Sport & Exercise Psychologist

Salary: £36 – £72 per hour

Changing Minds UK have an exciting opportunity for a Sport & Exercise Psychologist to join the team.

Location: The National Cycling Centre, Manchester, and other high-performance venues.

Salary: Competitive, negotiable based upon experience

FTE: Full- or part-time depending on circumstances. Minimum 0.7 FTE to fulfil the 0.6 FTE delivering into British Cycling. The remaining FTE would involve working into other Changing Minds settings.

Sport & Exercise Psychologist – The Role:

Changing Minds UK is currently seeking a Qualified / HCPC registered Sport & Exercise Psychologist to join our Performance Services Team primarily to provide part of the psychological services into the Great Britain Cycling Team (GBCT). However, depending on the successful candidate there will also be opportunities to work across a range of other High-Performance Environments.

For the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic cycle, GBCT has formed a ‘Personal Performance Team’ which consists of Performance Psychologists, Performance Lifestyle Practitioners and Clinical Psychologists who will aim to take a more joined up and collaborative approach to the support provided to all members of GBCT. This support will focus around 5 main project areas, each of which will involve collaborative work between specific members of the team and, in some cases, will also involve teaming up with other members of the staff team e.g., Head Coach, Academy Manager or Head of Coaching and Leadership Development. The project areas aim to create innovative performance and wellbeing-impact for both riders and staff throughout the programme. This role will primarily focus on enhancing riders’ tactical and mental performance by working with all coaches to ensure the deliberate and consistent weaving of these performance components into training plan designs.

We are particularly interested in hearing from individuals that possess demonstrable experience of designing and delivering innovative systemic interventions which, through working with both coaches and athletes, have enhanced the overall training environment in order to better prepare athletes for the specific tactical and mental demands of their competition events. 

Sport & Exercise Psychologist – You:

Essential:

– Possess a post-graduate qualification to PhD or Masters level in sport and exercise psychology (or equivalent)

– Be registered with the Health & Care Professionals Council (HCPC), APPLICANTS THAT ARE NOT REGISTERED WITH THE HCPC WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR THESE ROLES

– The successful candidate will need to hold a full driving licence and be able to travel between sites.

– Have had previous experience (either applied or research) of designing and delivering innovative projects / training interventions that replicate the tactical and / or psychological demands of competition in a targeted manner

– Work with coaches to assess the specific tactical and psychological demands of different events.

– Understand and assess the different forms of ‘pressure’ that individuals may experience

– Collaborate with coaches and support staff to find innovative ways to design training plans and practice opportunities that are specifically designed to develop the skills related to the first two bullet points and create ‘safe’ environments for riders and coaches to reflect on and learn from these experiences

– Collaborate with others to find innovative ways to utilise the competition calendar to develop riders’ tactical / execution abilities in a progressive and deliberate manner

– Successful candidates will need to demonstrate high levels of motivation, be flexible in their approach to the needs of clients, be open to learning, show compassion and work effectively as part of a team

Desired:

– Possess expertise in understanding the design and delivery of psychological training within the training environment evidenced by peer reviewed research that has demonstrable evidence of application (via a PhD or publications)

– If not a genuine expert in the cycling training environment, this person will ideally have been responsible for delivering this specific type of support / interventions in at least two other elite level sports (demonstrating ability to apply skill sets)

– Have demonstrable experience in having previously formulated / assessed multiple (i.e., 2 or more) performance environments in relation to their psychological needs

– Show experience of creating more Psychologically Informed Performance Systems (‘PIPS’)

– Have experience of supervising and / or line managing other psychology practitioners

To submit your CV for this exciting Sport & Exercise Psychologist opportunity, please press ‘Apply’ now. Please include a covering letter outlining your suitability for the role.