Athlete Engagement Manager

Switch the Play Foundation is the UK’s only charity dedicated to supporting all sportspeople to successfully transition to life outside sport. We empower sportspeople to be their best through sport by providing a range of person-centred services, training, wellbeing and transition support. This is an exciting time for us as we celebrate our 10 year anniversary. In 2024 we supported over 3,500 athletes through our work. As we embark on the start of a new 5 year plan we have ambitious plans for the future and the Athlete Engagement Manager role who will play a critical role in helping us to achieve these.

About the role

The Athlete Engagement Manager (AEM) acts as the primary initial point of contact for athletes joining Switched On helping to understand their journey and needs, and navigate individuals to support. They also provide ongoing support to ensure athletes are aware and easily able to access different opportunities and programmes as needed. Find out more about our Switched On offer.

The role requires excellent organisational skills, a passion for athlete well-being, active listening, and the ability to collaborate effectively within a remote team.

Our offer to you

Switch the Play Foundation is driven by a strong sense of purpose, so this is a great role for somebody who wants to work in a purpose driven organisation striving to make a positive difference to people’s lives and underpinned by a strong set of values. This emphasis on creating a positive culture and working environment is highlighted through our Team Code which we seek to live through all our interactions with colleagues and external stakeholders.

The role is home based and offers opportunities for flexible working. We have a small but hard-working team that care about the cause and recognise the value in great teamwork to help us achieve our goals.

Key Responsibilities:

Initial Contact and Support:

• Act as the gatekeeper for beneficiaries; conduct initial outreach, complete discovery calls (our introduction triage call with athletes), lead on follow-ups to build a personalised plan of support for beneficiaries, coordinating as appropriate with internal colleagues, Team Mates (our team of coaches / mentors) and other providers of athlete support.

Collaboration and Mental Health Support:

• Work closely with the Psychological Care Pathway (PCP) team and Team Mates to refer athletes in need of additional mental health support to this pathway.
• Maintain regular check-ins with beneficiaries to ensure ongoing support, particularly once they have completed their counselling support .

Mentoring support:

• Establish, build, and maintain strong relationships with Team Mates, ensuring alignment with mentoring objectives, as well as providing updates, discussing mentoring progress and tailoring athlete support.
• Lead on beneficiary – mentor pairings, working closely with the Switched On Programme Manager to ensure we create great matches.

Relationship Management:

In addition to athletes, important relationship management responsibilities include:

• Internal colleagues regarding opportunities to enhance the programme;
• Key organisations (club’s, NGB’s, plyer associations) who work closely with athletes, to ensure that they are aware of and signposting to Switch the Play opportunities;
• Other athlete support providers to ensure beneficiaries can easily access to a wider network of opportunities.

Career Pathway event organisation:

• Work alongside the Athlete Services team to plan and execute athlete-focused events, for eg career pathway experience days.

Ongoing engagement of Switched On members:

• Lead on the ongoing engagement of SwitchedOn members; conduct quarterly check ins with beneficiaries, putting a particular focus around their next steps following engagement in a particular area of support, e.g. PCP, mentoring, career pathway day etc.

Data, learning and insights:

• Ensure beneficiary data is logged to ensure we can pool our collective insights, track the member journey, learn, and continually improve how we support beneficiaries.
• Adopt a curious and learning mindset, using data to help inform decision-making.

Supporting Charity Initiatives:

• Be open and willing to contribute to projects outside the immediate scope of the job description, as needed, for the benefit of the charity.

Key skills

Key skills you will need include:

• Exceptional interpersonal communication skills.
• An active listener.
• Collaborative: you need to be great at working with others, whether they be internal colleagues or partners.
• IT Literate.
• A curious mindset and self-starter— able to develop and deliver on plans with minimal direction; proactive and confident in using own initiative and prioritising workloads.
• Creative thinking and problem-solving.
• Organisation skills with a high attention to detail, and the ability to prioritise and manage workload.
• Caring – showing genuine care for the needs of the individuals you are supporting.

Experience

We are looking for somebody who can demonstrate:

Essential:

• A detailed understanding of and empathy with the unique challenges and opportunities faced by sports people across their sporting career.
• Experience of developing and managing relationships.
• Experience of supporting and/or promoting athlete’s holistic wellbeing.

Desirable:

• Relevant athlete support, mental health first aid, mentoring/coaching experience or training qualifications.
• Experience of working collaboratively with sporting agencies (e.g. Player Associations / NGBs / professional sports clubs).
• Experience / understanding of working in the charity sector.
• Experience of using CRM (Salesforce) and Project Management systems (Monday.com).

Applying for the role

To apply please send a cover letter and copy of your cv to recruitment@switchtheplay.com. We are also happy for candidates to submit additional information about their suitability for the role through a video.

Please do not \’quick apply\’ – we would love to understand more about you and unfortunately are not able to accept any applications which do not have a cover letter and cv.

Closing date for applications: 5pm on Friday 21st March.

Interviews to be held week commencing: 31st March.