The Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) is the collective and representative voice of past, present and future male and female professional domestic and international cricketers in Australia. We strive to offer our members world leading, best practice service and support throughout every stage in their life of cricket and beyond.

We are looking for an experienced, strategic leader to become our General Manager - Player Development & Wellbeing to lead our dedicated wellbeing programs, education and support services to members to maintain their mental health, personal development and life balance both during and after their playing careers.

Reporting to the CEO, you will be responsible for shaping and delivering development programs and services and driving the ACA Wellbeing Strategy to effectively engage members and industry stakeholders, such as Cricket Australia (CA) to support the holistic development, wellbeing, and future readiness of players.

A critical component of this role is to lead GamePlan, ACA’s Player Development & Wellbeing Program which is delivered to players in collaboration with the Player Development Manager (PDM) Network to nurture the wellbeing of players so that they build a lifelong capacity to thrive in cricket and life.
Through strong leadership of the Player Development & Wellbeing team this role is also accountable for the research, development and continuous improvement of all programs as well as delivering initiatives that focus on Mental Health, Wellbeing and Career Transition services.

Key responsibilities of the role include:

• Strategically design, manage and oversee the delivery of GamePlan and associated development and wellbeing frameworks, programs and services
• Drive the player development and wellbeing strategy and vision in collaboration with key stakeholders across the broader cricket industry both domestically and globally
• Support the delivery of ACA’s Strategic Plan and Memorandum of Understanding, the agreement between the ACA and Cricket Australia that governs player payments and other workplace conditions
• Organise and facilitate meetings of Player Development & Wellbeing Advisory Committee that includes CA and State Associations
• Lead the development, implementation and revision of bespoke and innovative program frameworks in alignment with the ACA’s Strategy, MOU, player needs and best practice
• Build and maintain strong partnerships with key stakeholders, suppliers, CA and State Associations to maximise reach and impact of programs & services
• Research & monitor trends and influences in high-performance sport/cricket to drive innovation and evolution of development and wellbeing programs
• Provide people leadership and direction to direct reports
• Work with stakeholders to ensure implementation of Mental Health Case Management Guidelines and Return to Play protocols
• Execute the delivery of the annual GamePlan Conference and delivery of New Player Camp/Rookie Camp in collaboration with CA
• People leadership of the Player Development Team and PDM network.

The ideal candidate will be an experienced professional leading player development programs & initiatives in a high performance and/or elite sports environment. With superior communication skills, you are known for the strong relationships you build and the way in which you collaborate and influence to create trusted followership. As a values-based leader you demonstrate the ability to think more broadly than your own function to deliver and evolve a collaborative approach to player development and wellbeing that supports athletes to thrive both on and off the field.

Your demonstrated strong knowledge of elite player development pathways and wellbeing across the athlete lifecycle will ensure success in the ability to not only scale our programs but navigate between large strategic initiatives and day to day program operational requirements.

Whilst this role is based in Melbourne we are open to considering candidates from other locations in Australia to ensure the best experience and service to our members.

To apply for this role click “Apply for this job” now. If you would like further information, please contact Kerry Callenbach at kerry@jumpstarthr.com.au

At the ACA, our members come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a variety of backgrounds, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because diversity makes us even greater. We want you to be you so welcome the unique contributions that you can bring regardless of your education, culture, ethnicity, race, sex or gender.