Paddle UK
Senior Physiotherapist & Performance Support Lead
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Location: Hybrid – Lee Valley White Water Centre (LVWWC), Hertfordshire (with domestic and international travel) Hours: Full-time (Minimum 37 hours per week; requires flexibility including evenings, weekends, and international travel) Salary: £56,000 - £60,000 Closing date: 23rd August 2026
Drive clinical excellence, lead performance support, and power our Olympic medal targets on the road to LA 2028.
Paddle UK is seeking an exceptional Senior Physiotherapist and Performance Support Lead to shape and direct our world-class Canoe Slalom and Kayak Cross programme. Sitting on the Canoe Slalom Leadership Team, this pivotal dual-focused role splits approximately 60% to clinical physiotherapy and 40% to leading the multidisciplinary Performance Support Team.
With a proud history of winning medals at World and Olympic levels, and following the exciting introduction of Kayak Cross, this position is crucial to delivering against ambitious LA 2028 medal targets. Supporting approximately 20 elite programme athletes, you will combine high-level clinical expertise with strategic leadership—building trust, safely challenging established thinking, and driving world-leading outcomes.
Key Responsibilities
- PST Leadership & Management: Line-manage and align the Performance Support Team (including Strength & Conditioning, Psychology, Performance Analysis, and CMO) to deliver targeted, performance-focused workflows.
- Clinical Excellence: Provide primary contact and highly specialised musculoskeletal assessment, triage, diagnostics, and advanced rehabilitation to optimise return-to-performance outcomes.
- Athlete Health & Strategy: Proactively establish and execute strategies to optimise athlete health, mitigate injury and illness risk, and manage prehabilitation and travel loads.
- International Event & Trauma Care: Lead immediate emergency trauma care and medical planning in domestic and overseas training and competition environments (typically 8–12 weeks international travel per year).
- Medical Governance & Service Coordination: Assure medical governance standards to safeguard athlete physical and mental health, while managing contractors and physical health provisions across the broader Slalom programme.
- Data Insight & Surveillance: Oversee surveillance systems to capture injury/illness trends, producing actionable weekly health updates for coaches and leadership.
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Why Join Us?
This is a high-impact opportunity to step into "the team behind the team" at a hugely exciting time in the Olympic cycle. You will join a culture that values:
- World-Leading Ambition: Direct influence over elite Olympic and World Championship athletes within a highly successful, fast-paced sport.
- Collaborative Leadership: Integration across the Canoe Slalom Leadership Team and UK Sports Institute network, fostering psychological safety and cross-disciplinary innovation.
- Meaningful Change: An environment that encourages curiosity, fresh perspectives, and pushing boundaries beyond traditional injury management into holistic performance enhancement.
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About You
We are looking for a resilient, highly skilled clinical practitioner and leader with a proven track record in high-performance elite sport. You will possess:
- Clinical Specialism: Substantial experience delivering elite-level sports physiotherapy, including complex case management, return-to-performance planning, and emergency first-responder care.
- Leadership & Influence: Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to lead a multidisciplinary team, manage uncertainty, and build trust across athletes, coaches, and consultants.
- Strategic & Analytical Mindset: A strategic approach to workload management and data insight, using health intelligence to shape performance strategies and mitigate risk.
- Qualifications: Degree in Physiotherapy, full HCPC registration, MCSP membership
Benefits
- 25 days annual leave, plus bank holidays
- Dress for your day
- Free onsite parking
- Company pension scheme
- Employee benefits platform (including Bike to Work, Health and Wellbeing)
Extensive support is available through professional development, supervision, peer networks and access to leading performance knowledge and resources.
To find out more about Paddle UK, our benefits, culture and recruitment process please visit our Careers Centre.
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