Head of Workforce

World Rugby is looking for a Head of Workforce who will be working in London. The candidate should have experience in workforce planning and operations at major international events and HR management.

World Rugby is the world governing and law-making body for the sport of Rugby Union. In addition to its governance functions, World Rugby has established World Rugby Events & Media DAC (WREM) – which is charged with organising and delivering World Rugby’s major international events including the men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups and the annual Sevens World Series (SVNS).

World Rugby is now on a mission to innovate, excite, inspire and engage new audiences in existing and new rugby markets to grow the sport for all. Through WREM, the delivery of these major tournaments under a new model will be key to the success of a ten-year strategic plan. This started with the hugely successful delivery of the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 which was held in England and will continue with Rugby World Cups in Australia in 2027 played by men, Australia 2029 played by women and culminating in groundbreaking tournaments in the USA in 2031 and 2033 played by men and women respectively.

The renowned Sevens World Series has been relaunched as ‘SVNS’ to be the gateway for engaging new fans and audiences with the sport of rugby union. The delivery of an annual calendar of events involving the home international matches for the USA national men’s and women’s 15s and 7s teams is also the responsibility of WREM and is part of the runway activity through to RWCs 2031 and 2033 in the USA.

Under the new operating model launched in 2022, World Rugby has a more direct role in the setting up, running and delivery of the Rugby World Cups and SVNS and aims to be a leader in the delivery of major international events. WREM has established and will continue to establish local teams in Australia for Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027 and will be establishing local delivery teams in the USA to support the planning and delivery of RWC 2031. Event Delivery Partnerships have been established in each territory for the delivery of the SVNS series and the USA annual events.

World Rugby is looking to appoint a Head of Workforce, reporting to the Director of Event Delivery, on a Fixed Term Contract basis to cover for a maternity period and ensure the continued development of operational capabilities in the Workforce areas.

Objective of the role

This role will have a primary focus on Tournament Time Workforce for Rugby World Cups and will be responsible for implementing the WREM Workforce planning and operating practices. These will provide the local teams with clear guidance on what and how they need to deliver to achieve the standards required and to exploit efficiencies, avoid duplications, and to provide maximise opportunities to develop WREM capabilities and develop future talent pipeline through the effective seconding and deployment of World Rugby central staff at Tournament Time.

In addition, there will also be an element of the role that will be responsible for working closely with World Rugby’s People & Culture (P&C) Team, to support the continued integration between WREM and the P&C Team, along with further developing HR processes to be adopted by WREM and the local teams. Emphasis will be on developing best in class practices, incorporating blue sky thinking combined with learnings from practical operational experiences.

Principal accountabilities

• Refine the Workforce planning and operations concepts for Rugby World Cups (initially) including for relevant Volunteer programmes, recruitment, onboarding, training, and deployment;
• Develop and design strategic Tournament Time workforce journeys and mobilisation plans for delivery by the local team;
• Oversee the integration between WREM and World Rugby’s People & Culture team, and taking responsibility for driving People & Culture activities and policies within WREM;
• Oversee specific Workforce Planning for each tournament, incorporating central and local World Rugby staff to ensure efficient and effective deployment;
• Develop the Workforce planning tools – for introduction and consistent use by WREM Local Teams to cover all categories of workforce; paid staff, volunteers, contractors, secondees, consultants, temporary Tournament Time staff. To include role planning, dot planning, efficiency and effectiveness, deployment planning;
• Ensure effective implementation of Tournament Management System Workforce module specifications – to cover all functional requirements – core data, link to Accreditation, links to HR systems, role assignments, scheduling, rostering, uniforming, reward and recognition, training and volunteer recruitment. This includes leading User Acceptance Testing, commissioning and deployment to users in local teams and centrally;
• Train and support the development of training for Central staff, local team staff, volunteers and both central and local contractors/suppliers;
• Support local teams in establishment of their Workforce Functional Areas, including operational documentation, service levels and client standards;
• Develop generic workforce policies, procedures and entitlements for application by the local teams;
• Lead the contract management for Consultants/Contractors engaged by WREM to support event delivery and capability;
• Oversee the Uniform Programme for Central and Local Teams including Tournament Time Uniform.

Qualifications & experience

• Essential for candidates to have 5+ years’ experience at a senior level in Major International Events;
• Workforce planning and operations as well as experience in Human Resource management;
• Recognisable as a leading senior professional in the field of Workforce planning and operations;
• Essential for candidates to have played a senior role in managing a large-scale major event volunteer recruitment, selection and operational deployment programme;
• Proven successful management in a multi‑stakeholder environment;
• Proven experience in developing systems, tools and policies in a high‑volume workforce environment;
• Excellent planning and organisation skills including project planning;
• Experienced in all MS Office programmes (Word, Excel, PowerPoint);
• Positive, outgoing personality - collaborative, persistent, resilient and diplomatic;
• Ability to forge strong collaborative relationships and a team player;
• Ability to work on own initiative;
• Demonstrably high levels of integrity;
• Share and embrace World Rugby’s core values; Discipline, respect, integrity, passion and solidarity through teamwork.

Contract basis

Fixed Term Contract period of 12 months. Start date: 1st June 2026. Most of our roles offer hybrid working. We ask colleagues to work: Three (3) days a week “out of home”. Two (2) “core” office days (Tuesday & Wednesday) and a third day of your choice to be with stakeholders. “Out of home” can mean working in a World Rugby office/hub, working from a venue or face to face meetings with partners/suppliers/agencies/teammates or other rugby family stakeholders. The remaining two (2) days are flexible to work from home (or the office). This applies to our Dublin & London offices.