Planning and Operations Manager

Contract type: Permanent, Full Time

Reports to: Head of Legal Planning and Operations

Location: Premier League Offices, Paddington, W2 1HQ

Overview

The Premier League’s Legal department is looking for a Planning and Operations manager to join its in‑house team and work within its Regulatory and Enforcement teams. The Regulatory team oversees the Premier League and Youth Development Rules, managing annual rule changes, advising Clubs, investigating potential breaches, and supporting key areas such as transfers, registrations, safeguarding, medical matters, governance and financial regulation. The IP Enforcement & Content Protection team protects the Premier League’s intellectual property worldwide—reducing piracy through technology, legal action and education—and works closely with broadcasters to maintain the value of exclusive rights. They also lead the League’s response to online discriminatory abuse targeting players, Club staff and match officials. Together, these teams ensure the Premier League operates with the highest standards of integrity, regulatory oversight and legal protection across the organisation and the wider football ecosystem.

The Planning and Operations Manager will play a pivotal role in ensuring the effective day‑to‑day and strategic operation of the Regulatory and Enforcement teams. The role provides comprehensive support across regulatory processes, reporting and governance, budget management, strategic planning and continuous improvement initiatives. Working closely with legal and non‑legal colleagues, the postholder will support the delivery of key regulatory activities, drive efficiencies through improved processes and technology, and ensure strong coordination, knowledge management and professional development across the teams.

Who we are

The Premier League is home to some of the most competitive and compelling football in the world. The League and its Clubs use the power and popularity of the competition to inspire fans, communities and partners in the UK and across the world. The Premier League brings people together from all backgrounds. It is a competition for everyone, everywhere and is available to watch in over 900 million homes in 189 countries. We have a wide variety of responsibilities. These include organising the competition and its Handbook as well as managing the centralised broadcast and commercial rights. The work we do in conjunction with the Clubs also goes far beyond the 90 minutes. We support and provide a framework for youth development, we protect the organisation’s intellectual property, support the wider game and community programmes, undertake international development work and liaise with governing bodies and other leagues. The Premier League is an equal opportunities employer and strives to create an inclusive culture where talent can flourish. We believe in the potential of everyone and open our doors to those who share those values. All appointments will be made based on merit; however, we particularly encourage applications from women, people from minority ethnic communities, LGBTQ+ people and disabled people. Our hybrid-working model also allows you some variety on your place of work, offering you the chance to work from home on some days each week. Where possible, you will attend the office or site visits in line with our company policy. All staff liaise closely with their line manager to manage their time appropriately and according to their work and team requirements.

The role

• Regulatory Operations: Overseeing the operations of the Regulatory team including managing key processes such as Rule amendments each Season, the production of the annual Premier League Handbook, UEFA Licensing, safeguarding audits and administration of the League’s investigations/disciplinary proceedings and producing presentations and other materials.
• Reporting and Presentations: Support the planning, coordination and production of reports and presentations provided by the Regulatory and Enforcement teams to key internal and external stakeholders.
• Budget Management and Tracking: Collaborate with colleagues to track, forecast and reconcile the team budget.
• Strategic Planning: Playing a key role to help the team meet short‑term and long‑term objectives, including objective setting and strategy sessions.
• Driving Efficiencies: Identifying areas for improvement of operational efficiencies across the team, including innovating through technology.
• Knowledge Management: Ensuring pro-forma documents/templates are kept up to date and monitoring information flows and delegation of work across the team.
• Training: Identifying opportunities and assisting with the organising of professional development training.
• Event organisation: Plan and organise events and group meetings.

Requirements for the role

• Experience in legal operations and event planning and/or project management or planning role.
• Ability to autonomously identify and implement operational efficiencies/improvements.
• Excellent organisational skills, attention to detail and an ability to learn quickly.
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to tailor communication in accordance with the audience.
• Excellent work ethic and ability to cope with pressurised situations, multiple workstreams and tight timeframes whilst maintaining a professional approach.
• Confidence and attritional skills with the ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Strong proficiency across the Microsoft Office suite, specifically, PowerPoint, Excel and Word.

Our commitment to safeguarding includes implementing robust safer recruitment procedures to assess the suitability of individuals applying for roles that involve work with children and adults who are or may be at risk of harm. For further information, please see our Safeguarding Policy and Safer Recruitment Guidance. We will remove barriers that prospective candidates might face at any stage of our recruitment process. If you have a disability and would like the advert in an alternative format, or would like to talk about how we can adjust the interview process to best support you, please contact recruitment@premierleague.com.