagement strategies.

Monitor and evaluate recruitment activity and impact, identifying patterns, gaps, and opportunities to enhance equity and performance outcomes.

Support NGBs talent management approaches to track, monitor and report on EDI data

Promote a values-led, person-centred approach to recruitment that reflects the culture and ambition of the high-performance system.

Maintain up-to-date knowledge of employment law, safeguarding, and inclusive hiring practices, sharing insight with system partners and provide guidance on demand to NGBs as needed

Contribute to the development of a wider system talent strategy that includes retention, progression, and leadership pipeline considerations.

Advise on optimal organisation design and operationalisation to deliver performance