Stadium Accreditation Project Officer (Maternity Cover)

The Premier League Stadium Fund awards capital grants to clubs to support improvement of their stadium facilities for players, supporters and officials. Funding is available to clubs who play in Steps 1 to 6 of the National League System, Tiers 1 to 4 of the Women’s Football Pyramid and clubs promoted into the English Football League.

As well as continuing to provide capital grants, the Premier League Stadium Fund has also assumed responsibility for the collection of ground grading data with a new programme called ‘Stadium Accreditation’ which is launching in July 2023.  

The purpose of the Football Foundation is to transform individual lives and communities by providing people with a great place to play. That’s an inspiring thought – but behind it sits a great team. The Foundation is an independent charity, but has at its heart a collaboration between the Premier League, The Football Association and Sport England. Our role is to facilitate their joint investment into community sports facilities. We do this through partnership working – being part of a team is really important to us. 

Becoming part of the Football Foundation team, will give you the chance to deliver a positive impact in every community in England; to help transform lives and communities through great places to play; and to be part of a supportive and inclusive staff team that strives to work hard and plays fair to achieve its goals. 

As the Stadium Accreditation Project Officer at the Football Foundation, you will provide project support to our ambitious Stadium Accreditation Programme, launching in July 2023. 

The aim of this Programme is to revolutionise the collection of ground grading data using our new digital tool, StadiumPower. Data will be collected on behalf of The FA for the stadiums that are used across England and Wales for the purposes of playing National League System and Women’s Football Pyramid football. 
 
This new role will work alongside the Head of Premier League Stadium Fund, the Stadium Accreditation Technical Manager, StadiumPower Product Manager and a network of Stadium Accreditation Assessors. These Assessors will be engaged on a casual basis to inspect and formally assess the quality of stadiums, and to collect specific data and information on the grounds and facilities on behalf of the PLSF. We will also draw on resource from the Foundation’s Technical Team to carry out these formal assessments.
 
The Project Officer will support the team in planning and coordinating activity. They will help to keep a track of progress, and coordinate the day-to-day activity for the Programme. In the initial stages, the Project Officer will support the roll out of StadiumPower to clubs and leagues, dealing with enquiries as the programme establishes. 

We’d love to hear from you if you are accurate and organised, with experience of planning and coordinating activity for a busy team. You’ll have great time management skills with the ability to prioritise a varied workload, balancing important tasks with urgent demands and keeping track of responsibilities and actions.

You’ll also be a great communicator with experience of building and maintaining strong working relationships with internal and external stakeholders and of providing excellent customer service. You’ll be proactive, positive and always on the lookout for creative solutions to problems and ways to improve our systems and processes. 

You’ll also need to be flexible, adaptable and comfortable with technology, as you’ll need to develop a good understanding of the StadiumPower tool quickly, so that you can provide support and guidance to our Assessors. 

You don’t need to follow football to apply, but it is expected that you appreciate the power of sport to change lives and have a genuine interest in using your skills and experience to help the Foundation achieve our charitable and strategic objectives.

Most of all we want someone who reflects who we are as an organisation. We refer to our values as our four corners: 

•    Fair Players – open and inclusive in our approach
•    Star Performers – trusted to deliver
•    United Team Player – collaborative and easy to work with
•    Passionate Supporters – flexible and willing 

For full details of the role and requirements, please check out our recruitment pack below:

The salary band for this role is £30,000.

This is a temporary maternity cover role, expected to last 12 months. We would ideally want the candidate to start work by the end of August 2023 to handover from the current employee. 

You will start on 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays . We also offer a generous pension scheme (8% employer contribution), collective bonus scheme, free health care provision, a monthly gym subsidy, interest-free season ticket loan, death in service benefit and access to selected match tickets

We are committed to helping our team members maintain a healthy work-life balance, so offer flexible working around core hours to help achieve that.

We request that all applicants complete our equal opportunities form as part of the application process. This anonymous and confidential form helps the Football Foundation to build up a picture of who is applying to join the organisation, and to monitor progress in this area. The link to complete this is in the application process. 

The Football Foundation is committed to, and values the principles of diversity, equality, and inclusion. We strive to provide an inclusive and supportive working environment where all our team feel respected and supported in fulfilling their potential. We encourage and welcome applications from all, regardless of background and are particularly interested to hear from individuals belonging to under-represented groups including diverse ethnic communities, individuals with a disability and those from the LGBTQI+ community.

Should you need any adjustments to the recruitment process, at either application or interview stage, please contact us at jobs@footballfoundation.org.uk

To apply, please follow the steps outlined below:

1) Please send the following to jobs@footballfoundation.org.uk

• CV
• Cover letter - please highlight briefly and clearly how your skills, abilities and experience equip you for the role, together with your reasons for applying. Please also confirm if you are applying for a permanent role, the temporary role, or are happy to be considered for both opportunities.

2) Complete an anonymous Equal Opportunities form

Click here to fill it out. Please only fill out one form when you apply. If you need any help, please let us know.

The closing date for applications is 9am on Wednesday 12 July 2023. 

Interviews are currently scheduled for Tuesday 25 July 2023 and will take place online using Microsoft Teams. 

Due to the volume of applications received for most roles, the Foundation only contacts candidates if they are shortlisted for interview. If you do not hear from us within two weeks of the closing date, you should assume your application has not been successful.

Please note that you must be eligible to work in the UK to apply.