Head of AFLW – Maternity Leave cover

ESSENDON FOOTBALL CLUB

The Essendon Football Club – “The Bombers” – are a professional sporting organisation in the Australian Football League, home to several teams, including AFL, AFLW, VFL, VFLW and Wheelchair Football programs. But we’re more than the game. At Essendon, unity binds us. We firmly believe that our strength comes from standing together as One Club, embracing our rich diversity, and uniting around a shared purpose. Our passion fuels every kick, every play, and every decision.

The essence of the Essendon legacy is deeply woven into the fabric of the Australian sporting calendar, through significant events such as the ANZAC Day and Dreamtime clashes, underscoring our commemoration and connection to national identity. Our heritage sets us apart, shaping our ethos and inspiring our journey. We strive to be better every day, pushing the boundaries and relentlessly pursuing excellence. But amidst the intensity of competition, respect remains paramount. We care about our impact on others, whether it’s our teammates, opponents, or our community. When we ‘Don the Sash’, we do so with unity, passion, excellence, and respect guiding our every move, Always Striving toward our next triumph on the premiership stage.

PURPOSE OF ROLE

This is a Max-term Contract role to cover maternity leave for approx 9 months. The Head of AFLW will demonstrate strong leadership and play an important role in the development and achievement of the AFLW vision, values and performance objectives. This role is responsible for leading, developing and embedding a football philosophy and system that ensures that excellence is repeatable year on year and drives finals success across our Women’s football programs – AFLW and VFLW.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Strategy & Performance

• Lead the annual AFLW and VFLW football program to deliver the Club’s strategic and performance objectives.
• Partner with the Senior Coach and Player Leaders to grow and embed the Women’s Football culture, philosophy and standards.
• Establish and monitor strategic priorities, plans and KPIs to drive sustained on-field success.
• Promote alignment and understanding of the Club’s football philosophy across players, staff, Board, members and key stakeholders.

Leadership & Talent

• Recruit, develop and retain high-performing leaders and staff.
• Foster a culture of accountability, growth, collaboration and continuous improvement
• Oversee the successful execution of the coaching strategy, including management of the AFLW Senior Coach to ensure clarity of game style and alignment across coaching panel and players.
• Lead the AFLW Head of High Performance, ensuring oversight of the high performance program to develop, grow and embed strength & conditioning standards.
• Lead the AFLW Head of Medical, ensuring the delivery of an integrated medical program that provides players with holistic care and support to perform at their best.
• Oversee the AFLW Player Development Manager & Performance Psychologist, ensuring oversight on player wellbeing and welfare programs, taking the lead in complex welfare cases.
• Direct the AFLW Head of List & Recruiting, providing strategic decision making in the list management strategy and talent pathway program.
• Management of the AFLW & VFLW Operations Manager and Property & Team Support Coordinator, ensuring aligned operations across the Women’s Programs.
• Oversee the Women’s Pathways Program, including program design, structure and delivery.

Operations, Governance & Stakeholders

• Oversee delivery of AFLW and VFLW football operations, including match-day execution, travel, compliance and reporting.
• Manage the soft cap budgeting and total player payments.
• Management of all tribunal matters.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders to enhance football, commercial and community outcomes.
• Identify, manage and escalate strategic, operational, financial and reputational risks.
• Ensure compliance with Club policies, delegated authorities, privacy requirements and AFL regulations.
• Maintain strong governance, health and safety, and safeguarding standards across the program.

KEY POSITION REQUIREMENTS

Essential

• Demonstrated ability to lead high-performing teams, build strong relationships and foster a culture of trust, accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Proven strategic leadership capability, with experience developing and executing plans, performance measures and football programs that deliver sustained success.
• Strong people leadership skills, including the ability to coach, develop and manage multidisciplinary leaders and teams while driving alignment to a shared vision and values.
• Experience operating within elite sporting, high-performance or similarly complex environments, with strong governance, compliance and risk management capability.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen, with experience managing budgets, competing priorities and balancing performance outcomes with resource constraints.
• Exceptional stakeholder management, communication and influencing skills, with the ability to engage effectively with players, staff, executives, Board members, media and external partners.
• Resilient and adaptable leader with sound judgement, able to make decisions under pressure, manage complexity and drive outcomes in a dynamic environment.
• Demonstrated commitment to learning, innovation and continuous improvement, with a growth mindset that inspires development in others.

Desirable

• Experience within the AFL industry and sound knowledge of football operations, coaching, talent pathways, list management and high-performance programs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Business or similar

Other

• Current driver’s licence to travel to and from key stakeholder premises/meetings
• Current Working with Children Check or ability to obtain one; and
• Permanent Residency in Australia, or appropriate visa to work permanently.

Please keep reading…

Research shows that while men apply to jobs when they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other marginalised folks tend to only apply when they check every box. So, if you think you have what it takes, but don’t necessarily meet every single point above, please still get in touch. We’d love to have a chat and see if you could be a great fit.

We pride ourselves on creating an environment of shared spirit of passion, innovation, and inclusivity. As an Equal Opportunity employer, we firmly believe that diversity and inclusion is an important part of how we do business. We are united in upholding our Club-wide values and are consistently setting the benchmark both on and off the field as we strive to win our next premiership.

To Apply

To apply, please submit a cover letter along with your resume.

Applications close 13th September 2026

With our commitment to promoting and protecting the safety and wellbeing of children and young people in our care, we undertake several screening processes to ensure this commitment is upheld. This includes ensuring all of our people hold a valid Working with Children Check and a satisfactory criminal history record check.

All applications will be treated with respect and confidentiality, including timely responses.