The Professional Footballers Association (PFA) is the union for all current and former footballers and scholars in the Premier League, the Women’s Super League and English Football Leagues. We are committed to helping each member understand their purpose both as a professional player and a person. We provide the information, advice and support you need to help maximise the opportunities that come with playing professional football.
We’re the only football organisation that solely prioritises players’ needs. We offer a variety of educational, financial and wellbeing support services. Throughout our history, the PFA has been instrumental in supporting the women’s game, decreasing mental health stigma across the sport, leading the fight against discriminatory abuse of players and pushing for research into the links between neurodegenerative conditions and playing football.
We proudly amplify the players’ voice to ensure their views are represented to the game’s stakeholders and governing bodies. We also protect and enhance their rights and working conditions by holding stakeholders and governing bodies to account.
The PFA promotes the wellbeing of all football players, current or retired who have reached a professional standard and works to make life a fulfilling and enjoyable experience. It recognises that every person is an individual with different needs, preferences and abilities. It aims to reflect this diversity in everything it does, including making its services inclusive and accessible to all from all sections of the professional footballing community, as well as the community at large and attracting and retaining a diverse workforce. The PFA believes that by harnessing different life experiences, attributes and contributions from staff, board members and service users, it will make the PFA a more effective and inclusive organisation.
Our team is passionate about helping footballers navigate personal or professional challenges, and we use our own experiences to relate to players and help prepare them for the future. We are here to protect and support players, for football and for life.
The Role:
Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the Director of the PFA’s Business School will be responsible for ideating, creating and delivering a ground-breaking educational institution on behalf of the PFA. They will oversee the successful launch of the Business School, as well as its establishment as a centre of educational excellence, ensuring it delivers against its goals and objectives.
Responsibilities:
- Create a compelling and deliverable business plan for the PFA Business School, which includes commercial strategy, programme and faculty creation, branding, partnerships, communications, financial forecasts, resourcing etc.
- Successful implementation of the business plan to create a world class educational institution.
- Build and provide leadership to a team that successfully delivers against the PFA Business School’s objectives.
- Work closely with PFA stakeholders, internal and external to achieve goals.
The Person:
Skillset:
- A strong track record of working within executive education, with at least 10 years’ experience in the sector.
- Previous experience managing different aspects of a Business School, ensuring a 360º vision across multiple work streams.
- Highly developed organisational skills and efficiency with finite resources.
- Numerate and financially literate, with experience of managing budgets.
- Experience of successfully building and leading a team to achieve its objectives.
- Action orientated with a proactive working style that transforms proposals and ideas into practical reality.
- Previous experience of working in the sports sector is desirable, although not essential.
- Strong understanding of best practice in terms of ED&I and experience of driving this through an organisation.
Personal Attributes:
- Low ego, affable and team orientated.
- Collaborative, approachable and partnership focused.
- Highly developed interpersonal skills: persuasive and convincing, with the ability to influence colleagues and peers in a matrix structure.
- Culturally aware and sensitive.
- Strong communicator that can engage with a diverse range of stakeholders.
To apply, please email an up-to-date CV, Covering Letter (which expresses your motivation for the role and highlights your relevant experience) and Equal Opportunities Form to pfadirector@savannah-group.com
The closing date for applications is 6pm on Tuesday 17th May 2022.
The PFA seeks to employ a workforce that reflects the diverse community at large, because we value the individual contribution of people irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
The PFA is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to honouring the FA’s Football Leadership Diversity Code in this recruitment process.
