POSITION SUMMARY

USA Lacrosse is looking for someone to join our team as our Director, Center for Sports Science & Safety for a three-year limited-term opportunity. This critical role leads and coordinates the strategy for activities of the USA Lacrosse Center for Sports Science & Safety. The primary focus for this role include the following three (3) key areas for USA Lacrosse:

• Provides leadership and direct applied sport science support for the National Teams (NT) and National Teams Development Program (NTDP).
• Leads and oversees the applied research and innovation program.
• Guides and collaborates in knowledge translation and education.

The Director, Center for Sport Science & Safety partners with the VP, High Performance to advance athlete health, training, and performance through lacrosse-specific research, education, policy development, and best practices. As the subject matter expert and collaborative thought leader, this role works across departments and with key stakeholders to deliver impactful athlete support, research, and educational initiatives that drive positive outcomes for all athletes.

If you are an analytical, collaborative, and driven researcher who wants to enhance sport science and safety to support elite athletes excel on the lacrosse field, this could be a great opportunity for you. You will work alongside talented and passionate professionals, top athletes, coaches, medical personnel, and research collaborators to apply and develop sport science best practices and research findings to enable athletes to perform at peak levels.

A Typical Day Looks Like...

Strategy & Oversight of Sport Science & Safety

• Develops and leads the strategy for USA Lacrosse's Center for Sport Science & Safety (the Center) initiatives, including but not limited to, the use of data and development of best-in-class health and safety, training, and performance protocols and services for our National Teams (NTs) and National Team Development Program (NTDP).
• Supports the management of the Integrated Interdisciplinary Support Team (IIST) personnel who support the NTs and NTDP (i.e., medical support personnel, strength and conditioning coaches, and other ad hoc allied healthcare and performance personnel). This includes providing collaboration with the Lead, Medical and Performance Services.
• Collaborates cross-departmentally to incorporate NTs, NTDP, Athlete Protection, and High-Performance standards, practices, and initiatives throughout the organization for a unified message and direction.
• Continually evaluates programs and looks to advance USA Lacrosse's diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within the Center.

National Teams & National Teams Development Program

• Collaborates with NT and NTDP staff and coaches to coordinate and organize the implementation of applied sport science initiatives. This includes leading the collection, management, analysis, and reporting on training, competition, and performance testing data for NTs and NTDP athletes.
• Travels with USA Lacrosse's NTs and NTDP to implement and oversee all protocols for athlete monitoring systems, including but not limited to, GPS, heart rate, surveys, and hydration.
• Applies best practices to data lifecycle management including, but not limited to, data collection, processing, storage/access, analysis, interpretation, visualization, and dissemination to ensure accuracy and compliance.
• Responsible for managing technology platforms used within the NTs and NTDP related to health, training, and performance data inclusive of support personnel onboarding and overall player management.
• Supports USA Lacrosse NT and NTDP staff in the management of NT and NTDP events (i.e., training camps, competitions, etc.) operations.

Research, Analysis, & Reporting

• Stays up to date and informed on current research, best practices, and emerging technologies relevant to sports science, sharing insights with the team to enhance department initiatives. This includes having a pulse on what other National Governing Body's (NGB's) are doing.
• Helps oversee and lead the internal applied sport science research program. This includes identifying and prioritizing projects, coordinating and managing collaboration with external SMEs, executing MOUs, and internal use of data insights.
• Manages applied sport science research protocols to ensure projects remain on schedule and are successfully completed. This includes troubleshooting and escalating roadblocks to the VP, High Performance as appropriate.
• Generates post-event (i.e., camps, competitions, combines, etc.) reports and data feedback workflows to promote the dissemination of data and performance insights to appropriate NT and NTDP stakeholders.
• Leads the preparation of scientific conference presentations and scientific manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed journals.

Administration & Communication

• Collaborates with the marketing and communications team to develop lacrosse-specific educational assets and content across different formats for USA Lacrosse members on relevant and timely sport science/medicine topics. Ensuring appropriate knowledge translation is critical to this process.
• Implements and updates internal SOPs for sport science protocols for areas including, but not limited to, GPS technology, hydration monitoring, recovery/regeneration strategies, and injury surveillance.
• Assists in the development of long-term athlete profiling across technical, tactical, physical, and mental performance pillars.
• Supports return-to-play protocols with NT and NTDP medical support personnel as needed.
• Supports the VP, High Performance by providing administrative leadership and organizational support managing the annual operating budget and the Sports Science & Safety Committee.

Is This You...

• PhD in sport/exercise science, sport health, sports management, or associated area of study, plus 7 years of progressive advancement in experience and responsibilities within a National Sports Governing Body, collegiate, or professional sports environment preferred.
• Master's degree in sport/exercise science, sport health, sports management, or associated area of study, plus 10 years of progressive advancement in experience and responsibilities within a National Sports Governing Body, collegiate, or professional sports environment required.
• Demonstrated experience working directly with athletes and coaches in high-performance environments.
• Strong organizational skills, ability to multi-task and meet required deadlines while managing simultaneous projects, and exceptional attention to detail and follow up/through skills.
• Experience working collaboratively within multidisciplinary medical and performance teams. This includes experience supporting both male and female elite athletes.
• Experience leading applied sport science research or applied performance innovation.
• Experience with statistical software (e.g., SPSS), programming language (e.g., R, Python), and data visualization software (e.g., Power BI, Tableau) required.
• Experience managing volunteers and working with committees is highly beneficial.
• Demonstrated experience with scientific conference presentations and manuscript publication are highly beneficial.
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills.
• Expertise using Statsports or similar system.
• Ability to collect, analyze, and visualize data for non-technical stakeholders.
• Proven ability to work independently as well as collaboratively with internal team members and across departments, as well as with external parties, in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment. This includes the ability to manage multiple projects/initiatives at one time and keep projects on track to meet established deadlines and goals.
• Willingness and flexibility to work nights and weekends based on competition schedules and events for our NT and NTDP, including ability to travel as needed. This includes having or being willing to get a Passport for international travel with the teams.
• Experience developing, coordinating, and managing sport science personnel preferred.
• Current CPR/AED/First Aid certification or willingness to obtain these certifications.
• Experience using TeamBuilder and Brower Timing System beneficial.
• CSCS or SCCC certification is desirable.
• Prior experience working with athletes across the entire developmental spectrum (i.e., youth, college, professional, elite/International/Olympic) highly desirable.
• Proven experience working in a collaborative role requiring partnership and agreement among internal and external stakeholders with differing opinions and priorities.
• Experience building and maintaining relationships and establishing trust to advance programs and organizational initiatives.
• Ability to think proactively and strategically with the capacity to deal with shifting priorities based on athlete and business needs.
• Intermediate to advanced knowledge of Microsoft 365 products, specifically Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams. Knowledge of Salesforce a plus and the ability to learn new software programs.
• Effective communication skills, including written, verbal, and interpersonal. This includes the ability and confidence to speak publicly.
• Ability to exercise discretion and handle private and confidential information.
• Strong "hands on" mentality with the ability to be self-managed to work in a hybrid (in-office/work from home) environment.
• Ability to be flexible with established work schedule to accommodate travel needs that require occasional work at night and/or on weekends based on business needs.
• Willingness to learn about the sport of lacrosse and appreciate the need to develop and fuel the growth of the sport with diversity, inclusion, and equity in mind.
• Ability to align with USA Lacrosse's Mission, Vision, and Values and Strategic Plan to support our initiatives and organizational goals.

Expected Hours of Work

This position is generally expected to work Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 5:00pm and occasionally requires longer hours or weekend work as related to events and other business needs. This is a hybrid position and works from the headquarters office in Sparks, MD three (3) days a week with the flexibility to work from home two (2) days a week.

Compensation & Benefits Overview

The base pay range for this position is $85,000 to $100,000, commensurate with experience, plus opportunity for annual incentive pay.

USA Lacrosse offers a competitive benefits package including, but not limited to:

• Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance with multiple options (eligible the first of the month following 30 days of employment).
• Generous company paid Life and AD&D insurance.
• Company paid Long Term Disability (LTD) at one year of employment.
• 403(b) retirement plan (eligible immediately upon hire), including a 4% employer contribution after one year of employment.
• Generous PTO, company paid holidays, bereavement, jury duty, and parental and maternity leave.
• Additional voluntary insurance options, such as supplemental benefits through Colonial and Nationwide pet insurance.
• Discounts on USA Lacrosse merchandise.
• Free onsite gym at HQ office.
• Free parking.

Travel Requirements

Travel will be necessary up to 25% of the time (local, regional, international). Travel would involve the following mode(s) of travel: car, train, or air. Some out of area and overnight travel will be expected.