Senior Development Manager, Manchester

Organisation: Access Sport CIO
Salary: £30,000 - £35,000 FTE, subject to experience
Location: Manchester
Contract type: Fixed Term (Full time)
Closing date: 23 November 2026
Interview date: 7 December 2026
Job Description: 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. Youth voice, co-production and leadership are at the heart of this work.

This work aims to tackle the root causes preventing disadvantaged and/or disabled young people from accessing sport through a range of projects which are either place-specific or sport-specific. All the clubs we support are invited to join our Inclusive Club Network. We then use the expertise gained through this work to effect System Change.

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.

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 here on our website. A number of videos showcasing our work can be found on our YouTube channel.

Role purpose
Access Sport is looking to appoint a new Senior Development Manager with responsibility for supporting the operational delivery of our current work across the North of England. We have been working to transform community sport for disabled and disadvantaged young people in Greater Manchester since 2004, Sheffield since 2022, and we have ambitions to continue expanding.

The post-holder will support the delivery, growth and impact of this existing work, whilst also supporting regional expansion plans. This includes supporting our ambition to deliver place-based work across Liverpool and Newcastle.

All of our work is focused on training, equipping and supporting community sports clubs to be more inclusive, with a focus on disadvantaged and disabled young people. Youth voice, co-production and leadership are at the heart of this work.

Alongside this delivery role, the post holder will be responsible for managing Access Sport's Angus Irvine Playing Fields Fund (AIPFF) grant programme, ensuring effective grant management and working closely with the committee to deliver long-term impact through strategic investment into grassroots sports clubs across England. AIPFF is a restricted fund managed by Access Sport issuing c15-20 small grants pa.

Candidates should have experience in developing inclusion focused projects, with a strong understanding of whole systems place-based working and the ability to manage a range of strategic/ stakeholder relationships. Effective line management and leadership skills will be required to ensure a cross-functional, in-person and remote team is well supported across the region.

This is an exciting time to join Access Sport as we enter the final, and most ambitious, year of our Stand for Inclusion Growth Strategy, and look ahead to launching our new strategy in April 2027.

Responsibilities
Delivery and project management
• Train, equip and support local community clubs to deliver new, sustainable and inclusive opportunities, helping them reach more disadvantaged and disabled children and young people.
• Carry out regular visits to clubs (during evenings and weekends when required) to build relationships and better understand their needs and aspirations.
• Deliver nationally endorsed disability inclusion and neuroinclusion workshops, training and webinars for volunteers and coaches.
• Work closely with youth focussed colleagues to embed youth leadership and youth voice throughout all delivery work.
• Develop and manage delivery plans, ensuring consistent implementation and effective financial management, working closely with the finance team.

Leadership and management
• Line manage delivery and impact team members in the North, including those based in Greater Manchester, initially consisting of two/ three staff members.
• Ensure team members have appropriate people-focused support, helping staff to balance workload pressures, capacity challenges, and competing priorities, whilst ensuring high standards of performance and maintaining staff wellbeing.
• Work collaboratively/ develop strong relationships with local sector partners, including Local Authorities, Active Partnerships, disability organisations, leisure operators, health bodies, education providers, youth sector partners, sport/ sport for development organisations and other relevant agencies important to place-based working.

Youth voice infrastructure
• Support the delivery and coordination of our GM regional youth voice group, and embed youth voice in new delivery projects across the North.
• Support meaningful, inclusive and accessible youth voice structures and approaches for young people across Access Sport.
• Ensure insights from youth voice activity are captured and used to inform programme improvement.

Partnerships
• Work with our partners in Greater Manchester and across the North to champion inclusive sport opportunities across networks, including Active Partnerships, Local Authorities, Place Partnerships, funders, sports development organisations, and youth organisations.
• Support the development of the Inclusive Club Network, encouraging greater connectedness between clubs.

Monitoring and Evaluation
• Play a key role in supporting the monitoring and evaluation requirements for projects, 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.
• Strong leadership skills, including strategic thinking, effective communication, emotional intelligence, and the ability to coach, mentor, inspire and develop high-performing teams in a matrix management environment.
• Experience in developing, influencing and managing key strategic partner relationships.
• Experience/ knowledge of whole systems place-based approaches, and an understanding of this way of working across a range of localities.
• 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 in grant management.
• 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: To apply, please complete the application form on the Access Sport website - click the link to 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 27 November. The first interviews are currently due to take place during the week commencing w/c 7 December. If you have any questions or would like to have an informal discussion about the role, please email Sue.Wheeler@AccessSport.org.uk. Data protection Access Sport CIO will only process and store your personal information, this means any information that identifies or could identify you, for the purposes of recruitment, after which it will be securely disposed.

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Senior Development Manager, Manchester