HEAD OF PROFESSIONAL WORKFORCE
LOCATION: London
SALARY: £45,650pa plus generous benefits (more maybe available for exceptional candidates)
At Sport England we are determined to create a sporting habit for life and create a meaningful and lasting community sport legacy
from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Working with a range of partners, including National Governing Bodies of
sport, we will be investing lottery and exchequer funding to encourage young people to regularly play sport and continue with this
interest into their adult life. This means building a world-class network of clubs, coaches, facilities and volunteers in every community
and building partnerships fit for a new era in sport.
We are seeking to recruit an experienced change agent to play a key role in engaging with National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) to
enable them to build and maintain a workforce that delivers growth in sports participation; and implement innovative development
programmes that build the capacity, skills and behaviours necessary for leadership excellence in NGBs. Additionally, the post holder will
oversee all aspects of grants funding programmes in relation to professional workforce including the assessment of funding applications
and on-going monitoring of awards.
Interested? You should have a track record in delivering organisational and cultural change and developing leadership and management
capability across a diverse professional base. In addition, you will be able to influence a range of stakeholders and demonstrate strong
communication skills. Previous experience of working in a sports related environment, although not essential, would be an advantage.
Discover more by visiting www.sportengland.org for further information.
The closing date for receiving applications is 4pm on Tuesday 28th May. Interviews are scheduled to take place on the 10th June.
Sport England actively promotes diversity in employment and sport and welcomes
applications from all parts of the community.
Head of Professional Workforce
Job Title:
Directorate:
NGB and Sport
Reports to
Strategic Lead (Workforce)
Level
4
JOB PURPOSE
The post holder will play a key role in engaging with National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) to enable them to build and maintain
a workforce that can successfully deliver on the participation growth that Sport England has invested in them to achieve.
The post holder will also lead the creation and implementation of innovative development programmes that build the capacity, skills
and behaviours necessary for leadership excellence in NGBs.
DIMENSIONS
Direct Reports
Oversees elements of the Senior Manager, Clubs and Workforce (x2)
Budget
None
Holborn, London
Location
Key Contacts
NGBs, National Partners and other external organisations with a workforce remit, CIMPSA, UK Sport and
other sports bodies.
KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Operational Effectiveness
Working closely with key contacts within NGBs lead on activity to ensure NGBs have the professional workforce
they need to play a pivotal role in changing and sustaining participation behaviours, particularly amongst young
people. This includes:

Providing expert advice on professional development, using own expertise and authority in the field
to encourage involvement.

Improving leadership by commissioning the creation and delivery of innovative programmes that
assist NGBs and others to build capability.

Building networks that bring NGB workforce leads together to share best practise, introduce new
% Time
40%
thinking and provide peer support

Working closely with the Boards, Chairs, CEOs and Performance Directors in NGBs to enable them
to improve the capacity and capability of their professional workforce, by offering expertise and best
practice advice on development, transformational and cultural change.

Making recommendations for improvement in relation to workforce arising from formal reviews of
NGB practice and activity.

Working closely with Sport England colleagues as part of our collective efforts to ensure NGBs are
high performing

Managing all aspects of grants funding programmes in relation to professional workforce including
the assessment of funding applications and ongoing monitoring of awards.
Relationship management

Creating and maintaining a powerful network involving senior personnel across a range of NGBs to
include CEOs, Chairs of Board and Development Directors.

Overseeing Sport England’s relationship with funded partners (for example, SkillsActive).

Engaging with external organisations (for example, CIMPSA), networks and stakeholders (including
other government agencies) connected with the skills agenda sharing best practice with NGBs.

Developing new partnerships with those who can extend our thinking on workforce development
including forging partnerships with academic institutions to broaden understanding of workforce
development and best practice in the sector; organising workshops and sharing information with
NGBs.

Working across Sport England to provide updates on the contribution of the Workforce team in
ensuring NGBs are high performing.

Represent Sport England at external events as required.
40%
Team Development
15%

Working closely with other members of the Workforce team to ensure that by 2017 the NGB
workforce (both professional and voluntary) has appropriate access to developmental opportunities
and the tools needed to build their capacity.

Engage across the NGB and Sport Directorate to ensure delivery of our shared vision of NGBs
playing a pivotal role in increasing and sustaining participation.
Ad Hoc

Deputise for other members of the team as required.

Carry out any other duties that are within the post holder's skills and abilities whenever reasonably
instructed.

Follow Sport England’s policies and procedures in relation to other matters e.g. Health and Safety,
Procurement and Finance.
5%
The above is provided for guidance and is not an exhaustive list of all accountabilities that the role holder may have over time.
Job Requirements and Person Specification
Criteria
Essential
Education /
Qualifications

Educated to degree level or equivalent vocational qualification preferably in Business
or Organisational Development or equivalent experience.
Experience

Substantial experience in developing organisational improvements (e.g. cultural
change) and/or organisational change.

Previous experience of developing leadership and management capability across a
diverse professional base
Abilities / Skills /
Knowledge

Previous experience of engaging with a professional workforce to build both capacity
and capability.

Highly developed stakeholder management skills demonstrating ability to influence to
the point of decision at senior level within partner organisations.

Excellent communication skills, both internally and externally, with ability to write and
present clearly and effectively to a senior audience.

Ability to think strategically and creatively in regard to developing leadership and CPD
programmes.

Highly organised with an ability to plan and deliver work to agreed timelines.

Ability to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team

Strong business acumen with ability to provide proactive, customer focused advice.
Desirable

Previous experience of
working in a sport-related
environment

Experience of working in a
consultancy capacity.
BENEFITS ENJOYED BY SPORT ENGLAND COLLEAGUES
Sport England is committed to offering an attractive benefits package to all Sport England colleagues and these currently include:
Pay and Benefits
Annual Leave
32 days annual leave entitlement in addition to public holidays (pro rata for part-time colleagues).
Pension Scheme
Sport England provides employees with access to a Group Personal Pension Plan. Colleagues can contribute up to 6.5% of salary, and
Sport England will contribute up to 11%. There is also a Salary Sacrifice option available. Membership of the pension plan includes life
assurance cover.
Travel Season Ticket Loans
Interest free loans for season ticket and other work-related travel costs.
Lifestyle Benefits
Healthy Lifestyle Benefit
Sport England provides financial support for employees to undertake regular fitness - based activity. An allowance of up to a maximum of
£500 per annum is available to employees (pro rata for part-time colleagues), who take part in a regular fitness based activity, (e.g. Gym
membership, membership of a Sports Club, Tennis lessons, Yoga)
Cycle to Work Scheme
The Cycle to Work Scheme supports Sport England’s commitment to promoting healthy living by allowing you to sacrifice part of your salary
to obtain a bicycle on which you do not have to pay VAT. In addition, Tax and National Insurance will not be deducted.
Work Life balance
Family Leave Policies
Sport England offers generous maternity and paternity support benefits including 9-months enhanced maternity (subject to qualifying
conditions) and 3-weeks enhanced paternity pay (subject to qualifying conditions) in addition to statutory rights.
Childcare Vouchers
Sport England operates a Childcare Vouchers Scheme which supports our commitment to work-life balance. It allows parents to save on
their childcare costs by sacrificing part of their salary to purchase an equal value of Childcare Vouchers on which Tax and National
Insurance are not deducted.
Confidential Counseling Service
A confidential counselling service is available to all colleagues free of charge. This service offers professional counselling and information
services designed to help with a range of problems in the workplace or at home.
Commitment to Development
Sport England knows that personal growth is a key component to the success of our organisation and therefore we value and invest in
learning and development opportunities.
Please note: that Sport England is an Arms Length body with separate terms and benefits from other Civil Service departments, or public
sector employers. Unfortunately colleagues joining Sport England from other government departments do not retain continuity of service
or the ability to maintain active membership of any public sector pension fund.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Online Application Advice:

You will be asked to upload your CV to the system, following which you will be sent a confirmation email and password to
complete the remainder of your application form. Please ensure that you check your junk mail for this email, in particular if
you are applying from a Hotmail account.

Please be advised that you cannot save and return to the online application form. In addition it will time-out after 90
minutes. Therefore in order to ensure that you complete your application in the allocated time we recommend that you
prepare your answer to the following question in advance and simply copy and paste it into the appropriate box:
Section Three: Demonstration of your suitability for the role
Please indicate briefly (no more than 1500 words) why you are applying for this job. Insert the selected criteria from
the ‘job requirements’ as detailed in the job description and highlight any particular skills, knowledge and
experience you have in relation to these that you feel makes you a strong candidate.

Points to consider when completing this section of the Application Form:
o We are looking for you to provide specific evidence of your individual skills and previous experience.
o Give a range of examples – if possible, use different situations or challenges you faced rather than rely on just
one experience. This helps to evaluate how you tackle different challenges and not just your behaviour in a ‘one
off’ situation.
o If your example involves a team task, tell us about what your role within the team was as opposed to telling us
what the team did and what their general achievements were.
o Avoid making statements. Please provide supporting evidence. For example ‘I have excellent communication
skills as I deal with people all day’ is a statement. You need to explain what makes your communication skills
excellent, describe the situation where your communication skills had a positive effect and how.
o Candidates are advised to provide a fulsome response to this question.

For any technical queries please contact the My People Biz helpdesk at: support@mypeoplebiz.com

Please ensure that you save your CV as your name for our reference.
Sport England will refund reasonable travel expenses (car mileage (subject to Sport England limits) and 2nd class rail fares) for candidates
with interviews at Sport England. Receipts must be provided for all rail/underground fares.