HEAD COACH (SENIOR PROGRAMME)

Based on our recent news article here: Badminton England reveals new transformative vision for its performance programme | Badminton England we are recruiting coaches and support staff to help us develop a system and environment that enables players to maximise their potential and perform at the highest level across our senior, junior and para programmes. in doing so, you will be playing a key role in enabling us to deliver our vision at Badminton England to make our sport the most inclusive and accessible sport in the country.

We are now proactively recruiting for six new roles integral to the success of this new vision:

• Head Coach (Senior)
• Head Coach (Junior)
• Para GB National Coach & Pathway Manager (Para)
• Programme Manager (Senior)
• Singles Coach (Senior)
• Doubles Coach (Senior)

With more than a million players playing badminton every month in England, badminton is the nation’s most played racket sport and the sixth biggest sport overall in this country. Quite simply, we want to inspire everyone to play more, support the sport and love, live and breathe badminton.

Our home is the National Badminton Centre (NBC) in Milton Keynes and, through our staff team, we are making this a great place to work, rest and play. An accredited Elite Training Centre, the NBC is the home of badminton in England, and where the best talent is nurtured and elite athletes are developed to compete and represent England and Great Britain on the world stage. And yet it is so much more. Of course we host world-class badminton courts open to clubs, coaches and the wider badminton community. However, we are also home to public and professional gym facilities, fitness suites and a spin studio, meeting rooms, a popular three-star 25-room hotel, a sports bar, a small restaurant and we even host the National Badminton Museum - all open to the public.’ We are also very proud to host our flourishing para-badminton programme in Sheffield at the English Institute of Sport. A dedicated team work tirelessly from our second home in South Yorkshire to ensure elite badminton remains a sport for everyone.

As part of the package, Badminton England offer 25 days’ holiday (rising with length of service), free gym membership for you and a partner, a cycle-to-work scheme, a pension scheme, a health cash back plan, private medical insurance, learning and development opportunities as well as legal, medical and wellbeing advice through our employee assistance programme.

Title:

Head Coach (Senior Programme)

Team:

Performance

Responsible to:

Performance Director

Responsible for:

• 4 x National Coaches (Senior)
• 1 x Performance Coach (Senior) (0.25)
• 1 x UKSI Manager + 6 reports (line management provided through UKSI)

Location:

National Badminton Centre (NBC), Milton Keynes

Contract:

3.5 year contract (through to December 2028)

Salary:

Competitive

Hours:

35.58 hours.

This role will require flexibility dependent on operational requirements of the performance programme and will include irregular and unsociable hours, including attendance at camps, tournaments and competitions in England and worldwide. In return, we offer agile, flexible working and time off in lieu (TOIL) as per our BE policies and procedures.

Role summary:

The Head Coach for the Senior Programme is responsible and accountable for leading the preparation and development of senior athletes across all 5 disciplines, (singles, doubles and mixed) representing England and / or Great Britain at international competitions, including Olympics, World Championship, BWF World Tour Events, BEC competitions and other international and domestic competitions, to ultimately achieve the aims of the performance programme.

The role focuses on maximising athlete potential through oversight of the athlete individual training programmes, ensuring and delivering a world class training environment, with the values of Badminton England, GB badminton and UK sport, including providing a safe and supportive environment which is athlete centred, coach led, and data informed.

The role will also work closely with the other 2 head coaches of the junior and para programme to ensure strong alignment of our programmes, and also work with the head coaches and coaches of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to promote consistency of performance approach and collaboration of technical and performance related activities.

In doing so, you will motivate and empower the team of coaches and UKSI staff through excellent leadership of the senior programme, including technical delivery of the programme, tournament scheduling, strategic MDT planning, financial planning and management, and leading our performance data planning and delivery to ultimately deliver the aims of the performance programme.

Responsibilities:

• Overall responsibility for athlete performance for the senior programme – to include coaching, athlete development plans, individual development, team/athlete selections, and the management and continuous development of all coaches delivering within the senior programme

• Management of day-to-day operations of the senior training programme, with majority of time being spent within the NBC

• Lead the strategic planning, resources and composition required of the MDT, to deliver the needs of the senior programme, ensuring that the MDT is having a supporting role to the programme

• Lead the athlete data strategy to ensure technology is optimising the collection of athlete data and influencing performance tactics within the senior programme

• Oversee and contribute to all athlete IAPs within all 5 disciplines to understand and respond to athlete development needs in order to achieve their full potential

• Develop coaches and staff to achieve their full potential through learning and development strategies, particularly in relation to responding to current trends within international badminton, maintaining an understand of world class badminton and wider sporting landscape development, in order to achieve maximum output from our performance environment. This may include liaison both internationally and domestically within universities and other high performance training environments

• Submission of monthly reports to the PD to demonstrate progress and identify challenges, and opportunities for improvements

• Responsibility to ensure duty of care to all athletes, coaches and staff involved in the programme

• Responsibility to develop a comprehensive tournament schedule for athletes, alongside financial planning, to optimise opportunities for: tournament participation, training camps, exchange of international athletes for sparring opportunities

• Supporting PD with communication with key stakeholders and acting on behalf of the PD at times, as required

• Responsibility to report to the performance board / BE board / GB board as required, with and in support of the PD

• Liaison with UK sport and Sport England as required

• To undertake any other duties as required by the Performance Director

Who we are looking for?

• Proven track record in coaching elite level badminton in singles, doubles and mixed programmes and demonstrable experience of impact in those environments

• Proven track record of providing a safe and supportive environment to top level athletes in singles, doubles and mixed programmes

• Proven experience in managing people and teams to achieve their potential

• Strong communication skills and experience of liaising and influencing across the badminton landscape, working with a range of stakeholder to achieve the best outcomes for Badminton England

• Demonstrated ability of delivering impact and success of badminton performance at an international level in singles, doubles and mixed programmes

• Track record of using technology to collect and interpret athlete data to develop coaching programmes in singles, doubles and mixed programmes

• Knowledge and understanding of trends within International Badminton to influence coaching programmes to achieve results in singles, doubles and mixed programmes

• Strong planning and organisational skills

• Articulate with IT to develop effective reports to demonstrate and track progress

• Strong planning and organisation skills, with the ability to prioritise, delegate and empower

• Proven experience of financial planning and budget management.

• Excellent English verbal and written communication skills

• Excellent Knowledge of Microsoft office and in particular, spreadsheets word processing and email

• Capacity for innovative thinking and introducing new approaches to deliver the aims of a badminton performance programme

• Ambitious and driven to continually develop new skills and techniques in themselves and others

• Meticulous attention to detail and excellent record keeping

• Badminton coaching qualification equivalent to level of role or equivalent suitable experience

• Desire and passion to make a difference

• Live the values of Badminton England, GB Badminton and UK sport.

Other

• BE Coach Membership (or international equivalent)

• Current DBS (or a DBS check to be completed subject to offer)

• Full driving license