Lead Designated Safeguarding Officer in Exeter

As an integral part of our dynamic team, you will play a crucial role in upholding our organisation's commitment to sustainability. Regardless of your specific role in Finance, marketing, HR, procurement, or any other department, we expect all employees to actively embrace and adhere to our sustainability policies. Your dedication to environmentally conscious practices, resource efficiency, and ethical considerations will contribute to our collective efforts in fostering a responsible and sustainable workplace.

Exeter City Football Club seeks to ensure the safety, safeguarding and wellbeing of all children, young people and adults at risk who engage in its activities. We are seeking an experienced and passionate Lead Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO) to manage all safeguarding activity across the Club. This is a pivotal role responsible for ensuring the welfare of children, young people, and adults at risk remains at the heart of everything we do.

Working closely with staff, volunteers, players, parents, governing bodies, and statutory agencies, the successful candidate will drive a positive safeguarding culture, provide expert guidance and ensure the Club meets all safeguarding and safer recruitment requirements in line with FA, EFL and statutory standards.

As the Lead DSO, the successful candidate will support the delivery of the Club's safeguarding strategy, ensuring compliance with FA, EFL and statutory safeguarding standards. Working with the Safeguarding Lead, you will be responsible for developing and maintaining safeguarding policies, procedures, risk assessments and accurate safeguarding records. As part of this role, you will act as a key safeguarding contact, managing concerns, disclosures, referrals, and welfare matters, escalating where appropriate.

Building effective relationships with the FA, EFL, statutory agencies, staff, volunteers, players, and families to promote a positive safeguarding culture is critical. You will support in organising the safeguarding training, inductions, awareness programmes and stakeholder meetings across the Club and serve as the primary contact for host families, overseeing visits and compliance checks.

Other daily tasks will include coordinating safer recruitment processes, including DBS checks, safeguarding compliance and maintenance of the Single Central Record. As part of this role, the successful candidate will provide welfare support to the Women's First Team and contribute to safeguarding initiatives across Academy, First Team, and operational departments. Maintaining up-to-date knowledge of safeguarding legislation and EFL safeguarding standards is critical to ensuring best practice is embedded throughout the Club.

This is a part-time role, 20 hours a week. A job description and person specification can be found on our website. If you wish to apply for this position please follow the link and apply via our HR platform, People HR. Only completed applications that are submitted via People HR will be accepted. Any applications after the closing date will not be accepted. The closing date is 13th July 2026. All candidates will require a DBS Check and must be able to prove their eligibility to work within the UK. ECFC is an equal opportunities employer and committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and employees to share this commitment.