Academy Operations Manager - AWFC in London

We are looking for an Academy Operations Manager to join us as a key part of our Women's Academy, and own and lead the delivery of all Academy operations, ensuring high-quality execution of administration, logistics and compliance activities across the Academy, while setting standards, driving consistency, and maintaining full accountability for operational performance and governance.

We are one of the most famous clubs in world football, with a rich heritage and history of success. Beyond that, we are passionate about our local community and have a wide variety of opportunities and career paths for all. We have a very defined purpose: to act for a winning team, culture and community.

Our Commitment to Safeguarding: We are committed to ensuring that our environments for children, young people and adults at risk remain safe and inclusive. We therefore require successful candidates to complete an enhanced DBS check and other essential background checks prior to starting their employment.

Your day-to-day:

• Take operational ownership and lead delivery - you'll be entrusted to own and lead the delivery of all administration and operational activities across our Women’s Academy (U9–U21), ensuring smooth, consistent and high-quality execution.
• Provide outstanding leadership - you'll line manage and develop the Academy Operations Coordinator, setting clear objectives and performance expectations.
• Oversee key workflows - you will handle the coordination of matchdays, fixtures, training venues and communications, ensuring delivery meets agreed standards and timelines; and you'll set operational priorities and ensure workload is effectively managed across the Operations function.
• Handle critical player processes - you will ensure the effective delivery of all player registrations, contracts and associated administration in line with FA and league requirements, and you'll own the integrity, accuracy and ongoing effectiveness of our Academy’s player management systems, making sure robust processes are in place for maintaining accurate and up-to-date player records and data.
• Manage workforce and resource coordination - you'll diligently lead and monitor the administration of casual staff, including onboarding, payroll coordination and qualification tracking in line with FA regulations, and you will set standards and processes for workforce management, ensuring consistency and compliance across the board.
• Own logistics and programme delivery - you will be accountable for the planning, coordination and quality assurance of all Academy logistics, including training, fixtures and Talent ID activity, and you'll oversee the delivery of all matchday experiences and ticketing for Academy players, whilst ensuring all equipment and kit provision is effectively coordinated in partnership with the Kit Manager.
• Be accountable for travel and operational planning - you'll look after the planning, delivery and quality assurance of all team and staff travel, ensuring it's delivered efficiently, safely and in line with budget and operational requirements.
• Uphold compliance, governance & risk - you will embed and maintain compliance with FA and club policies including safeguarding, health & safety and equal opportunities, and you will act as the designated safeguarding officer for Academy operations, ensuring appropriate processes, escalation and standards are consistently applied.

What we are looking for:

• Background in sport - you come with experience of working within elite sport or a comparable high-performance environment, with ideally a sound understanding of academy or youth development settings, and you have a history of delivering operational, administrative or logistics functions in sport.
• Credible expertise - you hold an FA Level 1 Introduction to First Aid in Football (IFAiF), a current FA Safeguarding Children certificate, and a valid FA Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) clearance.
• Knowledge of the Women's game and youth-focused environments - you possess a good understanding of the Women’s Talent Pathway and the operational requirements within elite player development environments, and you have knowledge of child development principles, with the ability to operate sensitively and appropriately in a youth-focused environment.
• Organised and adaptable approach - you're proud of your ability to organise, prioritise and manage multiple operational demands, delivering to deadlines in a fast-paced environment, and you can manage complex scheduling, events or programme delivery, including coordinating multiple stakeholders.
• Best-in-class communicator - you are easily able to work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team, building impactful working relationships across functions.
• Leadership skills - you thrive when you're managing a direct report and proactively supporting team delivery.
• Experience across complex processes - you've previously worked with regulated or compliance-driven processes (e.g. FA regulations, safeguarding, audits, or similar frameworks).
• Confidence with systems and tools - you have confident IT skills, including Excel, Word and operational systems, with the ability to manage and interpret data accurately, and you have a track record of using and maintaining data systems and operational tools.

Please note: this role will require you to work unsociable hours, including evenings and weekends in line with training and matchday schedules, and you will need to hold a full UK driving licence and have access to own transport.

Position of Trust - As someone in a position of trust role involving regular, direct contact with children or vulnerable adults you will be expected to uphold high standards of conduct to prevent abuse, including sexual, physical, or emotional harm. This role requires you to keep updated with both Club and FA Safeguarding training and education.

Why choose us: At Arsenal, we want everyone to feel a sense of trust and belonging, so we are proud of both our club values and also what we offer to our employees. As one of our Gunners, you will receive:

• An exciting reward and recognition scheme.
• Generous holiday allowance which increases with your length of service.
• Great internal learning and development programmes.
• A flexible hybrid working model.
• Priority access to apply for match tickets.
• A competitive health and wellbeing benefits package.
• A leading Employee Assistance Programme.
• Great discounts with some of our Partners.
• An opportunity to play a vital role in delivering our ED&I strategy by joining one of our Employee Networks.

Arsenal for Everyone is our commitment to promoting and embracing equality, diversity and inclusion, so that everyone connected to the club feels like they belong to the same Arsenal family. We believe that diversity of background, skills and experience drives our success on and off the pitch.

Disability Confident Leader: We are a Disability Confident Leader. We actively welcome and encourage applications from people with disabilities and long-term health conditions. If you need disability-related adjustments to the recruitment process, please indicate this in your application.

If you are likely to meet the definition of being a ‘disabled person’ according to the Equality Act 2010, you may be eligible to apply for an interview via the Disability Confident Scheme - please indicate this in your application form below. The information you share with us about your health or disability will not be used in recruitment decisions.

Application Closing Date - Friday 10th July 2026. Please note: we reserve the right to close the position early if application volumes are particularly high. We encourage you to get your application in sooner rather than later. Updates on the status of your application will be sent via email, please routinely check your spam and junk folders, as occasionally emails sent via the Teamtailor platform will find themselves there. Good luck!