Sport and exercise science

A sport and exercise science degree offers diverse career paths in health, fitness and performance, working with athletes, young people or the wider public

Job options

Jobs directly related to your degree include:

• Exercise physiologist
• Fitness centre manager
• Personal trainer
• Primary school teacher
• Secondary school teacher
• Sports administrator
• Sports coach
• Sports development officer
• Sports therapist

Jobs where your degree would be useful include:

• Choreographer
• Clinical scientist, cardiac sciences
• Health improvement practitioner
• Higher education lecturer
• Nutritionist
• Outdoor activities/education manager
• Sport and exercise psychologist

Remember that many employers accept applications from graduates with any degree subject, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.

Work experience

Look for opportunities that align with your career goals. If you're interested in coaching, volunteer with local sports clubs or youth programmes. For those considering PE teaching, gaining experience in schools is valuable, whether supporting lessons or running extra-curricular activities.

Part-time work in a leisure centre provides insight into the industry and builds useful skills. Roles might include fitness instruction, lifeguarding, or admin duties and customer service. You could also gain experience through children's holiday activity schemes, community health initiatives or outdoor activity centres.

Many sport and exercise science degrees include a placement year or industry module, providing the opportunity to gain practical experience. This can help you explore roles in areas such as health promotion, education, performance analysis or strength and conditioning. Placements with professional clubs, NHS services, or national governing bodies can help clarify your goals and build your professional network.

Search for placements and find out more about work experience and internships.

Typical employers

Jobs are available with a range of organisations in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, including:

• professional sports clubs
• national sporting associations, governing bodies and other related sporting agencies
• private health and fitness clubs, spas and public sports and recreation facilities
• armed forces
• charities and third sector organisations
• local authorities
• schools, further education and higher education institutions
• the health sector, including the NHS.

You may eventually set up your own business or consultancy or choose to enter a career not directly related to sport, such as finance or management.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the field of sport and exercise science through advancements in performance analysis, injury prediction and personalised training.

Graduates will need strong digital literacy and data interpretation skills to work effectively with AI-driven tools and technologies. As AI continues to evolve, it's likely to create new roles while reshaping traditional ones across coaching, rehabilitation and health monitoring.

Find information on employers in leisure, sport and tourism, teacher training and education, healthcare and other job sectors.

Skills for your CV

A degree in sport and exercise science gives you an understanding of sports performance and the factors that affect behaviour in sport. You gain subject-specific knowledge in areas such as physiology, psychology, biochemistry, biomechanics and nutrition.

You'll also develop a set of core skills including:

• research and data analysis
• the ability to work on your own initiative and as part of a team
• digital literacy, with the ability to engage with new technologies and innovations
• presentation and oral communication skills
• written communication skills, including report writing
• time management and planning
• effective problem solving
• professionalism and customer focus.

Further study

Some sport-related careers require further study at postgraduate level. For example, if you want to become a sport and exercise psychologist you'll need to complete relevant accredited psychology qualifications. To get a job as a sports coach, you'll need to gain the appropriate coaching qualification that's offered by the national governing body of your chosen sport.

If you want to become a PE teacher, you can go on to complete a postgraduate teaching qualification. A Masters or PhD may open up other teaching and research opportunities in higher education.

You could also go on to study a different subject area, such as journalism to become a sports journalist, law to advise about employment legalities and contracts for sports professionals, or marketing to carry out marketing activities for a sports venue.

Your sports science background can also provide a good foundation for retraining in healthcare careers such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy or nursing through postgraduate conversion courses.

It's also possible to specialise at Masters level to increase your knowledge in a particular area of interest, such as sport biomechanics or musculoskeletal sport science.

For more information on further study and to find a course that interests you, see teacher training and education,ÌýMasters degreesÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýsearch postgraduate courses in sport and exercise science.

What do sport science graduates do?

The top ten jobs held by sport and exercise science graduates 15 months after graduation include sports coaches, instructors and officials (13%), secondary education teaching professionals (9%), therapy professionals (4%), fitness and wellbeing instructors (3%), nursing auxiliaries and assistants (3%), primary education teaching professionals (2%), sports and leisure assistants (2%), educational support assistants (2%) and HR officers (2%).

For a detailed breakdown of what sport science graduates are doing after graduation, see What do graduates do?

Graduate Outcomes survey data from HESA.

Find out more

• The British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) - professional body for sport and exercise sciences in the UK
• British Association of Sport Rehabilitators and Trainers (BASRaT) - represents sport rehabilitators in the UK and Ireland