Vacancy description
Key Information
- Division:Grassroots Football
- Location:Wembley Stadium
- Vacancy Type:Full-time, Permanent
- Closing Date:4 October 2026
As the Women's National League Designated Safeguarding Officer, you will play a pivotal role in delivering The FA's safeguarding strategy, leading safeguarding policy and practice across the WNL, and driving continuous improvement to protect and support everyone involved in the game. Working closely with clubs, County FAs and colleagues across The FA Safeguarding team, you will help shape safeguarding culture, manage concerns effectively, and ensure the highest standards of welfare and compliance are embedded throughout the women's game.
This role will require frequent national travel. It is expected that this will be one or two days a week, although this could flex up or down.
What will you be doing?
- Work with WNL colleagues to embed safeguarding throughout their governance, policy, standards, systems, and events, supporting learning and development needs as appropriate.
- Lead and influence clubs to drive continuous improvements in safeguarding culture and practice. Drive safeguarding standards, where appropriate, aligning with the pro and semi-pro games to maximise impact, including event safeguarding.
- Support member clubs to recruit, appoint and induct Club Welfare Officers and facilitate a programme of support, CPD and training for this WNL Club Welfare Officer and Club/Academy workforce.
- Work with WNL Clubs, The FAs Safeguarding Teams and County FA Designated Safeguarding Officers to ensure safeguarding concerns are managed in line with The FA's Policy, Regulations and thresholds for referrals.
- Develop the standards across the WNL in line with other leagues' safeguarding criteria for the future development of the WNL and its strategy .
- Collaborate to ensure systems enable effective visibility of relevant data for compliance oversight of the requirements in the Safeguarding Standard.
- Maintain current safeguarding CPD, attend relevant safeguarding training and networking meetings and provide safeguarding updates and reports 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?
Essential for the role:
Knowledge
- A professional safeguarding qualification and or relevant experience in a safeguarding / welfare role.
- In depth knowledge of national safeguarding legislation, policy and implementation.
- Knowledge of current issues that impact on the development of grassroots to elite young players, particularly in the Women's game.
- A sound working knowledge of data protection principles and practice.
- Sound knowledge of equality legislation and inclusive practices as they relate to safeguarding and additional vulnerability.
Experience
Experience of:
- Implementing safeguarding policy and safer working practice guidance.
- Supporting safeguarding and player wellbeing in elite sport pathways.
- Managing referrals and concerns and operating within legal and regulatory frameworks to manage them.
- Risk and crisis management.
Technical Skills
- Ability to create inspiring presentations and present to a wide range of key stakeholders
- Advanced Reporting Writing skills
- Advanced Microsoft Office
- Excellent communication, management, presentation, and facilitation skills
- Reporting Writing skills
- Advanced Microsoft Office
Beneficial to have:
Knowledge
- An understanding of the case management processes, legislation and related statutory and voluntary infrastructure
Experience
Experience of:
- Working in safeguarding in a sporting context
- Developing tailored resources for different stakeholders
- Differentiating learning materials and using a blended approach to learning
Technical Skills
- Basic Project Management skills
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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