Independent Football Regulator – Executive Support and Correspondence Officer

The Independent Football Regulator (IFR) has been established to protect and promote the sustainability of English football, for the benefit of fans and the local communities football clubs serve. The IFR will help improve financial sustainability of clubs, ensure resilience across the leagues, and safeguard the heritage of English football. It will operate a licensing regime; set corporate governance standards and monitor, protect, and promote financial resilience. It will also enforce compliance with requirements on financial regulation, club ownership and directors, fan engagement, and heritage protection. The IFR also has powers to prohibit clubs from joining competitions that are not fair or meritocratic, or that threaten the heritage or sustainability of English football.

The Executive Support and Correspondence Officer role sits at the heart of the Independent Football Regulator, supporting senior decision makers and leading the IFR’s external enquiries and information-access correspondence. The role offers close working with both senior internal stakeholders and a range of external stakeholders.

Responsibilities include:

• Managing senior leader's diary and inbox, prioritising correspondence and replying on their behalf where appropriate.
• Taking minutes and notes, maintaining organised records and disseminating actions across the organisation.
• Managing the IFR’s online correspondence system and mailbox, drafting bespoke responses, coordinating internal input and maintaining standard lines and templates.
• Leading Freedom of Information requests, including drafting requirements, statutory timelines and exemptions.
• Managing the Publication Scheme page of the IFR website.
• Undertaking training to support team-wide financial requisitioning.

Essential Requirements

• Excellent organisational and prioritisation skills, with the ability to work effectively across a range of tasks and under pressure.
• Strong written communication skills, with the ability to draft at pace on a variety of topics.
• Strong attention to detail, ensuring accuracy in all outgoing communications.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to interact confidently and professionally with internal and external stakeholders of varying seniority.
• Good judgement to manage situations independently and understand when to escalate and how.
• Strong work ethic and a proven team player, with ability to work under pressure.

Desirable Skills

• Keen interest in the work of the Independent Football Regulator.
• Experience working in a Private Office or Correspondence role.

Terms and Conditions of Employment

• Pension: 12% - An employee contribution of 5%, with an employer contribution of 7%.
• Flexible Benefit: 8% - Employees can choose to invest 8% of their base salary into their pension, or take as cash (post tax).
• Reward: performance based reward programme.
• 31.5 days annual leave.
• Flexible and hybrid working, 40% in office attendance.
• Occupational sick pay.
• 9 months paid Maternity Leave + generous paternity and adoption leave.
• A bespoke L&D programme to help you achieve your personal CPD, including paid membership fees.
• Cycle-to-work scheme and much more!

The Interview

As part of your interview, you may be asked to deliver a short oral presentation. Full details of this, including the topic, length of time allowed, and whether or not you will need to use visual aids, will be sent to you prior to your interview. It will also assess your suitability for the role through competency-based questions. Your interview will take place remotely via Microsoft Teams. The recruitment process may include a second interview stage. Candidates who successfully progress from the first interview will be contacted with further details if applicable.

Further Information

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made. The IFR has a location neutral pay scale. For more information on this, please see the ‘Candidate Information Pack’ attached.

Reasonable Adjustments

We are committed to supporting candidates so they can perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. This includes making reasonable adjustments to our process. To request an adjustment, please email careers@footballregulator.org.uk.

Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility difficulties with any of the attachments, please contact us. Contact details can be found in the 'contact point for applicants' section of the job advert.

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check and complete baseline personnel security standard checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups: UK nationals, nationals of the Republic of Ireland, nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK, nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS), individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020.

Diversity and Inclusion

The IFR is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found.

Contact point for applicants

Email: careers@footballregulator.org.uk