Men's Technical Director

Following the appointment of John McDermott as Men's Sporting Director, The FA are excited to be searching for a Men's Technical Director. This pivotal role will be responsible for shaping and delivering a world-class development pathway for the Men's Development Teams below U21 level, ensuring excellence in coaching, player development and support services.

Leading the Men's Technical Division, the successful candidate will ensure a clear and effective development pathway for emerging talent, working collaboratively with the Men's Sporting Director to ensure principles are aligned and embedded throughout the pathway and players are well prepared for future progression.

Interested candidates should contact Excel Search & Advisory directly via TheFA@excelsm.com. Please do not contact The FA directly as it may delay consideration.

What will you be doing?

• Oversee the development and performance of men's development teams below U21 level, ensuring they support the long-term success of the England pathway.
• Ensure that the Men's Technical Division is aligned behind one plan, underpinned by a strong and healthy culture that leads to the achievement of superior results.
• Lead and deliver the 24-28 strategy for the Men's Technical Division and write and deliver subsequent strategies.
• Oversee the development and performance of the national coaches and national teams in the men's game to ensure they are ready to win at every opportunity and feed the pathway with the next generation of talented players.
• Support the development of national youth teams, ensuring that the best young talent is identified, nurtured, and integrated into national team programs.
• Develop and implement frameworks for talent identification and recruitment, with a focus on both performance and potential to include performance analysis, data, scouting within a systematic process with a focus on both performance and potential.
• Drive innovation and excellence in coaching, player development, and talent identification to elevate standards.
• Collaborate with the Men's Sporting Director to ensure development strategies support player progression through the pathway.
• Work closely with the Men's Sporting Director to ensure Senior and U21 tournaments and games are supported by staff to the highest level.
• Work with the Director of FA Learning and Head of Coach Development ensuring that the direction and products delivered by Coach Education meet the needs of the men's professional game.  Offer support and guidance to key roles such as Elite Coach Developer.
• Work closely with representatives from the Premier League and the Football League to support the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP), leading The FA input and evolving the EPPP to support FA objectives.
• Build impactful and constructive relationships with all stakeholders in the best interest of the National Game and support the Chief Football Officer in stakeholder meetings where technical expertise is required.  Specifically represent the FA at meetings where the Technical Director is required.
• Oversee the delivery of the men's tournament and fixture schedule.
• Work with other Directors to strengthen St George's Park culture and reputation as an outstanding home for England Teams and Coach Education. Ensure the site supports our performance ambitions for England teams.
• Behave as a role model for The FA values and ensure that culture and behaviour at St George's Park can stand up to the highest standards of scrutiny.
• Support the Sporting Director on technical matters where required.
• Undertake any other such tasks that may be reasonably determined by the Chief Football Officer to be within the scope of the role. 

What are we looking for?

Essential for the role

• A proven track record of leading high performing teams and developing a healthy and inclusive culture - can role model FA values.
• Can evidence coaching and/or technical leadership within an elite player development environment.
• Experience of working within the English professional game.
• Operates successfully in a matrix organisation where managing and influencing internal stakeholders is paramount.
• Capable of building strong relationships with a complex range of stakeholders.

 Beneficial to have

• FA Licenced Tutor/experience of coaching coaches
• Experienced with the media.

Important information to all candidates

The advert will remain live until midnight on Sunday, 1st November. The assessment day will take place in person on 23rd November 2026.

What's in it for you?

We are committed to ensuring everyone can flourish in their roles. To achieve this, we have unique office spaces under the arch of the iconic Wembley National Stadium, which is the home of English Football. We are also delighted to offer a world-class Elite Performance Centre, St. George's Park in Staffordshire, which is an exceptional setting to develop and inspire high-performing England teams and leaders.

 We pride ourselves on offering a competitive salary as well as great opportunities to develop and grow in your role. But that is not all; we also have a range of exciting benefits, some of which can be found below:

• Access to event day tickets at Wembley Stadium, alongside a host of regular internal events throughout the season, encourages you to connect and learn with your colleagues and look after your mental health and well-being.
• Free, nutritious lunches at Wembley Stadium and St. George's Park.
• Private medical cover funded by The FA.
• A contributory pension scheme.
• An additional 'Thank You' day's leave, volunteering days, as well as 25 days of annual leave (based on a full-time, permanent contract)
• A hybrid working model which offers greater flexibility. 

For more information on what it is like to work at The FA, please visit our FA Careers page, https://www.thefa.com/about-football-association/careers

Currently, we are working within a hybrid working model whereby the expectation is to work from your contractual location for part of the week, and as and when required by the team. The remaining days can be worked remotely. We will continue to monitor this model, and it may be adjusted in future if deemed necessary. The contractual location of this role can be found on the FA Careers page.

We are a diverse workplace, aspiring to represent football across the country. The Football Association actively promotes inclusion and diversity, encouraging you to be the best version of yourself at work. 

We welcome applications from everyone and are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. If you have any particular requirements in respect of the recruitment or interview process, please mention this during your application.

As part of the FA's commitment to ensuring a safe environment for everyone in football, every employee will be required to complete a DBS check. The level of the check required will be based on the activity of the specific job role and in line with legislation and government guidance.

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Location

National Football Centre, St George's Park

St. George's Park, Needwood, Newborough Road, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, United Kingdom , DE13 9PD

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ABOUT US

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The Football Association [The FA] is the not-for-profit governing body of football in England. It is responsible for promoting and developing every level of the game, from grassroots through to the professional game, and generates significant revenue to support investment into English football each year.

The FA oversees England international teams across men’s, women’s, youth and disability football, as well as running the National League System and FA Competitions including the Emirates FA Cup, and the Adobe Women’s FA Cup, and the world-class facilities of Wembley Stadium and St. George’s Park, all with a purpose to inspire positive change through football.

Our game can tackle some of society’s core challenges. It can bring communities together, nationally and locally. It can be a platform for inclusion, ensuring there is a place for all. It can get people active and promote wellbeing often at a time when we need it most. With UEFA EURO 2028 – hosted in the UK and Ireland – on the horizon, we have an incredible opportunity to transform football across the country.

Now is the time to inspire positive change.

We currently work within a hybrid working model whereby the expectation is to work from your contractual location for part of the week, and as and when required by the team. The remaining days can be worked remotely. We will continue to monitor this model, and it may be adjusted in future if deemed necessary.

Your contract with The FA will specify a fixed location of Wembley Stadium or St. George’s Park unless the role is advertised as a homebased contract. The contractual location of this role can be found at the top of this advert on our FA vacancy page.

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THE PROCESS

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We believe that assessment and selection should be robust, fair, and inclusive.

Following receipt of your application and the closing of the application process, you can expect a period of circa two weeks for us to thoroughly screen and shortlist, ahead of any next stage and interview.

Please note, we receive a high volume of applications so this can vary but we ensure that our assessor panel reviews all applications, and no use of automated screening or AI is used.

At an interview, we want to ensure that we see the best of you as an individual and increase our understanding of your skills and experience relevant to the demands of the role. It is very much a two-way process with importance placed on the candidate experience so that regardless of outcome, you feel valued, and treated fairly and hopefully have a positive experience.

No process is ever the same, but we would like to create an environment that is welcoming and ensures the experience is as enjoyable as possible.

We tailor our assessment and selection depending on the nature and demands of the role. The FA Resourcing Team will provide you with as much notice as possible about the process and the format of any interview will always be communicated to you in advance, including what to expect on the day and who you will be seeing.

We often receive a high volume of applications, and for certain roles, we will supplement your application, utilising our on-demand video interviewing platform. On-demand video interviews enable you to answer preset questions, in the comfort of your own home or office setting and at a convenient time for you, giving us greater insight into you as an individual and the skills and experience you might bring to the role and working at The FA.

We also utilise Microsoft Teams for virtual interviews and of course host you at our world class venues, Wembley Stadium and our National Football Centre, St. George’s Park.

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GROUP STRATEGY

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• WE HAVE MOVED FOOTBALL FORWARD.
• From 2020 - 2024, we have – in collaboration with our key partners – been able to deliver meaningful change across the game.
• From winning our first major tournament in over 50 years to delivering thousands of high-quality pitches to the grassroots game.
• BUT WE CAN’T STOP NOW - AND WE WON’T.
• This new strategy is about doubling down. Our game can tackle some of society’s core challenges. It can bring communities together, nationally and locally.
• It can be a platform for inclusion, ensuring there is a place for all. It can get people active and promote wellbeing often at a time when we need it most.
• With UEFA EURO 2028 – hosted in the UK and Ireland – on the horizon, we have an incredible opportunity to transform football across the country.
• NOW IS THE TIME TO INSPIRE POSITIVE CHANGE.
• Our ultimate purpose is to ‘Inspire positive change through football’ – everything we do ultimately ladders up to this end goal.

The 2024-2028 strategy focuses on tackling four long-term strategic challenges that will fulfil this purpose and drive real change across the game, our ‘Game Changer’ objectives.

Underpinning these Game Changers are then four activities and approaches that will enable us to meet challenges head on, our ‘Drivers’.

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EDI STRATEGY

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Our equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategy forms an integral part of our long-term commitment to using our influence across English football to create a game free from discrimination.

A GAME FREE FROM DISCRIMINATION

Our 2024 – 2028 strategy outlines three fundamental pillars for delivering a game free from discrimination – Boosting Representation, Driving Inclusion and Tackling Discrimination.

These pillars ensure that our work uniting communities, improving lives, and inspiring positive change on and off the pitch will remain a core priority for English football for years to come.

We are a diverse workplace, aspiring to represent football across the country. The FA actively promotes inclusion and diversity, encouraging you to be the best version of yourself at work.

We welcome applications from everyone and are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. If you have any particular requirements in respect of the recruitment or interview process, please mention this during your application.

As part of The FA’s commitment to ensuring a safe environment for everyone in football, every employee will be required to complete a DBS check. The level of the check required will be based on the activity of the specific job role and in line with legislation and government guidance.

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