Vacancy description
Key Information
- Division:Grassroots Football
- Location:Wembley Stadium
- Vacancy Type:Full-time, Permanent
- Closing Date:25 November 2026
This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in supporting County FAs to achieve and maintain high standards of governance. You'll lead the implementation and ongoing development of The FA's Code of Governance for County FAs, working collaboratively with County FAs, Sport England and other stakeholders to assess compliance, provide practical support and help organisations continually improve.
You'll also help evolve governance standards across the wider grassroots game, developing resources, training and new approaches that support strong, inclusive and effective organisations, including emerging standards such as the League Code of Governance and the ‘A Game for All' Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Standard.
This role will be contractually Wembley based, with the expectation to be on site two days a week at Wembley, usually Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when not travelling to meet County FA colleagues.
Shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete a video interview and will be notified at the end of November. In person interviews will be held at Wembley Stadium on the 16th December, with a final stage held on line on the 18th December.
What will you be doing?
Establish, execute and manage implementation of The FA's Code of Governance for County FAs (Code) compliance framework and support the County FA network to achieve and maintain Code compliance:
- Assess County FAs to ensure compliance with version 3.0 of the Code by 30th June 2028 and beyond in line with requirements.
- Support County FAs to ensure full compliance with version 3.0 of the Code by 30th June 2028 and continued compliance beyond.
- Introduce and manage a robust “ongoing compliance” mechanism to ensure that once County FAs become compliant, they remain compliant, and that risks are identified and reported back to ensure proactive action can be undertaken.
- Provide diligent, forensic, robust inspection of evidence and, in doing so, ensure that full compliance with all requirements is met prior to sign off.
- Ensure County FAs are robustly challenged in the sign off process to ensure there are no grey areas and that compromises are not made, unless on an exceptional basis and agreed with the Head of Operations.
- Ensure a simple, efficient process and system is in place to gather evidence, test that evidence, and that maintains that evidence as updated and current.
- Protect the County FA network from “paper compliance” – where compliance appears achieved on paper but the requirements are not being met in practice.
- Demonstrate impact of the Code.
- Develop and implement an ongoing programme of training and education for County FA colleagues.
- Report monthly on Code adoption progress, including Board diversity measures.
- Meet with Boards, Chairs and Executive County FA staff as required to provide clarity on requirements and to support adoption and maintenance of the Code.
- Seek opportunities to help County FAs achieve greater diversity on Boards and in their Executive teams.
- Establish and maintain a County FA Code of Governance risk register.
Contribute to the evolution of the Code:
- Contribute to the evolution of the Code to ensure it continues to act as a gold standard for Sport in England, working with Sport England to ensure it remains a proxy for Tier 3 of their Code for Sports Governance.
- Maintain relationships and communications with the Sport England Governance team to ensure proxy status is retained and protected.
- To be an advocate of the Code with Sport England and other external bodies.
Ensure resources, assets, training evolved to support the Code:
- Source internal and external funding and create and execute a Governance training & education programme for County FAs.
- Develop and signpost high quality assets to help County FAs meet the requirement and to achieve best practice.
- Continually review these assets to ensure they are cutting edge and an exemplar for other sports.
- Provide regular Governance surgeries to the network.
- Deliver Governance Conference's where required.
Lead on the cascading of Code of Governance standards within grassroots football:
- Promote the Code internally and externally so that its potential and its impact are understood and to build governance advocacy.
- Lead on assessing the pilot League Code of Governance programme.
- Evolve the League Code to become a key initiative to drive robust Governance in Leagues.
- Establish a training and education Governance programme for leagues.
- Seek opportunities to adapt the Code for application by grassroots clubs.
Support the development of new Operating Standards and associated compliance processes:
- Support the development of other County FA Operating Standards that assist County FAs to comply with the Code including the ‘A Game for All' Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Standard and to be developed Customer Service Standard.
- Support and, where appropriate, lead on the development and implementation of compliance framework(s) that enable County FAs to meet the requirements of other Operating Standards.
- 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:
- Experience of Sports Development.
- Experience of working with Boards of Directors.
- Applied knowledge of sports governance and Companies Act.
- Applied knowledge of project management and planning.
- Ability to work flexibly and sometimes unsociable hours.
- Diplomacy and the ability to deal appropriately with confidential information.
Beneficial to have:
- Knowledge of the structure and organisations within football.
- Experience in a legal role.
- IT skills including word processing, database work and PowerPoint presentations.
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 on 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, encourages 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.
- Private medical cover funded by The FA.
- A contributory pension scheme.
- An additional 'Thank You' day's leave, volunteering days, as well as 25 days of 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
Currently, we are working 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. The contractual location of this role can be found on the FA Careers page.
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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