Goalkeeper Coach

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity, marital or veteran status, or any other protected class.

Barça Residency Academy USA

Casa Grande, Arizona

Status: Full-time, exempt

Reports to: Academy Director and Technical Directors

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The opportunity

Barça Residency Academy is seeking a Head of Goalkeeping to lead and coordinate goalkeeper development across the academy’s U15–U19 program.

The selected candidate will oversee every goalkeeper within the academy and lead a specialist area that serves the players, teams, and wider technical project. The role combines academy-wide planning, daily coaching, player evaluation, match support, and close collaboration with the Technical Directors and team coaching staffs. The Head of Goalkeeping may also coordinate an assistant goalkeeper coach, when available.

Candidates must already be capable of designing and operating a high-performance goalkeeper-development program following Barça guidelines and game idea. We are open to profiles with strong potential, provided they have the knowledge, practical competence, and professional maturity to take immediate responsibility while remaining open to methodological development.

Responsibility, support, and accountability

The Head of Goalkeeping will operate autonomously within a clearly defined methodology and player-development model, reporting to the Technical Directors on technical matters and to the Academy Director on broader organizational matters. The role includes regular observation, feedback, methodological education, discussion, and performance evaluation.

The Head of Goalkeeping is expected to collaborate with the Head Coaches, help with the integration of goalkeepers within team training, and propose decisions according to the needs of the players and the academy’s shared game idea. The right candidate will join an environment in which coaches are trusted to lead, expected to explain their decisions, and challenged to continue developing.

Our approach to goalkeeper development

At Barça Academy, goalkeeper development is not treated as an isolated technical process. Goalkeepers must develop within the game and in coordination with teammates, opponents, the ball, and space. The Head of Goalkeeping must therefore be comfortable combining position-specific work with representative and non-isolated game situations, and integrating goalkeepers meaningfully into team training.

Isolated technical exercises may be used when they serve a clear developmental purpose, but the goalkeeper program should not rely predominantly on linear progressions or decontextualized repetition. Training must help goalkeepers perceive, interpret, decide, execute, and adapt within the changing demands of the game.

Main Responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate goalkeeper development across all U15–U19 academy teams.
• Design and implement an academy-wide goalkeeper-development process aligned with Barça Academy’s game and training ideas.
• Plan and lead goalkeeper-specific training while balancing technical development with representative game situations and decision-making demands.
• Coordinate with team coaching staffs to integrate goalkeepers effectively into team training and ensure that the team environment supports their development.
• Participate directly in team training sessions whenever appropriate to coach, observe, and support the goalkeepers within the full game context.
• Monitor each goalkeeper’s development, performance, individual needs, competitive opportunities, and long-term pathway.
• Lead goalkeeper evaluations and recommendations regarding recruitment, depth charts, retention, and progression.
• Support college placement and other appropriate progression opportunities for academy goalkeepers.
• Attend as many matches as the academy schedule allows, normally working from the team bench alongside the Head Coach and Assistant Coach.
• Travel regionally and nationally with academy teams as part of the MLS NEXT program and other competitions.
• Coordinate and support any assistant goalkeeper coach assigned to the program.
• Participate in methodology meetings, staff coordination, coach education, ID camps, and summer camps.
• Show the ability to coach a team effectively as a soccer coach when no specific goalkeeper training is scheduled during camps.
• Represent Barça values in daily work with players, colleagues, families, and opponents.
• All other duties as assigned
  
  

Success will be evaluated through goalkeeper development and retention, implementation of the game idea, quality and coherence of the goalkeeper-development plan, integration with team training, game reading, coaching impact, pathway management, organization, values, and collaboration with the Technical Directors, team coaches, and multidisciplinary staff.

Candidate profile

Candidates must have relevant coaching experience in a high-performance environment. This may include a professional academy, collegiate soccer, or another comparable high-performance youth development environment. Strong junior candidates may also be considered when their previous responsibilities, specialist preparation, and demonstrated potential have prepared them to lead the academy’s goalkeeper program.

The Right Candidate Will

• Be a soccer coach first, with the ability to understand the full game and connect goalkeeper development to the needs of the team.
• Have the specialist knowledge and skills to lead the goalkeeper program while remaining open to evolving, being challenged, and adapting to Barça Academy guidelines.
• Put goalkeeper development and the needs of the academy ahead of departmental ownership or personal recognition.
• Be comfortable balancing goalkeeper-specific work, representative game situations, and meaningful integration within team training.
• Work collaboratively with team coaches without becoming subordinate to an individual team staff.
• Embrace feedback and review while maintaining autonomy and accountability.
• Be proactive, organized, demanding, collaborative, and consistent.
• Communicate clearly with players, coaches, directors, families, and external programs involved in goalkeeper pathways.
• Be motivated by this professional challenge, not by the opportunities that may follow.
  
  

Prior knowledge of Barça methodology is highly valued but not required. Genuine openness to adapting to our game approach, which may differ from common approaches in the United States, is more important.

This position will not suit a coach who treats goalkeeping as separate from the team’s game, relies predominantly on isolated or linear training, seeks complete methodological independence, feels uncomfortable with regular review, prioritizes short-term results over development, or expects professional growth based solely on affiliation with Barça.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree.
• USSF goalkeeper-coaching qualification or equivalent.
• CPR certification.
• Ability to satisfy all required background-check and safeguarding requirements.
• Relevant full-time or high-level goalkeeper-coaching experience.
• Legal authorization to work in the United States without employer sponsorship.
• Willingness to relocate to, or commute daily to, Casa Grande, Arizona.
  
  

A current USSF B License or equivalent field-coaching qualification is preferred in addition to goalkeeper-specific licensing. Advanced academic qualifications, or specialized studies in coaching, soccer, performance, or player development are also valued, particularly when aligned with Barça’s game idea.

Abilities Required

• Great leadership, communication, teaching, and motivational skills.
• Ability to improve the skills and abilities of all players.
• Ability to promote the program.
• Ability to collaborate across several team staffs and manage competing schedule demands.
• Availability for afternoon and evening work, weekends, and regional and national travel.
• Physical ability to walk, run, stand, kick, and use the legs, arms, and hands as necessary to coach and train soccer players. Ability to play soccer is preferred.
• Ability to work outdoors.
  
  

Professional development

The academy provides an intensive coach-development environment that includes weekly methodology sessions, regular individualized feedback, access to Barça technical materials, interaction with Barça staff, and academy-supported coaching education.

Schedule, Compensation, And Benefits

The regular schedule is primarily afternoon and evening based, with weekend competition and regional and national travel. Because academy teams often play at the same venue in different time slots, the Head of Goalkeeping is expected to observe and support as many matches as the schedule reasonably allows. Participation in summer camps and ID camps is part of the role.

The Position Offers

• Base salary depending on experience.
• Health benefits.
• Meals through the academy.
• Academy-supported coaching education.
• Paid time off in accordance with company policy.
• Possible on-campus accommodation.
• Covered travel expenses for assigned academy activities.
  
  

Additional responsibilities may be assigned according to the selected coach’s experience and professional profile, with compensation adjusted when appropriate.