Deputy Director - Communications and External Affairs in Manchester

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 will also have powers to prohibit clubs from joining competitions that are not fair or meritocratic, or that threaten the heritage or sustainability of English football.

About the Role

This role is core to the IFR’s regulatory strategy. In collaboration with the Director of Strategic Communications, you will be responsible for all communications activity, including media management, across the IFR. It will give you exposure to the central workings of the football industry, significant influence over the IFR’s regulatory strategy, and shared responsibility for designing and delivering comprehensive communications and media strategies that support the IFR in achieving its objectives. This role requires a deep understanding of football governance, financial regulation and effective communication to ensure the IFR successfully meets its statutory duties and clearly articulates its mission and actions to all stakeholders.

You will also have the ability to combine deep strategic instinct with sharp industry/political awareness. You will need to read situations quickly and accurately while maintaining a coherent long-term strategy with a team that spans across Press, Stakeholder Engagement, Internal and Digital Communications. While the IFR is a Non-Departmental Public Body, there will be regular interaction with Ministers, Special Advisers, Senior Officials, and Cross-Government partners. You will have experience of operating at pace and under pressure, and you will bring the credibility and judgement to be a trusted Adviser at the most senior levels. You will also sit as a key member of the Executive Committee alongside the Director of Strategic Communications, sharing collective responsibility for the delivery of the communications strategy.

Essential Requirements:

• Proven senior experience setting and delivering communications strategy in a complex, high-profile environment, balancing long-term direction with rapid response to clubs, leagues, fans, and media.
• Demonstrated track record of providing trusted, timely, and robust evidence-based counsel to Senior Officials combined with a strong ability to build and sustain relationships across complex stakeholder landscapes to align, amplify, and accelerate delivery.
• Demonstrated experience in protecting and enhancing organisational reputation during periods of challenge with the ability to identify and mitigate reputational risks before they escalate.
• Proven ability to operate as an effective, collaborative member of a senior leadership team, taking collective responsibility for shared outcomes and contributing to directorate-wide strategy beyond your own portfolio.
• Demonstrated experience leading high-performing teams that can adapt rapidly to emerging priorities while maintaining strategic coherence, nurturing talent, and fostering a culture of continuous learning.
• Experience leading internal communications through significant organisational change, balancing transparency and strategic clarity.

Desirable Skills:

• Ability to collaborate with teams across Policy, Economics, Supervision and Legal, understanding their perspectives and aims while balancing how this should be communicated to, and understood by, fans, clubs, legal stakeholders and others.

If successful, you will join a Non-Departmental Public Body and will be employed as a Public Servant. If you are an existing Civil Servant or a DCMS employee, you will no longer have access to Civil Service benefits including the Civil Service pension.

The terms and conditions of employment include:

• 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 – We will have a 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 and 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!

Interested? Click apply and you will be redirected to our careers site to complete your application.