Head of Rehabilitation

WE'D LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN US!

San Diego Wave Fútbol Club is on a mission to build a world class home for players and fans. We are seeking a dynamic, forward-thinking individual to join our mission to share our story, win championships, increase, and delight our fans. We're making memories and engaging our community through this beautiful game.

The Head of Rehabilitation is the senior rehabilitation leader responsible for the clinical management, rehabilitation, and return-to-performance pathway for all long-term and mid-term injuries. They will help lead the club's rehabilitation philosophy and day-to-day delivery of evidence-informed rehabilitation services, with the objective of maximizing player health, availability, performance, and long-term career durability while supporting the wider medical operations day to day.

Working within an integrated Medical & Performance environment, the Head of Rehabilitation will oversee the assessment and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries and conditions, develop individualized rehabilitation and return-to-play/return-to-performance plans, and coordinate the transition of injured players from medical care through performance pathways and ultimately back into full team training and competition. The position will work closely with the Director of Medical, Performance staff, Team Physician/Chief Medical Officer, Athletic Training staff, Nutrition, Mental Health, coaching staff, and external medical specialists.

The successful candidate will combine exceptional clinical expertise with strong leadership, communication, organizational, and interdisciplinary collaboration skills. This person must be comfortable operating in a high-performance professional soccer environment where clinical decisions, player welfare, competitive demands, workload, and return-to-play considerations must be integrated thoughtfully and ethically.

• Lead the rehabilitation process for long-term, postoperative, and complex musculoskeletal injuries through comprehensive physical therapy evaluations and establishing individualized plans of care
• Help establish and maintain the Club's rehabilitation philosophy, standards, clinical pathways, and evidence-informed protocols - including objective criteria and testing batteries to support clinical decision-making and progression
• Lead multidisciplinary meetings to update player status, review injury processes, evaluate impact and effectiveness of implemented programs, and roundtable player needs with core staff and determine next phases at regular and timely intervals
• Manage any offsite or specialist care included/required in the RTP Process
• Progress players through clearly defined stages of rehabilitation from acute injury through unrestricted training and competition, in alignment with the club's RTP philosophy
• Perform evidence-based, objective testing using available technology and apply appropriate clinical interpretation of test data
• Frequent and productive collaboration with the performance staff to optimize the rehabilitation process and coordinate transitions of rehabilitative care
• Identify barriers to rehabilitation progress and proactively modify treatment plans
• Coordinate postoperative rehabilitation with surgeons and external medical providers
• Lead sharing of quality and relevant soccer research to high performance staff at periodic intervals - (i.e. In-service)
• Assist with the delivery of activation, injury prevention, recovery and gym-based gym-based strength and conditioning sessions as required
• Create holistic plans that include monitoring any changes in mental, psychological, nutrition status, and physical health of the Players during their rehabilitation and discuss with/refer to appropriate…