Senior Development Manager

Organisation

Access Sport CIO

Salary

£30,000 - £35,000 FTE, subject to location and experience

Location

London or Manchester or Bristol

Contract type

Permanent (Full time)

Closing date

18 September 2026

Interview date

28 September 2026

Job Description

About Access Sport
Access Sport is a national charity with a vision that no one should be excluded from the transformational benefits of community sport. We are on a mission to make inclusion the norm in community sport by tackling the access barriers faced by disadvantaged and disabled young people.

We do this by training, equipping, and supporting community sports clubs, organisations, and volunteers to provide inclusive programmes, unleashing their potential to transform the lives of underserved young people in their local communities.

This work is either place based or sport focused. All the clubs we support are invited to join our Inclusive Club Network. A copy of our 2022-2027 growth strategy, Stand for Inclusion, which provides further details about our work and future development plans, can be found on our website.

In 2025/26 Access Sport engaged over 40,000 disadvantaged and disabled young people, with a strong representation from ethnically diverse communities, girls, and previously less active young people.

Read more about our impact in our Annual Review. A number of videos showcasing our work can be found on our YouTube channel. These include a recent film about our new cycling and basketball facilities in Cadishead and a dedicated film about the Turnpike Lane court refurbishment.

Role purpose
Summary
Access Sport is looking for a Senior Development Manager to support the operational delivery and continuous development of our youth leadership and youth voice work across the UK.

This role sits at the heart of a growing national programme designed to embed youth voice, co-production and leadership within community sport. Working across multiple regions, you will ensure that young people’s voices are meaningfully embedded in clubs and local systems, and that youth leadership opportunities are delivered consistently and to a high standard.

A key part of this role is turning learning from local delivery into practical tools, training and resources that strengthen practice across the programme. You will work closely with a team of Community Coordinators, Youth Advisors and clubs to understand what works on the ground, and translate this into accessible toolkits, inclusive training and guidance that support high-quality delivery across the UK.

You will also be the staff lead for our Youth Board and Regional Youth Voice Groups, ensuring young people have structured, supported and meaningful opportunities to influence programme design and delivery.

Responsibilities
Delivery and club development
• Lead the day-to-day, operational delivery of Access Sport’s youth leadership and youth voice programme.
• Develop and manage delivery plans, ensuring consistent implementation across all locations.
• Coordinate programme activity, milestones and delivery cycles across Community Coordinators and delivery partners.
• Ensure high-quality delivery standards are maintained across all programme areas.

Training and resource development
• Coordinate the design and development of training materials, toolkits and resources to support youth leadership and youth voice.
• Collaborate with our Inclusive Training Lead to ensure youth leadership, youth voice and inclusion training are aligned.
• Turn learning from Community Coordinators, Youth Advisors and clubs into practical tools and guidance.
• Develop and deliver training sessions for staff, clubs and partners to build capability in youth voice and youth leadership practice.
• Continuously review and improve resources based on delivery insight.
• Ensure tools and resources are accessible, practical and adaptable across different community contexts.

Youth voice infrastructure
• Support the delivery and coordination of our Youth Board and Regional Youth Voice Groups across England.
• Support meaningful, inclusive and accessible youth voice structures and approaches for young people across Access Sport.
• Work closely with Youth Advisors to support facilitation and engagement in youth voice activity.
• Ensure insights from youth voice activity are captured and used to inform programme improvement.

Partnership working
• Work closely with the Head of Youth to ensure alignment across our UK-wide strategy, partners delivery and governance.
• Share learning, tools and practice across the UK nations to support consistency and innovation.
• Contribute to the development of shared frameworks and national youth leadership approaches.

Monitoring and Evaluation
• Play a key role in supporting the monitoring and evaluation requirements for the programme, using online monitoring platforms such as Upshot (training will be provided).
• Use monitoring, evaluation and delivery insight to identify and implement improvements to programme delivery, tools and training.
• Support our local delivery team to gather content for internal and external reporting, including case studies, films, and news stories.

Person specification
Skills/ experience
Essential
• Experience of working in youth work, sport for development, education, community engagement or a related field.
• Experience of supporting or delivering programmes, projects or activities with young people in community settings.
• Understanding of youth voice, youth participation and/or co-production, and a commitment to meaningful involvement of young people in decision-making.
• Experience of/ ability to take learning from practice and turn it into clear, high quality, practical tools, guidance or improvements to ways of working.
• Experience of working collaboratively with a range of people and organisations.
• Good communication skills and ability to adapt communication style for different audiences, including young people.
• Understanding of safeguarding principles and a commitment to creating safe, inclusive environments for young people (training will be provided).

Desirable
• Experience supporting youth participation, leadership programmes, youth councils or co-production activity.
• Experience of developing or delivering training, workshops, toolkits or practical resources for staff, volunteers or partners.
• Experience working on programmes delivered across multiple locations or regions.
• Experience working with young people from underserved or underrepresented communities.
• Experience using monitoring, evaluation or learning approaches to improve programmes or practice.
• Lived experience of one or more of the underserved communities we work with i.e. D/deaf, disabled, neurodivergent, women and girls, ethnically diverse communities and low socio-economic backgrounds.

Personal attributes
• A personal commitment to Access Sport’s vision and values.
• Self-motivated, able to use initiative, and have a flexible approach to work.
• Proactive and adaptable - ability to think creatively and use initiative to achieve outcomes.
• Reliable and hardworking with the confidence to work independently.
• A strong team player with good interpersonal skills.
• Committed to continuing personal and professional development.

In addition:
• The post holder must have the right to work in the UK.
• The post holder must be able to travel to locations across England.
• There will be some requirements to work on evenings or weekends, for which time off in lieu can be taken.

Equal opportunities
We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. Access Sport is committed to creating an inclusive culture, through fostering a diverse workforce where everyone feels like they belong, differences are valued, and everyone can reach their potential.

We are actively seeking to diversify and create a workplace that is welcoming for all, ensuring that our workforce is representative of wider society and the communities we support. If you need any adjustments to the recruitment process, at either the application or interview stage, please contact us (details in section 6).   

We offer disabled applicants the option of requesting that their application is considered under the terms of our Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS). If you wish to apply under our GIS, please indicate this in your cover email. For more information, please visit our Join the Team page.

Background checks
As this role may, at times, involve working in a regulated environment with young people, any offer will be conditional to satisfactory background checks which includes a criminal record check with the Disclosure and Barring Service and two references.

Staff benefits
Access Sport is an exciting and dynamic place to work. We pride ourselves on being a close-knit and well-supported team with a clear sense of purpose, delivering real impact. Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do.

We are committed to supporting the development of our team members and, should you wish, there are opportunities for team members to get involved in different aspects of the charity, from the delivery of our programmes on the ground, to fundraising, events and advocacy.

Staff benefits include:
• Employee Assistance Programme - Access to a 24/7 confidential helpline, counselling services and online information.
• Annual leave - 28 days annual leave, including 3 days between Christmas and New Year, plus 1 extra day of leave per year of service for the first 5 years. This equates to 33 days of annual leave after 5 years of continuous service. Plus 8 days paid public holidays.
• Healthy living and wellbeing employer - We welcome staff to embed regular exercise into their daily work lives and have quarterly team away days.
• Volunteering/ personal development days - Two additional days of paid leave each year to volunteer for an Access Sport club or other charity, or to use as personal development days.
• Pension - 5% employer pension contribution.
• New Mums and Dads, including adoptive parents, can take enhanced maternity and paternity leave.
• Flexible working and family-friendly - Hybrid and flexible working arrangements which are family-friendly and provide flexibility around caring responsibilities.
• 24/7 GP service to provide employees with a phone or video appointment at a time and date that suits them.
• Cycle to Work scheme - saving up to 39% off a new bike and accessories.
• Group Life Assurance for all staff on payroll.

How to apply

The closing date for applications is 18 September 2026. To apply, please complete the application form on the Access Sport website:- Senior Development Manager Application Form > Once you have submitted your online application, please email your CV and Equal Opportunities Monitoring form to Careers@AccessSport.org.uk with your name in the subject line. Our Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form can be downloaded here: www.AccessSport.org.uk/join-the-team. Candidates who have been shortlisted for an interview will be notified by 25 September. The first interviews are currently due to take place during the week commencing w/c 28 September.

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