Job Description: Senior Talent Development (Excel) Manager

Level: / 5 / Team/Directorate: / NGB & Sports
Starting Salary: / £37,336 - £42,000 (London)
£33,256 - £37,500
(National) / Contractual Status: / Permanent
Responsible to: / Strategic Lead Excel / Budget Post Holder Directly Accountable For: / £0
Direct Reports: / None / Single item sign off: / £0
Location: / Flexible – may be based in any of Sport England’s nine offices / Work Pattern: / Full time or
Job share
Job Purpose: / To play a key role in optimising Sport England’s investment in, and support for, talent development programmes across a number of National Governing Bodies (NGB’s) of Sport.
To contribute and support the work of Sport England’s Excel Centre of Excellence and maintain effective relationships with key partners and stakeholders in relation to talent development.
To provide effective advocacy for talent development within sport in England,
Key Tasks / Approx. %
Provide support, advice, challenge, scrutiny and the sharing of good practice to senior managers and talent development leads within specified NGB’s, which involves developing effective working relationships and building a position of influence. / 40
Support the establishment of the Excel Centre of Excellence to act as a hub for learning and understanding on talent development activity; maintaining up to date intelligence; talent programme profiles for each sport; and assess the impact of NGB talent interventions. / 15
Support the delivery of excel activity and ensure expertise, commitment and connectivity with other Sport England directorates is maximised, through developing effective internal relationships with colleagues in Sport England’s NGB and Sport Directorate. / 15
Develop and manage effective working relationships with a range of external national landscape partners (e.g. Youth Sport Trust; UK Sport; SportsAid; sportscoach UK Commonwealth Games England;TASS) who engage in talent development support programmes and activity – to ensure connectivity ; alignment and coordinated use of resources across the talent landscape / 10
Ensure that Sport England resources are successfully invested in developing and accelerating talent in English Disability Community Sport / 10
Manage Sport England’s funding agreement with SportsAid and ensure this investment has a stronger connectivity with NGB excel programmes. / 5
Promote and increase the profile of Excel activity and Sport England investment in support of talent development – via a range of internal and external publications and communication channels and showcase NGB interventions that prove to be effective. / 5

The above is provided for guidance and is not an exhaustive list of all accountabilities that the role holder may have over time.

Job Requirements and Person Specification

Criteria / Essential / Desirable
Education/Qualifications /
  • A degree or vocational qualification in one of the following fields; sport development; sports science; recreation management / sport studies; coaching or equivalent experience
/
  • A masters or post graduate qualification in a related field

Experience /
  • Hands on experience with talent development and talent transfer within a sports environment.
  • Experience in the design and delivery of multi disciplinary athlete/player development programmes.
  • Experience of implementing programmes that provide quality talent development environments for athletes and coaches as part of an integrated pathway that connects community sport with elite programmes.
  • An understanding of the challenges facing NGB’s
  • Experience of tracking and monitoring the effectiveness of investment decisions
  • Experience of successfully coordinating resources
  • Experience of building effective relationships and partnerships internally and externally
  • Experience of providing advice to partner organisations on areas of expertise and using this to influence the focus of the partner organisations resources towards the achievement of strategic outcomes.
/
  • Strategic lead for talent development programmes within a Governing Body or SportsAcademy environment.

Abilities/Skills/Knowledge /
  • Developed networking and influencing skills at a senior level
  • Outstanding interpersonal skills and a team player with the ability to encourage, support and persuade others
  • Ability to maintain critical business relationships
  • An understanding of Long Term Athlete Development principles and the key requirements of an effective talent pathway including the significance of coaching
  • Knowledge of talent development and talent transfer
  • Proven ability to achieve results through personal delivery and influencing others at a senior level
  • Proven ability to achieve results through development and improvement of processes
  • Logical approach to prioritising tasks and workload
  • Proven ability to adopt and apply project management principles and work within set parameters to deliver assigned objectives
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills including ability to present complex messages at a senior level
  • Proven ability to analyse complex data from partnership organisations and relate this to Sport England delivery outcomes.

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