158 New Athletic Trainer Jobs — Tuesday, September 8, 2026 - After 10 Years Building a Department, He Had to Walk Away

I hope you all had a fantastic long Labor Day Weekend!

We are back with, 158 new athletic trainer jobs added to the job board this week. The picks span a wide range of settings: a professional volleyball team, a tenure-track faculty position, an Amazon industrial role in a favorable market, an arena football team, and a founding director opportunity that may be one of the most significant career-building roles posted on this board all year.

But the picks aren’t the reason to read this edition carefully.

The What’s Worth Noting section is about Benjamin Lewis — an athletic trainer who spent ten years building a program at Lakeside High School in Arkansas and resigned this week after reaching a point where he felt he could no longer practice as an athletic trainer.

He left. Ten years. Gone.

Medical autonomy doesn’t get talked about enough when ATs evaluate jobs. It should. The full story is at the end.

Moore Wellness Systems has three new industrial AT openings in the Featured This Week section — details are below the picks.

One more thing for employers: I’m working on an AT Finder Recruitment Accelerator for difficult-to-fill athletic trainer positions, and I’m opening just three pilot spots. Details are below.

The AT Finder Talent Network is live and growing. Free for ATs. Always will be. atcfinder.com.

Let’s get into the picks.

Head Athletic Trainer & Director of Player Health  |  Indy Ignite Pro Volleyball

Fishers, IN  |  $85,000–$110,000 (Annual)

The Indy Ignite are a professional women’s volleyball team in the Major League Volleyball circuit. This is the top AT leadership role in the organization — designing and overseeing the full sports medicine system, providing hands-on clinical care, and coordinating with performance staff and team physicians. The $85,000–$110,000 range is transparent and strong for a professional sports AT leadership role. Fishers is a suburb of Indianapolis — cost of living runs close to the national average and the salary is meaningful purchasing power there. No retirement disclosure listed. Ask about travel volume during the competitive season and what the off-season structure looks like.

Assistant Professor — Athletic Training  |  Montclair State University

Montclair, NJ  |  $69,373–$108,434 (Annual)

A tenure-track faculty position in a CAATE-accredited program with responsibilities across teaching, research, and service. The $69,373–$108,434 range is unusually broad for an Assistant Professor posting and gives experienced candidates meaningful room within the advertised band. Retirement benefits are available. Montclair is in Essex County, New Jersey, where cost of living runs above the national average, but the academic career track and long-term stability change the total compensation picture. Terminal degree required. Ask about course load, research expectations, and the clinical placement infrastructure for program students.

Injury Prevention Specialist  |  Amazon.com Services LLC

Oklahoma City, OK  |  $54,200–$81,200 (Annual) + Sign-On + RSUs

Amazon’s tenth appearance on this board in 2026. Consistent structure throughout: day-one benefits, 401(k) matching, sign-on payments, and restricted stock units on top of the base salary. Oklahoma City runs well below the national average on cost of living — the salary range is genuine purchasing power in that market. Ask about shift structure, solo versus team coverage at this facility, and the RSU vesting schedule.

Athletic Trainer — Tulsa Oilers  |  Oklahoma State University – Center for Health Sciences

Tulsa, OK  |  $65,000–$70,000 (Annual)

Professional indoor arena football coverage for the Tulsa Oilers under the umbrella of the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences — an unusual combination of professional sports medicine and academic health system affiliation. Tulsa runs well below the national average on cost of living and the $65,000–$70,000 range is meaningful purchasing power there. No retirement disclosure listed for an OSU Health Sciences position — ask specifically. Ask about the game and practice schedule structure and what the off-season AT responsibilities look like within the CHS system.

Director, Master of Athletic Training Program  |  Austin Peay State University

Clarksville, TN  |  Not Listed — Tenure-Track Faculty, Salary Unknown

A founding director opportunity to build a new Master of Athletic Training program from inception through inaugural cohort launch at a Tennessee Board of Regents institution. Tenure-track appointment at the Associate or Full Professor level. The scope is broad: CAATE accreditation development, curriculum design, clinical site establishment, faculty hiring, and program leadership. Terminal degree and CAATE program experience required. No salary is listed — ask directly and negotiate from the full professor salary scale before committing. Clarksville is northwest of Nashville with a cost of living well below the national average. Opportunities to be the person who builds something rarely arrive. Ask every question you have before deciding.

FEATURED POSTINGS THIS WEEK

These employers have committed resources to enhancing their job's visibility and confirmed their salary ranges.

★ Industrial Athletic Trainer — Dallas, TX  |  Moore Wellness Systems

Dallas, TX (5×8 Schedule)  |  $63,000–$67,000 (Annual)

Monday through Friday, five 8-hour days, no weekends, no team travel. The Dallas role is the strongest COL-adjusted pick of the three Moore Wellness openings this week — Texas has no state income tax and Dallas runs close to the national average on cost of living. $63,000–$67,000 is meaningful purchasing power there. Full health, dental, and vision benefits. Simple IRA with employer match. Medbridge subscription for CEUs. Licensure reimbursement at year one. Ask about the specific industrial client site, daily employee volume, and standing orders structure.

★ Industrial Athletic Trainer — Pendergrass, GA  |  Moore Wellness Systems

Pendergrass, GA (4×8 Schedule)  |  $52,000–$60,000 (Annual)

Four 8-hour days per week in Pendergrass, Georgia — a small community in Jackson County northeast of Atlanta. Cost of living runs well below the national average and the salary range is meaningful purchasing power in that market. Same full benefits package: health, dental, vision, Simple IRA with employer match, Medbridge, and licensure reimbursement. Ask about the specific client site and daily employee population.

★ Industrial Athletic Trainer — Marion, NC  |  Moore Wellness Systems

Marion, NC (4×8 Schedule)  |  $52,000–$60,000 (Annual)

Four 8-hour days per week in Marion, North Carolina — a small city in McDowell County in the western NC mountains. Cost of living runs below the national average. Same benefits structure as the other Moore Wellness openings. Marion is a more rural setting than the Dallas or Pendergrass locations — factor lifestyle into the evaluation alongside the compensation. Ask about the client site, schedule, and standing orders structure for physician oversight.

Something New for Employers

Have an athletic trainer position that just isn’t filling?

I’m considering launching an AT Finder Recruitment Accelerator for employers who have been struggling to recruit athletic trainers. This would go beyond simply posting the job. I want to work directly with employers to understand the position, the market they’re competing in, why the role may not be attracting candidates, and what needs to change to make it more competitive.

Before I formally launch it, I’m opening three pilot spots.

There is one catch: You may have to be willing to make some changes.

If the salary is significantly below market, the schedule or workload is unrealistic, the job description is hurting you, or there are other parts of the position keeping candidates away, I’m going to tell you. If you aren’t willing or able to address the biggest barriers, this probably won’t be a good fit.

For these first three employers, I’ll provide the Recruitment Accelerator at no cost in exchange for candid feedback and, if the experience is worth talking about, a testimonial.

I specifically want to hear from employers who have had a position sitting open, have reposted a role, or simply aren’t getting the applicants they need.

Three employers. Difficult-to-fill AT positions. Willing to make changes.

If that sounds like your situation, reach out to me at atcfinder@gmail.com.

What's Worth Noting This Week:

I don’t usually use this section for something like this, but I wanted to highlight what happened at Lakeside High School in Arkansas this week.

Benjamin Lewis resigned after ten years as the Head Athletic Trainer at Lakeside. Benjamin is also a co-chair of the Arkansas Athletic Trainers’ Association Secondary Schools Committee.

In his resignation, Benjamin described coaches bypassing medical clearance decisions made by himself and physicians, wet-bulb heat rules being disregarded, and administrators overruling medical decisions.

What makes this even more frustrating is that Lakeside had the structure in place to prevent exactly this. Their written policy gave the sports medicine staff, under the direction of team physicians, final say over athlete participation.

Benjamin said that policy wasn’t being honored.

Eventually, he was told that the wet-bulb rules would no longer be strictly enforced and that he should not confront coaches who bypassed his medical decisions.

So he resigned.

Benjamin, you have my support.

Anyone who has worked in the secondary school setting knows how difficult it can be to be the person saying no. It’s pretty easy to support the athletic trainer’s medical authority when everyone agrees with the decision. It gets a lot harder when your decision keeps a good player out of a game or changes what a coach wants to do at practice.

That’s when medical autonomy actually means something.

We tell ATs all the time to advocate for their patients, follow best practices, follow their policies and not allow pressure from coaches or administrators to influence medical decisions.

We can’t tell athletic trainers to do all of that and then leave them hanging when they actually do it.

And he didn’t just get frustrated and complain about it on Facebook. He left a program he spent ten years building.

ATs working in secondary schools know what ten years in one program means. Ten years of relationships with athletes and families. Ten years working with coaches and physicians. Ten years developing policies, building trust and creating a sports medicine program.

You don’t walk away from all of that over nothing.

Benjamin’s role with the Arkansas Secondary Schools Committee adds another layer to this. This is someone actively involved in advancing secondary school athletic training in his state who reached the point where he felt he couldn’t continue working within his own athletic department.

I have a lot of respect for someone willing to put his own job on the line rather than put his name and credential behind decisions he doesn’t believe are appropriate.

I also feel for the student-athletes at Lakeside.

They just lost an athletic trainer who had been there for a decade and was willing to stand up for them even when doing so wasn’t popular.

We’re talking about medical clearance decisions. We’re talking about environmental heat safety. We’re talking about who gets to make healthcare decisions for kids.

Those aren’t insignificant disagreements between an athletic trainer and a coach.

The student-athletes deserve an athletic department that allows its healthcare professionals to make healthcare decisions. They deserve coaches who respect those decisions. And their athletic trainer should be able to make a difficult medical decision without wondering whether someone is going to go around them to get the answer they want.

Unfortunately, they’re now losing an athletic trainer who was willing to fight for exactly that.

We spend a lot of time talking about salary, benefits, staffing and workload when evaluating athletic training jobs. I certainly do with AT Finder.

Medical autonomy needs to be part of that conversation too.

A job can pay well and still be a bad athletic training job if you aren’t actually allowed to practice as an athletic trainer.

So when you’re interviewing for a job, ask who has final say on medical decisions. Ask who you report to. Ask what happens when you disagree with a coach. Ask whether the administration has backed its athletic trainer when those conflicts have happened before.

Don’t just ask what the policy says.

Ask what happens when someone doesn’t like the answer the policy gives them.

That’s probably going to tell you a lot more about the job.

And if anyone reading this knows Benjamin, please send this his way.

I don’t know what his plans are or whether he’s already found his next landing spot, but if he’s looking, he’s exactly the type of athletic trainer I want AT Finder to help.

I want to help someone like Benjamin find an employer that sees an athletic trainer willing to stand behind his medical decisions as an asset, not a problem.

Benjamin, if this gets to you, reach out. I’ll help however I can.

From one secondary school AT to another, you’ve got my support.

The AT Finder Talent Network is free for athletic trainers and always will be. Create your profile at atcfinder.app.

Until next week — stop looking, start finding.