Badminton is a sport for everyone. And at Badminton England we want to make our sport the most inclusive and accessible sport in the country. We are at the heart of a thriving badminton community to nurture a lifelong passion for our sport, consistently performing and delivering inspirational moments, openly attracting everyone who wants to get involved in our sport - whatever age, ability or gender. Our people love playing, watching and supporting badminton and we want to grow our badminton community - players, coaches, schools, clubs, counties, leisure operators, volunteers and fans.

• We do what matters; we are courageous and honest, always putting the best interests of badminton first.

• We include intentionally; we create safe and connected environments that welcome open and diverse views.

• We play for each other; we listen, respond to feedback and celebrate the successes of our sport and communities.

• We always aim to do today brilliantly; we innovate and constantly challenge the status quo through collaboration, active listening and encouragement of others.

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.

Role Summary
The Head of Coach Development is responsible for leading, implementing, and continuously improving Badminton England’s Coaching Strategy. The role plays a critical part in ensuring that badminton in England is supported by an inclusive, high quality, and expanding coaching workforce—from grassroots through to the performance environment.

Working within the Sport Directorate but with a cross organisational remit, this role will oversee the development of coach pathways, raise coaching standards, strengthen the quality of coach education programmes, and have a key focus on increasing the number of full-time coaches across the system. The post-holder will ensure that Badminton England delivers world-class coaching support aligned with national standards and sector expectations.

Key Responsibilities

1. Lead and deliver Badminton England’s Coaching Strategy, ensuring alignment with A Sport for Everyone.

2. Oversee the national coaching pathway, ensuring clear progression routes and consistent, high-quality development opportunities for coaches at all levels.

3. Drive the growth of the coaching workforce, growing overall capacity and increasing the number of full-time coaches across the badminton ecosystem.

4. Ensure the quality, rigour, and relevance of coach education, including qualifications, CPD, and mentoring, in-line with national standards (e.g., CIMSPA, UK Coaching).

5. Provide leadership to the Coaching Development Manager and Coaching Coordinator, ensuring effective planning, delivery, and evaluation of coaching programmes.

6. Embed world-class coaching standards, supporting the recruitment, training, and continuous improvement of volunteer and professional coaches across both community and performance pathways.

7. Collaborate across the organisation, ensuring coaching is integrated with talent, performance, clubs, competitions, and workforce initiatives.

8. Build strong partnerships with external bodies (NGBs, Sport England, education providers, CIMSPA, UK Coaching) to enhance development opportunities and national alignment.

9. Use data and insight to inform decision-making, track workforce needs, and report progress against strategic objectives.

10. Oversee quality assurance and compliance, ensuring that all coaching delivery meets relevant national standards, and organisational policies.

Other Responsibilities

Undertake other duties as reasonably required, consistent with the purpose of the post.

Successful Candidate:

• Proven leadership experience in coach development within a national governing body, sport system, or comparable environment.

• Strong understanding of coaching workforce pathways, coach education, and coach accreditation models.

• Strong understanding of the business of coaching including volunteer, employed and self-employed models implemented within sports.

• Experience of being a coach and the ability to empathise with the workforce and the challenges they face.

• Demonstrated ability to implement strategy and deliver system-wide change.

• Experience managing teams and developing staff to achieve high performance.

• Deep knowledge of national standards for coaching (e.g., CIMSPA Professional Standards, UK Coaching frameworks).

• Evidence of enhancing coach quality and increasing coaching capacity in a sport or physical activity setting.

• Strong relationship-building skills with internal teams and external partners.

• Ability to design, evaluate, and improve workforce development programmes.

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to engage and influence stakeholders at all levels.

• Comfortable using data, insight, and evaluation to drive improvement.

• Strong understanding of welfare, safeguarding and governance requirements related to coaching.

• Strong badminton technical knowledge and/or the proven ability to work with technical experts from within a sport to ensure appropriate information is incorporated across a coach development programme.

• Commitment to diversity, inclusion, and ensuring coaching is accessible to everyone.

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Application process:

Please send us your CV along with a cover letter explaining why you’re a great fit for the role. The closing date for applications is 4 May 2026. Please send your application as soon as possible.

We reserve the right to close or withdraw the vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role.

Working for Badminton England:

Find out what it is like to be part of our amazing team, check out our Working at Badminton England Information page here

Our Benefits:

Find out more about the benefits of working at Badminton England here

Job Title: Head of Coach Development

Responsible to: Sport Director

Responsible for: Coaching Development Manager, and Coaching Coordinator.

Office Location: National Badminton Centre, Milton Keynes (Hybrid working with minimum 2 days in the office to include Thursdays)

Term: Permanent

Hours: Full-time (35.58h)

Salary: £48,000 - £53,000

Diversity & Inclusion:

"We positively celebrate Diversity & Inclusion at Badminton England. Our aim is to become the UK’s most inclusive National Governing Body - for our staff and members, reflecting and connecting with the diverse communities that we serve. We want people from all walks of life to feel valued for their individuality, thrive in our business and share a sense of belonging. To find out more about D&I at Badminton England, head over to our website to read out Inclusion Strategy.”