Vacancy description
Key Information
- Division:St. George's Park Operations
- Location:National Football Centre, St George's Park
- Vacancy Type:Fixed Term Contract, Full-time
- Closing Date:21 September 2025
The FA believes football has the power to unite communities, promote wellbeing, and inspire positive change.
The apprenticeship programme offers an entry into a rewarding career at The FA and an excellent opportunity to develop skills and gain experience within a supportive, inclusive and diverse organisation.
As an Apprentice Estates Person, you will work proactively with the Head of Grounds & Estates, Assistant Head of Estates, and the wider Estates/Grounds team to maintain and prepare all landscaped areas to the highest possible standard. Your work will help create a safe, attractive, and welcoming environment for all events, teams, and visitors to the SGP grounds.
You will support the delivery of the site's management plans and annual work schedules, ensuring the estate is presentable, safe, and well-maintained throughout the year — including in adverse weather conditions.
This will be a 2 year fixed term contract, based full time at St. George's Park, Burton on Trent and you will work towards a Level 2 Horticulture Operative Apprenticeship with Derby College. Please note that you will need to spend Wednesdays at their Broomfield Hall Campus, so please ensure that you will be able to travel there each week before you apply.
Please note that team members will be expected to be working on site or at college each day. Due to the nature of the work this role will not offer hybrid working.
What will you be doing?
- Maintain and prepare gardens, landscaped areas, and grounds to standards set by senior management.
- Carry out estate works in line with management plans and annual schedules.
- Ensure all work is compliant with relevant legislation, company policy, and best practice for security, health & safety, and environmental care.
- Keep the site clean, tidy, and free from litter.
- Maintain safe pedestrian and vehicle access, including frost/ice treatments and snow clearance during winter.
- Operate and maintain grounds machinery and equipment in accordance with manufacturer guidelines.
- Undertake all required training, including mandatory FA Group courses.
- Ensure all equipment and tools are returned in good condition after use.
Horticultural & Landscape Duties
- Lawn care and maintenance: mowing, edging, scarifying, fertilising, spraying, weeding, strimming, top dressing, re-seeding, and repair work.
- Woodland and habitat care: maintain and develop woodlands, grasslands, wetland habitats, ancient and veteran trees.
- Planting and bed care: planting, weeding, pruning, forking, digging, mulching, watering, edging.
- Hedge maintenance: cutting, weeding, gap filling, edging.
- Path and kerb maintenance: cleaning, spraying, weeding, brushing, blowing, gritting, snow clearance.
- Standard tree care: pruning, watering, feeding, weeding, and relocation where required.
- Work in compliance with environmental and species protection requirements across the site.
General
- Wear correct PPE in accordance with Health & Safety guidelines.
- Report any maintenance issues, damage, or equipment faults promptly to supervisors.
- Support other Estates Team duties as required
- Executes 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?
To be eligible you must meet the following criteria:
- Live within England and have lived within the UK for the last 3 consecutive years
- Must not be in full time education at the start of your apprenticeship
- Must be at least 16 years of age
- If aged 16-18 you will need to have maths and English at grade 4/C and have the certification for this. If not, you will need to sit Functional Skills Level 2 as part of the programme
- Must not hold a similar or higher qualification in the same area of study
This is a developmental role so you do not need lots of experience, however it would be beneficial for you to have the following:
- An interest and awareness in plant, tree, shrub and environmental and wildlife management.
- General and basic knowledge of common Health & Safety and safe working practices.
- Proactive and enthusiastic attitude towards landscaping, grounds work and/or horticulture.
- Attention to detail and pride in work.
- Flexible approach to hours and duties.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
- Be smart, polite, approachable, with good communication skills.
- Physical fitness and able to work in all weather conditions.
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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