Vacancy description
Key Information
- Division:Grassroots Football
- Location:Wembley Stadium
- Vacancy Type:Full-time, Permanent
- Closing Date:17 August 2025
Are you interested in working for an organisation that truly values its people?
We are excited to be recruiting for a County FA Support Services Manager at The FA. The successful applicant will lead efforts to tackle poor behaviour and promote positive conduct across grassroots football. The role will design and implement targeted initiatives, use data and insight to shape impactful interventions, and support County FA's to drive local change. A key objective is to build visible confidence within the grassroots community that The FA is serious about improving behaviour and creating a more respectful football environment.
What will you be doing?
To design and implement initiatives to tackle poor behaviour / recognise and reward good behaviour
- Build, deliver and continuously improve a rolling 12-month behaviour delivery plan
- Design and implement national initiatives to address poor behaviour, including targeted responses for repeat offenders (e.g. the Behaviour Improvement Programme).
- Create and support campaigns and interventions that recognise and reward good behaviour at all levels of the game.
- Optimise exposure and adoption of the Respect Standards and Codes of Conduct, embedding them as the shared language of the game and evolving them as needed.
- Test and evaluate creative, non-traditional approaches to behaviour change, drawing on innovation and fresh thinking.
To utilise digital, insights and data to shape interventions that have optimal impact
- Use behavioural insight, discipline data, and participant feedback to shape, target and refine interventions.
- Ensure data is used effectively to measure performance, demonstrate impact, and drive continuous improvement.
- Lead the development of the Behaviour Hub into a best-in-class digital support tool for clubs, leagues, County FA's and individuals.
To collaborate with other stakeholders to embed a collective approach to tacking poor behaviour
- Support County FA's in implementing national initiatives and help them optimise local delivery for maximum impact.
- Ensure a steady stream of aligned messaging to participants, clubs, leagues and County FAs that reinforce strategic Tackling Poor Behaviour (TPB) goals.
- Collaborate closely with marketing to ensure national campaigns (e.g. Love Football, Protect the Game) and "always on" activities are engaging, consistent and far-reaching.
- Work across departments to ensure strategic alignment and strengthen outcomes, including:
- With the Discipline team to align the penalty points system and explore new ways to close the under-reporting gap
- With the FA Learning and Grassroots Coach Education teams to embed behaviour-related content in learning programmes and coach development.
To work within The FA company structure
- Execute additional tasks as required to meet the FA's changing priorities.
- Comply with all company policies and procedures to ensure that the highest standards of health, safety, and well-being can be maintained.
- As part of the FA's commitment to ensuring a safe environment for everyone in football, every employee will be required to complete a DBS check. The level of the check required will be based on the activity of the specific job role and in line with legislation and government guidance.
What are we looking for?
Essential for the role:
- Knowledge of the FA Grassroots Football Strategy
- Knowledge of behavioural issues facing the grassroots game
- Understanding of the structure of grassroots football and it's key stakeholders.
- Operational delivery experience across multi-stakeholder environments.
- Strategic thinking and ability to influence.
- Experience in developing business models including shared services.
- Demonstrate success in influencing stakeholders to achieve a common goal and to gain buy-in to objectives.
- Innovating and identifying new ways of doing things.
- Comfortable designing processes and interventions.
- Demonstrated experience in managing and maintaining budgets within specific financial parameters.
- Extensive experience of MS Platforms
- Excellent oral and written communication skills.
Beneficial to have:
- Understanding of behavioural science and how it can be applied to sport and community settings.
- Experience working in partnership with CFAs.
- Digital content management experience or with campaign analytic tools.
- Experience managing national or regional campaigns.
- Project management skills/qualifications.
- Understanding of data analysis.
What's in it for you?
We are committed to ensuring everyone can flourish in their roles, to achieve this we have unique office spaces under the arch of the iconic Wembley National Stadium, which is the home of English Football. We are also delighted to offer a world-class, Elite Performance Centre, St. George's Park in Staffordshire which is an exceptional setting to develop and inspire high-performing England teams and leaders.
We pride ourselves in offering a competitive salary, as well as great opportunities to develop and grow in your role. But that is not all; we also have a range of exciting benefits, some of which can be found below:
- Access to event day tickets at Wembley Stadium, alongside a host of regular internal events throughout the season, encouraging you to connect and learn with your colleagues and look after your mental health and well-being.
- Free, nutritious lunches at Wembley Stadium and St. George's Park.
- Free private medical cover.
- A contributory pension scheme.
- An additional 'Thank You' days leave, volunteering days as well as 25 days annual leave (based on a full-time, permanent contract.)
- A hybrid working model which offers greater flexibility.
For more information on what it is like to work at The FA, please visit our FA Careers page, https://www.thefa.com/about-football-association/careers
We are a diverse workplace, aspiring to represent football across the country. The Football Association actively promotes inclusion and diversity, encouraging you to be the best version of yourself at work.
We welcome applications from everyone and are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. If you have any particular requirements in respect of the recruitment or interview process, please mention this during your application.
As part of the FA's commitment to ensuring a safe environment for everyone in football, every employee will be required to complete a DBS check. The level of the check required will be based on the activity of the specific job role and in line with legislation and government guidance.
ABOUT US
The Football Association [The FA] is the not-for-profit governing body of football in England. It is responsible for promoting and developing every level of the game, from grassroots through to the professional game, and generates significant revenue to support investment into English football each year.
The FA oversees England international teams across men’s, women’s, youth and disability football, as well as running the National League System and FA Competitions including the Emirates FA Cup, and the Adobe Women’s FA Cup, and the world-class facilities of Wembley Stadium and St. George’s Park, all with a purpose to inspire positive change through football.
Our game can tackle some of society’s core challenges. It can bring communities together, nationally and locally. It can be a platform for inclusion, ensuring there is a place for all. It can get people active and promote wellbeing often at a time when we need it most. With UEFA EURO 2028 – hosted in the UK and Ireland – on the horizon, we have an incredible opportunity to transform football across the country.
Now is the time to inspire positive change.
We currently work within a hybrid working model whereby the expectation is to work from your contractual location for part of the week, and as and when required by the team. The remaining days can be worked remotely. We will continue to monitor this model, and it may be adjusted in future if deemed necessary.
Your contract with The FA will specify a fixed location of Wembley Stadium or St. George’s Park unless the role is advertised as a homebased contract. The contractual location of this role can be found at the top of this advert on our FA vacancy page.
THE PROCESS
We believe that assessment and selection should be robust, fair, and inclusive.
Following receipt of your application and the closing of the application process, you can expect a period of circa two weeks for us to thoroughly screen and shortlist, ahead of any next stage and interview.
Please note, we receive a high volume of applications so this can vary but we ensure that our assessor panel reviews all applications, and no use of automated screening or AI is used.
At an interview, we want to ensure that we see the best of you as an individual and increase our understanding of your skills and experience relevant to the demands of the role. It is very much a two-way process with importance placed on the candidate experience so that regardless of outcome, you feel valued, and treated fairly and hopefully have a positive experience.
No process is ever the same, but we would like to create an environment that is welcoming and ensures the experience is as enjoyable as possible.
We tailor our assessment and selection depending on the nature and demands of the role. The FA Resourcing Team will provide you with as much notice as possible about the process and the format of any interview will always be communicated to you in advance, including what to expect on the day and who you will be seeing.
We often receive a high volume of applications, and for certain roles, we will supplement your application, utilising our on-demand video interviewing platform. On-demand video interviews enable you to answer preset questions, in the comfort of your own home or office setting and at a convenient time for you, giving us greater insight into you as an individual and the skills and experience you might bring to the role and working at The FA.
We also utilise Microsoft Teams for virtual interviews and of course host you at our world class venues, Wembley Stadium and our National Football Centre, St. George’s Park.
GROUP STRATEGY
WE HAVE MOVED FOOTBALL FORWARD.
From 2020 - 2024, we have – in collaboration with our key partners – been able to deliver meaningful change across the game.
From winning our first major tournament in over 50 years to delivering thousands of high-quality pitches to the grassroots game.
BUT WE CAN’T STOP NOW - AND WE WON’T.
This new strategy is about doubling down. Our game can tackle some of society’s core challenges. It can bring communities together, nationally and locally.
It can be a platform for inclusion, ensuring there is a place for all. It can get people active and promote wellbeing often at a time when we need it most.
With UEFA EURO 2028 – hosted in the UK and Ireland – on the horizon, we have an incredible opportunity to transform football across the country.
NOW IS THE TIME TO INSPIRE POSITIVE CHANGE.
Our ultimate purpose is to ‘Inspire positive change through football’ – everything we do ultimately ladders up to this end goal.
The 2024-2028 strategy focuses on tackling four long-term strategic challenges that will fulfil this purpose and drive real change across the game, our ‘Game Changer’ objectives.
Underpinning these Game Changers are then four activities and approaches that will enable us to meet challenges head on, our ‘Drivers’.
EDI STRATEGY
Our equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategy forms an integral part of our long-term commitment to using our influence across English football to create a game free from discrimination.
A GAME FREE FROM DISCRIMINATION
Our 2024 – 2028 strategy outlines three fundamental pillars for delivering a game free from discrimination – Boosting Representation, Driving Inclusion and Tackling Discrimination.
These pillars ensure that our work uniting communities, improving lives, and inspiring positive change on and off the pitch will remain a core priority for English football for years to come.
We are a diverse workplace, aspiring to represent football across the country. The FA actively promotes inclusion and diversity, encouraging you to be the best version of yourself at work.
We welcome applications from everyone and are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. If you have any particular requirements in respect of the recruitment or interview process, please mention this during your application.
As part of The FA’s commitment to ensuring a safe environment for everyone in football, every employee will be required to complete a DBS check. The level of the check required will be based on the activity of the specific job role and in line with legislation and government guidance.
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