Job description:

Contract type:            Fixed term, until September 2025. Full time

Reports to:                  Senior Education Programmes Manager

Location:                     Premier League, Brunel Building, 57 North Wharf Road, London, W2 1HQ

Overview

Working closely with the Education Programmes Manager you will deliver on core elements of the Premier League’s secondary school programme, Premier League Inspires. This role includes supporting Club Community Organisations’ (CCOs) delivery across the Premier League and English Football League (EFL). You will coordinate the grant giving process for your programme, including delivering funding briefings, application review, issuing grant awards, monitoring performance and gathering insight and best practice.

You will interact with the CCO network and partners on a daily basis, ensuring they have the capabilities needed to deliver programmes to the best possible standards, whilst understanding the specific needs of education establishments and local communities. You will play an active role in enhancing the existing programme to improve reach and impact and support the development of creating new learning resources and organising inspirational events.

The right candidate will have strong project or programme management skills and a demonstrable commitment to helping children and young people achieve their potential.

Who we are

Established in 2010, the Premier League Charitable Fund (PLCF) is one of the biggest sports charities in the world, with an annual budget around £35m. The independent charity supports CCOs in delivering high quality projects that help young people to achieve their potential and evidences its success to key stakeholders.   

Aligned with the Premier League Communities Strategy, the PLCF aims to create positive and lasting sporting, social, educational and health outcomes for wide range of beneficiaries, especially children and young people. The PLCF team supports and inspires impactful work via 92+ club community organisations, including those in the Premier League and English Football League (EFL). In turn, their work directly benefits more than 500,000 individuals at thousands of community venues and schools each year.

Currently delivered by 45 CCOs Premier League Inspires is funded by the Premier League and the Professional Football Players’ Association (PFA). Premier League Inspires uses the appeal of football to help young people aged 11-18 at risk of not reaching their potential as they move through the education system and early adulthood to develop personal skills, knowledge and attitudes to succeed in life.

Our hybrid-working model also allows you some variety on your place of work, offering you the chance to work from home on some days each week. Where possible, you will attend the office or site visits in line with our company policy. All staff liaise closely with their line manager to manage their time appropriately and according to their work and team requirements.

 

The role

Project Management and Development

 

• Ensure that the Premier League Inspires programme day-to-day delivery is effective and of sufficient quality and deemed value for money in accordance with the Programmes’ minimum operating standards and any other contractual obligations as set out by the PLCF Board and/or funding partners.
• Support the Senior Education Programmes Manager to develop and maintain relationships with funders and partners to engage them in the support and delivery of Premier League Inspires including managing operational and strategic meetings.
• Use all performance monitoring data, information gathered and insight from assessment of project delivery to help inform future delivery models. Support the development of a medium to long term plan for on-going development of the programme with a view to its growth and sustainability both within the period of the funding and beyond.

 

Resources

 

• Work with CCOs and Premier League partners where relevant to develop a national bank of central education resources and toolkits to distribute across the network, ensuring these meet practical requirements of participants as well as programme brand guidelines.

 

Learning and Evaluation

 

• Undertake meetings and visits to individual CCO Premier League Inspires projects as part of the ongoing assessment of project standards and to gain insight at the point of delivery, consolidating findings within reports back to the PLCF, PL Community Team and other relevant partners.
• Establish and facilitate regular forums for individual programme staff to come together to share learnings, best practice and/or receive training. This will include the organisation and joint coordination of national coordinator conferences, learning/evaluation events and/or regional networks.
• Regularly review programme data to identify trends and subsequent options for best practice, case studies, feedback and club support. Work in collaboration with the PLCF/PL Communications and Digital teams to provide relevant information and identify best practice/case studies for PR purposes and events where required.
• Work with the PLCF’s Impact and Insight Manager to support ongoing evaluation projects covering the delivery and impact of the Premier League Inspires programme.

 

CCO Support and Development

 

• Be responsible for liaising with CCO staff as the first point of contact for all matters relating to the programme including sharing of best practice and guidance on areas of their development via regular newsletters and other communication channels.
• Liaise with CCO staff to scope requirements for specific training that would benefit the national programme; working with the PLCF Training and Events Executive to develop these training provisions and cross PLCF programme support.  

 

Events

 

• Work with the PLCF Training and Events Executive and PL Communities team, along with relevant external consultants to deliver a range of programme events and competitions including the Premier League Inspires Challenge.

 

Safeguarding

 

• Consult with the Safeguarding Manager to understand and support the complex safeguarding and risk requirements of the programme and CCOs delivery. 

 

Wider PLCF and Education Programme team support

 

• Work with the PLCF lead for EDI to effectively embed inclusion, diversity and equality into the Premier League Inspires programme, internally and via CCOs.
• Support across other areas of the education programmes team including help when required with Premier League Primary Stars, digital resource development, CCO delivery and events.
• Share in PLCF’S values and participate as a full member of the PLCF team, and where appropriate, carry out other duties as may reasonably be required, including deputising as appropriate, and giving support to other members of the team at busy times.

 

Requirements for the role

• Ability to lead and manage a grants programme in the charity, schools/education and/or sports sector
• Project management, planning and organisational skills, including the ability to manage a complex network of stakeholders
• Ability to design (or commission the creation of) educational resources and activities to inspire secondary school age pupils
• An understanding of measuring impact, both qualitatively and quantitatively, preferably in an education setting
• Ability to work under pressure, make sound judgement calls and solve problems at pace
• Ability to communicate well to a range of audiences, and using different mediums, with written skills to an excellent standard
• Excellent negotiation, interpersonal and relationship management skills
• Ability to work collaboratively with excellent planning and organisational ability
• Understanding of the school environment, preferably at a strategic level
• High level of computer proficiency, particularly with MS Office packages
• An understanding of, and commitment to, equality, diversity and inclusion and how it relates to the role
• Willingness to travel within England and Wales as and when appropriate
• A commitment to safeguarding and have a satisfactory enhanced DBS check to be completed

 

Our commitment to safeguarding includes implementing robust safer recruitment procedures to assess the suitability of individuals applying for roles that involve work with children and adults who are or may be at risk of harm.

 

To apply please visit our careers page and apply with your CV and a cover letter. The closing date for applications is 1 May 2024.

 

We will remove barriers that prospective candidates might face at any stage of our recruitment process. If you have a disability and would like the advert in an alternative format, or would like to talk about how we can adjust the interview process to best support you, please contact recruitment@premierleague.com