Assistant, Athlete Ombuds

Description

Are you mission-driven and passionate about helping others succeed?

Do you strive to lead, follow, and act with integrity?

Are you the one who honors your commitments?

Is building trusting relationships an integral part of why you do what you do?

Do you push limits and challenge the status quo?

If you answered YES, keep reading to discover how you can significantly contribute to Team USA’s success!

Here’s a summary of responsibilities:

The Assistant Athlete Ombuds supports the Team USA Athlete Ombuds Office in providing confidential, independent, and impartial guidance and dispute-resolution support to Team USA athletes. Working under the direction of the Athlete Ombuds Team, this role helps athletes understand their rights, options, resources, and pathways under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act and applicable Olympic, Paralympic, USOPC, International Federation, National Governing Body, anti-doping, athlete safety, and other governing rules and policies.

The role is designed for an attorney who brings strong problem-solving and dispute-resolution capabilities and is interested in developing expertise in athlete rights and Olympic and Paralympic sport. The Assistant Athlete Ombuds will support athlete matters ranging from initial intake and navigation to research, facilitated communication, mediation, and complex disputes, with increasing responsibility as experience develops.

The position will also help strengthen the Office’s ability to learn from athlete experiences and operate effectively at scale by supporting case management, data quality, trend identification, reporting, knowledge management, and responsible use of technology and AI. The role requires exceptional judgment and discretion and a demonstrated commitment to the Office’s core principles of independence, impartiality, confidentiality, and athlete-centered service.

Here’s how you’ll have an impact:

• Collaborate with the Athlete Ombuds, Senior Associate Athlete Ombuds, and other Office staff in providing trusted, athlete-centered support consistent with the Office’s mission and statutory responsibilities.
• Help create and maintain an environment that is accessible, supportive, safe, competent, inviting, and resourceful for athletes and other constituents.
• Uphold the core principles of the Office of the Athlete Ombuds: independence, impartiality, and confidentiality.
• Support confidential consultations with athletes regarding their rights, responsibilities, options, resources, and available dispute-resolution pathways.
• Research and analyze applicable laws, rules, policies, procedures, precedent, and other relevant information to support accurate and timely athlete guidance.
• Assist athletes in identifying issues, evaluating options, preparing for difficult conversations, and determining appropriate next steps.
• Support the resolution of athlete concerns and disputes through problem-solving, conflict coaching, facilitated communication, mediation, and other appropriate dispute-resolution approaches; identify opportunities for early intervention and informal resolution before concerns escalate into formal disputes.
• Assist with intake and triage of athlete inquiries, including routine and lower-complexity matters, and appropriately escalate matters requiring greater experience or specialized expertise.
• Support athletes in high-impact areas including team selection, anti-doping, athlete safety, commercial matters, benefits and services, and Games-related issues.
• Support administration and delivery of specialized athlete resources, including the Legal Aid Program and Athlete Commercial Agreements Resource (CAR) Program, helping connect athletes with appropriate external expertise when needed.
• Review athlete-facing policies, procedures, and dispute pathways and identify opportunities to improve clarity, fairness, timeliness, accessibility, and consistency.
• Use recurring athlete experiences to help identify systemic issues and opportunities for improved processes, education, coordination, prevention, and organizational learning.
• Maintain accurate, consistent, and high-quality case and program data and help strengthen Office data-management practices.
• Help identify information and data points needed to understand workload, athlete experiences, emerging issues, program effectiveness, and Office impact; analyze case and program information to identify patte…