Head of Youth Access Sport

Location: Hybrid working, minimum 2 to 3 days in the office/community. Based in Access Sport’s Bristol, London or Manchester office, with regular travel across the UK.

Salary: £45,000 – 50,000 FTE, with salary offered subject to location and experience.

Hours: 37.5 hours per week, full-time

Closing date: Friday, 17th July 2026

Role purpose Summary

Access Sport is seeking an ambitious and values-driven leader to shape, embed and scale our youth leadership and youth voice work across Access Sport and the wider sports sector at a pivotal moment of growth. This role will lead the strategic development and delivery of our new Youth Leadership programme while ensuring that youth voice, coproduction and shared decision making become embedded across all Access Sport’s programmes, partnerships, evaluation and governance.

Working across the UK, you will oversee a national model that supports clubs to embed youth voice within their ways of working, develop flexible leadership pathways and enable young people to influence community sport. The postholder will bring a strong understanding of the changing realities facing young people today and use insight from youth policy, research and practice to ensure Access Sport’s approach remains relevant, inclusive and responsive to young people’s needs and aspirations.

As a member of the Delivery Leadership Team, you will play a key role in shaping organisational strategy and culture, ensuring lived experience informs decision-making. You will lead a growing team and network, including staff, partners and Youth Advisors, to deliver impact at scale. This is a unique opportunity to drive systemic change in how youth voice is embedded within community sport nationally.

Responsibilities

• Strategic leadership and programme development
  • Lead the strategic development of Access Sport’s organisational approach to youth voice, participation and co-production, ensuring consistent practice across programmes, teams and decision-making structures.
  • Oversee delivery of our UK-wide Youth Leadership programme, ensuring effective implementation across the three pillars: club readiness and inclusive conditions, youth leadership pathways and progression, youth influence on decision-making and practice.
  • Lead, manage and inspire a high performing, values-driven programme team across multiple locations.
  • Maintain a strong understanding of the national youth policy landscape, emerging research and trends affecting young people, ensuring Access Sport’s youth leadership and participation approach remains evidence-informed and relevant.
  • Contribute to organisational strategy and act as a key member of the Delivery Leadership Team.
• Programme delivery and impact
  • Ensure high quality delivery at scale across multiple regions and nations, working closely with internal teams and UK partners.
  • Lead robust monitoring, evaluation and learning, embedding youth-led evaluation approaches and using data to drive continuous improvement.
  • Oversee the scaling of youth leadership opportunities, enabling thousands of young people to progress into meaningful leadership roles.
  • Ensure safeguarding, inclusion and equity are fully embedded across all aspects of delivery.
• Youth voice, co-design and leadership
  • Champion and embed meaningful youth voice across all aspects of Access Sport’s work, from programme design to governance and evaluation.
  • Lead the recruitment, development and progression of our paid Youth Advisors and wider voluntary youth voice structures, ensuring roles are meaningful, inclusive and appropriately supported.
  • Promote the development of clear and flexible leadership pathways that support young people to progress into coaching, volunteering/micro-volunteering, advocacy and governance roles within community clubs.
  • Promote a culture where lived experience informs decision-making and power is shared with young people.
• Partnerships and system change
  • Build relationships across the youth sector and identify opportunities to align Access Sport’s work with national youth priorities, strategies and policy developments.
  • Act as a senior representative for Access Sport, representing the organisation at key forums and influencing sector practice, policy and funding.
  • Lead effective collaboration across the four nations, balancing consistency with local adaptation.
• Funding, sustainability and growth
  • Drive the growth and sustainability of the youth leadership portfolio through strategic partnerships and funding.
  • Contribute to funding applications, reporting and relationship management with funders.

How to apply

The closing date for applications is 12 pm, Friday 17 July 2026. To apply, please email Careers@AccessSport.org.uk and attach:

• A copy of your CV.
• A covering letter (maximum two sides) that includes:
• Why you are interested in joining Access Sport as Head of Youth.
• Evidence of how your skills, knowledge and experience meet the person specification.
• Your thoughts on the opportunities and challenges facing youth leadership and youth voice in community sport, and how you would contribute to the continued growth and impact of this work at Access Sport.
• A completed equal opportunities form, which can be found here: www.AccessSport.org.uk/join-the-team.

Candidates who have been shortlisted for an interview will be notified by Friday 24 July. The first interviews are currently due to take place during the week commencing w/c 27 July. If you have any questions or would like to have an informal discussion about the role, please email Sue.Wheeler@AccessSport.org.uk.