Job Description
Could you help young sports people to reach their personal best?
Founded in 1976, SportsAid is a national charity that recognises and helps Britain’s sporting talent, often at a crucial time in their development with a mission to encourage, enable and empower the next generation of athletes to achieve their ambitions in sport and life.
We are looking to appoint a Programme Manager to lead the ground-breaking Backing The Best support programme. The programme was created in 2015 and is funded by Sport England and managed and delivered by SportsAid. Backing The Best is a targeted intervention, in partnership with the national governing bodies of sport (NGBs), to identify and directly help those talented young sports people facing the most difficult circumstances, especially financially. These circumstances may be so challenging for these young sports people and their families that they cannot progress in their chosen sport and may be at risk of dropping out altogether.
Also, as part of the programme, funding is made available to support specific projects that may help the NGBs to diversify their talent pathways and create better accessibility to sport for marginalised groups and communities. As Backing The Best Programme Manager, you will lead the delivery and development of the Backing The Best programme, including operational management, programme funding and developing the identity and supporting collateral of the programme.
Reporting directly to, and working closely with, the charity’s Chief Executive, as Programme Manager you will work with the Backing The Best Awards Committee (a sub-committee of the SportsAid Board) and alongside the other support programmes within SportsAid’s responsibility – the Talented Athlete Support Scheme (TASS), the Diploma in Sporting Excellence (DiSE) and the core SportsAid award programme. The overall responsibility of the Backing The Best Programme Manager is to work with the Backing The Best Support Officer and NGBs to distribute the awards and specific project grants, whilst ensuring all the athletes receiving an award are invited, included and involved in all relevant aspects of the charity’s activities and communications.
This is an exciting role directly connected to the purpose and passion of the charity’s work and a rare opportunity to join a committed and driven team at an exciting time of growth. It will require a passion to help young people, an interest in sport and a good understanding of the barriers and challenges some young people face in engaging with and progressing in sport.
You will be based in central London with a national brief and hybrid working options will be considered. You will have significant relevant experience (at least three years) with a strong track-record and demonstrable success in working with and supporting young people in a sporting context, in a multi-stakeholder environment. You will also be confident working with other internal and external stakeholders and will have the ability to monitor and report progress. You will have excellent organisational and presentation skills and will be an effective communicator with lots of enthusiasm. Sound IT skills and a working-knowledge of database management and Excel will be essential.
The salary is in the range of £35,000 to £40,000 p.a. for the right candidate; opportunities for flexible working are available. A full job description is available on request at jobs@sportsaid.org.uk
SportsAid recognises that certain sections of the community have been affected by structural inequities and may be denied the opportunity to participate equally and fully in sport at all levels. SportsAid as an organisation believes our role is to remove the barriers that our most under-served, at risk and minoritised groups of young people experience when trying to access sport and physical activities.
SportsAid therefore positively welcomes, and seeks to achieve, diversity in our workforce and that all job applicants, volunteers and employees receive equal and fair treatment. We positively encourage applications from all candidates regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, disability, marriage and civil partnership status, gender identity, background, religion, faith, sexual orientation, maternity status, pregnancy, belief or nationality.

How to apply
Please apply by emailing your CV with an outline of why you are interested in joining SportsAid to jobs@sportsaid.org.uk by 4th August 2023. On receipt of your application, you will be sent a confidential equal opportunities form which all applicants will be asked to complete.