First Team Rehabilitation Lead

Job title

First Team Rehabilitation Lead

Location

Portsmouth FC Training Ground at Pompey Health and Fitness, 442 Copnor Road, Hilsea, Portsmouth PO3 5EW with travel where required

Department

First Team

Reports to

Head of Medical

Hours of work

Full time

A minimum of 37.5 hours per week, exact hours and days to be agreed. Due to the nature of the role flexibility is essential. Attendance required at consultant appointments/special events/Off site appointments/Match Day away travel from time to time.

Remuneration

Competitive, based on experience

Join Our Team - Be Part of Pompey's Future

Portsmouth Football Club is looking to appoint an experienced and highly motivated First Team Rehabilitation Lead to join our Men's First Team Performance Department.

This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in shaping and delivering the Club's rehabilitation and return-to-performance strategy, helping to establish the standards, systems and philosophy that underpin the Pompey Performance WAY.

Working closely with the Medical, Sport Science, Strength & Conditioning and Coaching teams, you will lead the rehabilitation journey of injured players, ensuring they return to full training and competitive football safely, effectively and physically prepared to perform at the highest level.

Beyond individual player rehabilitation, you will help develop a proactive, evidence-based approach to injury prevention, player robustness and long-term athletic development.

Purpose of the role

The Rehabilitation Lead will take responsibility for the delivery, strategy and progression of rehabilitation and return-to-performance within the Portsmouth FC Men's First Team. This is a pivotal role within the Performance Department and will play a key part in establishing the rehabilitation philosophy, standards and identity that underpin the Pompey Performance WAY.

The role requires the development of clear rehabilitation, return-to-performance and injury prevention frameworks, policies and processes that create consistency, clarity and accountability across the Performance Department. Working closely with Medical, Sport Science, Strength & Conditioning and Coaching, the role will ensure rehabilitation is individualised, evidence-led and aligned to the demands of elite football.

A key responsibility will be to use meaningful KPIs to measure the effectiveness of the rehabilitation programme, with a focus on improving player availability, reducing injury recurrence and developing individualised injury prevention and athletic development strategies. These strategies will progressively build player capacity and robustness as they transition from rehabilitation into full team training and beyond.

The role will help shape a high-performance rehabilitation culture at Portsmouth FC, establishing the standards, systems and behaviours required to deliver excellent rehabilitation, develop robust players and consistently return players ready to perform as part of the Pompey Performance WAY.

The role sits at the interface of medicine, pathophysiology, rehabilitation, athletic development and performance, leading players through their rehabilitation journey from injury onset through to a safe, effective and timely return to full team training and competitive performance. The focus is not simply on returning players to availability, but ensuring they arerobust, prepared and ready to perform at an elite level.