Seen Unseen #2
An editorial viewpoint on the women’s football landscape, focused on recruitment, career pathways, and the dynamics shaping opportunities for clubs and candidates alike.
From Operator to Architect: The Evolving Role of the Head of Women’s Football
By Colin Quinn, Founder, Formation
In the first issue of Seen Unseen, I looked at how hiring and progression in the women’s game operate in environments where time, resources, and responsibility are constrained. Few roles sit closer at the centre of those pressures than the Head of Women’s Football.
Depending on the structure and geography, or whether the women’s programme operates independently or within a traditional men’s club setup, the title may vary: CEO, Director of Women’s Football, General Manager (Women’s), or another equivalent. The label differs, but the weight of expectation is the same.
Across the clubs and environments I have worked in and observed, one pattern appears consistently: up until this point, the role has been multi-faceted and operational in nature. Operations, recruitment, culture, stakeholder management, and at times, crisis response, frequently sit with one individual.
But as the women’s game has accelerated, the demands of the role have shifted just as quickly. Today’s job holders are now faced with different challenges.
From Delivery to Direction
Historically, the Head of Women’s Football role developed in clubs where advocacy and delivery were inseparable. The women’s game often required an internal champion, as much as an operational lead. In practice, this meant one person acting simultaneously as a connector across departments: the recruiter, the problem-solver, the commercial voice, and the visible leader.
Inevitably, where teams were small and bandwidth limited, that individual becomes the point through which most decisions flow. Not because that model is optimal, but because it is workable.
Under those conditions, being an “all-round manager” was not a leadership preference. It was a structural necessity; and hiring followed that reality.
What is changing now is not the volume of responsibility, but the nature of expectation.
Clubs, leagues, and investors increasingly expect the Head of Women’s Football to operate as a strategic executive: shaping long-term direction, aligning pathways, influencing governance, and contributing to commercial growth. The language has shifted from delivery to leadership, from coordination to vision.
For example, when Bristol City Women FC of Mercury13 advertised their recent CEO vacancy, they were very clear that they wanted someone to “lead Bristol City Women into its next era of growth and transform the club into a sporting and commercial force”.
There were 3 key responsibilities that jumped out, as listed on their advert:
Strategic Leadership: Develop and implement a comprehensive multi-year strategy that ensures substantial year-on-year growth across revenue and fandom. Establish the club as a premier institution within domestic and international women’s football.
Operational Excellence: Modernise club operations, ensuring efficiency, scalability, and adherence to best practices. Implement software tools where applicable to streamline processes and maximise productivity.
High Performance Culture: Build a high-performing team and culture across business and football operations. Establish an organisational structure optimised for commercial success and continuous growth.
Clubs are looking to grow, seeking to drive revenue, but not at any cost. They want operational efficiency and there’s now a realisation that to do that, they’ll need high performing people in operational roles.
Developing and implementing a multi-year strategy is a difficult job. It requires senior level and business experience. When you put it alongside building a high-performance culture and modernising processes by implementing IT projects, it becomes a complex role.
These types of skills aren’t readily available in football generally, never mind the women’s game, in particular.
Choosing the Future Deliberately
It’s clear that the next iteration of the Head of Women’s Football role will likely be less about doing everything, and more about shaping direction.
Less operator, more architect.
Less coordinator, more strategic steward.
For that shift to be sustainable, capability must evolve alongside expectations. “Do-ers” will always be required in women’s football. But at senior level, the requirement is changing as the game grows. Executive-level roles demand a blend of strategic leadership, project management skills, along with the emotional intelligence and empathy that is required to take people along with them.
If that is the case, two thoughts spring to mind:
We must consider widening recruitment. The women’s game may need to look beyond its traditional pathways and bring in leaders from other sectors. We could benefit from those who are experienced and have delivered organisational transformation, scaled operations, and managed complex change from other sectors.
We must support and invest in the good people and great leaders currently within the game. Many Heads of Women’s Football have built programmes from scratch, often in challenging conditions. Helping them develop business change skills and project leadership expertise are essential.
The future of the women’s game will not only be shaped by investment or visibility, but by how deliberately it designs, supports, and evolves the leadership roles at its centre.
Seen Unseen examines how organisational and recruitment dynamics take shape and endure across women’s football. Future pieces will continue to surface the conditions that influence opportunity, decision-making, and progression in the women’s game.
If this perspective is useful, feel free to forward it to someone working in the game, or subscribe to future editions of Forward Press.
We’d also welcome thoughts and comments on this piece, and suggestions for future topics. You can get in touch with me directly at colin@formationgoals.com or send an email to Francesca Russell, our Head of Talent & Partnerships, at francesca@formationgoals.com.