Job description:

The Independent Football Regulator

The Independent Football Regulator (IFR) has been established to protect and promote the sustainability of English football, for the benefit of fans and the local communities football clubs serve.

The IFR will help improve financial sustainability of clubs, ensure resilience across the leagues, and safeguard the heritage of English football. It will operate a licensing regime; set corporate governance standards and monitor, protect, and promote financial resilience. It will also enforce compliance with requirements on financial regulation, club ownership and directors, fan engagement, and heritage protection.

The IFR also has powers to prohibit clubs from joining competitions that are not fair or meritocratic, or that threaten the heritage or sustainability of English football.

Responsibilities Include:

We are looking for an Enforcement and Illicit Finance Senior Manager to join the Independent Football Regulator (IFR).

The Enforcement and Illicit Finance function will be an integral part of the Independent Football Regulator, undertaking enforcement investigations into breaches of the Football Governance Act and our rules. The function is also responsible for overseeing and co-ordinating the regulators efforts to reduce the risk of illicit finance within the professional game. The function forms part of the wider legal and enforcement department.

The senior manager will work with the head of department to oversee enforcement activity including developing the enforcement strategy, portfolio, policies and procedures.They will also oversee investigations and lead on high profile case work. The senior manager will also play a leading role in establishing the IFR anti-illicit finance strategy, working with IFR supervisors and a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.

The successful candidate will therefore play a crucial role in developing the function within the new organisation, building capability and the operational processes and controls necessary to ensure successful implementation within the new regulatory framework.

They will need to ensure close working with data, policy, legal and supervision teams so that the enforcment portfolio is effective and coherent and that the IFR’s board is supported to take robust regulatory decisions.

Essential Requirements

• Proven experience in overseeing regulatory, civil or criminal enforcement investigations
• Experience or knowledge of illicit finance/financial crime supervision frameworks
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, supported by the ability to communicate to a wide range of technical and non-technical audiences
• Demonstrating sound judgement and ability to reach evidence-based decisions, balancing a range of considerations and complex sources of information to ensure legally defensible outcomes.
• Strong delivery capability, successfully delivering at pace in a complex and high risk project / programme environment.
• Ability to provide strong direction and persuasive future vision for the function, setting it up for future success.
• A collaborative approach and ability to think creatively about new and issues

Desirable Skills 

• Understanding of the football industry, including financial regulation and familiarity with the English football pyramid
• Expertise in financial crime supervision/policy

Information Session

We are running an information session where prospective applicants can find out more about the role. This will be hosted by the head of enforcement, and will take place on:

Monday 3rd August at 10am

The session will be an opportunity to hear more about the role, the team and wider directorate and the department. It will also be an opportunity for you to ask any questions.

Please register your interest by filling out this form and you will be sent an invitation. The invites will be sent the night before the session. The sessions are not recorded.

Please note that the session will not focus on the IFR recruitment process - please direct any queries that you have on this topic (timelines, reasonable adjustments, onboarding etc) to [email protected]

If successful you will join a Non Departmental Public Body and will be employed as a Public Servant. 

If you are an existing Civil Servant or a DCMS employee you will no longer have access to Civil Service benefits including the Civil Service pension. 

The terms and conditions of employment include:

• Pension 12%  An employee contribution of 5%, with an employer contribution of 7%.
• Flexible Benefit 8% Employees can choose to invest 8% of their base salary into their pension, or take as cash (post tax)
• Reward we will have a performance based reward programme.
• 31.5 days annual leave
• Flexible and hybrid working, 40% in office attendance
• Occupational sick pay
• 9 months paid Maternity Leave + generous paternity and adoption leave.
• A bespoke L&D programme to help you achieve your personal CPD, including paid membership fees
• Cycle-to-work scheme and much more!

To apply for this vacancy, you will need to submit the following documents:​

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential and desirable criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. ​
• A Statement of Suitability (max 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential requirements highlighted. You may also choose to reference the desirable skills listed however these will not be considered in the assessment of your application except in circumstances where there are a high number and calibre of candidates. ​

For the shortlist, we will select applicants demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application.​

In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial sift will be conducted on the statement of suitability. Those who are successful in the initial sift will then be scored on all elements of the application.

The interview process will assess experience through competency questions and a presentation. Full details of this,including the topic, length of time, and whether or not you will need to use visual aids, will be sent to you prior to your interview. 

Prior to the interview you will be sent the competency questions in advance. The questions will be based on the essential criteria listed.

Your interview may take place in person at the IFR office in Manchester or remotely via Teams.

Further Information 

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made. 

The IFR has a location neutral pay scale. For more information on this, please see the ‘Candidate Information Pack’ attached. 

Reasonable Adjustments

We are committed to supporting candidates so they can perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. This includes making reasonable adjustments to our process. To request an adjustment, please email [email protected] 

Accessibility 

If you are experiencing accessibility difficulties with any of the attachments, please contact us. Contact details can be found in the 'contact point for applicants' section of the job advert. 

Feedback 

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. 

Security 

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check and complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks. 

Nationality requirements 

This job is broadly open to the following groups: 

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020 

Diversity and Inclusion 

The IFR is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found.  

Contact point for applicants 

Email: [email protected]