Head of Development and Inclusion

Organisation: British Equestrian
Salary: We offer a comprehensive benefits package, including a competitive salary, pension & health care.
Location: Abbey Park, Stareton with some home-based working
Contract type: (Full time)
Closing date: 26 August 2025
Interview date: 8 September 2025
Job Description: British Equestrian (BEF) is the national federation for equestrian sport in Great Britain. The organisation has 20 Member bodies, mainly third sector, reflecting the interests of a very broad spectrum of equestrian sports and activities, ranging from Olympic and Paralympic competition, to equine welfare, trade and recreational riding.

Britain has an excellent track record in international horse sport, as well as hosting some of the world’s most prestigious equestrian events. In seeking to grow and expand our reach, over the last four years we have made great strides in working with our Member Bodies to improve our data and insight, to identify areas of our industry that are under threat and to quantify the social value of equestrianism.

We have also conducted research to understand the barriers to participation, helping us to develop our Horses for All strategy, which is a key priority for us in driving systemic change.

The Head of Development and Inclusion is a pivotal leadership role that is primarily responsible for working with our Member Bodies and other key stakeholders to drive our continued ambitions to support sustainable growth at all levels, ensuring a thriving, accessible, diverse and inclusive sport.

Key priorities will therefore be ensuring the timely and cost-effective delivery of our strategic projects aimed at:

· widening access to equestrian activity,

· supporting a sustainable sport and industry,

· embedding inclusion and

· enhancing the BEF’s insight function for the benefit of its Member Bodies and to support the BEF’s role as a Sport England Systemic Partner.

While British Equestrian provides strategic leadership and coordination in these areas, the delivery of participation and inclusion outcomes is primarily achieved through the Federation’s Member Bodies.

Purpose of the Role

Reporting to the Chief Executive the Head of Development and Inclusion:

· Provides vision and leadership for British Equestrian’s growth and inclusion objectives.

· Acts as the BEF’s strategic lead for Sport England, maintaining and enhancing a trusted partnership.

· Maintains strong, strategic relationships with Member Body leadership teams.

· Champions British Equestrian’s commitment to ensure inclusion, equity, and belonging are embedded throughout.

· Oversees British Equestrian’s approach to insight and research, ensuring data and evidence are embedded across all strategic and operational decision-making processes.

· Working with the CEO, represents British Equestrian in national forums and strategic conversations, advocating for equestrianism’s role in physical activity, health, wellbeing and community impact.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

· Lead the implementation and continuous development of British Equestrian’s growth and inclusion agenda, driving a collaborative, insight-driven approach to grow and sustain grassroots equestrian activity to deliver value and support to our Member Bodies, with a clear focus on tackling inequality, improving accessibility, and growing diversity in equestrianism.

· Be the strategic lead for British Equestrian’s relationship with Sport England, responsible for managing all aspects of their investment in our sport including teamwork to develop the bid for the next funding cycle, ensuring Sport England’s contractual and implicit System Partner expectations are met.

· Ensure alignment with Sport England’s System Partner expectations by embedding inclusive, collaborative, and insight-led approaches across the federation and supporting long-term structural and cultural change.

· Translate insight and policy into actionable strategies that strengthen the Federation’s value proposition and relevance across the sport sector.

· As part of the SLT, develop an external stakeholder strategy that ensures maximum engagement with key political influencers, partner organisations and senior figures.

Sport England Relationship & Investment Oversight

·Lead reporting, planning, budgeting and funding applications aligned with Sport England’s strategic objectives and outcomes.

· Oversee the full lifecycle of Sport England investment, ensuring compliant, impactful, and transparent delivery across BEF and all stakeholders.

Member Body Service and Benefits

· Provide leadership and consultation across BEF’s engagement with its 20 Member Bodies in relation to growth and sustainability, with a particular focus on supporting grassroots-focused Member Bodies and wider disciplines.

· Build and maintain strong relationships to ensure best and appropriate support mechanisms are in place for Member Bodies whilst they deliver their community engagement projects and inclusion focused activity.

Insight, Research & Evaluation

· Oversee British Equestrian’s approach to insight and research, ensuring data and evidence are embedded across all strategic and operational decision-making processes.

· Commission research to explore barriers, opportunities, and trends linked to participation, inclusion, sector resilience, and public perception.

· Oversee the robust measurement and evaluation frameworks for Sport England-funded programmes, ensuring social value and systemic impact are clearly evidenced.

· Oversee the collection and analysis of Member Body KPIs to track progress on inclusion outcomes and growth, presenting data in accessible formats to support advocacy and storytelling and promote the diversity that exists within equestrian sport.

Inclusion, Equity & Representation

· Drive delivery of the Federation’s EDI strategies and the associated Diversity & Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP), working closely with the cross-Federation EDI Working Group.

· Support Member Bodies to develop inclusive practices, build cultural competence, and achieve meaningful progress against national inclusion standards.

· Promote a values-led culture that supports everyday inclusion, challenges structural barriers, and strengthens positive behaviours across the Federation.

Development

British Equestrian provides strategic leadership and coordination to Member Bodies who in turn are responsible for the delivery of growth and inclusion outcomes.

· Oversee support provided to Member Bodies to enable the delivery of initiatives that drive the sustainable growth and reach of equestrianism, including access to appropriate funding for projects and activities that align with Sport England objectives.

· Facilitate interaction between Member Bodies and local delivery partners to build networks that encourage greater awareness of equestrianism and increase participation.

· Work closely with the BEF’s Performance Pathway team on the funding and delivery of Talent delivery.

Team & Organisational Leadership

· Lead a high-performing, inclusive team across development, insight, inclusion, and member body engagement. Fostering a culture that values courage and accountability, collaboration, shared ownership and respect through mentoring, coaching and appraisals to ensure professional development - both within the team and across the wider Federation.

· Support organisation-wide alignment on values, behaviours, and priorities that reflect BEF’s strategic leadership role in equestrian sport.

· As a member of the senior leadership team, work collaboratively with colleagues across the BEF to deliver joint funding submissions, contribute to corporate planning, risk management and strategic governance.

What You’ll Bring

Essential Experience, Knowledge & Skills

· Proven strategic leadership in sport development, system change, or national participation growth and community engagement programmes.

· Thorough understanding of Sport England’s investment approach or other large scale government, Trust and Foundation investment models.

· Extensive experience in managing public sector relationships and reporting requirements.

· A track record of applying data and insight to drive evidence-based strategy, influence stakeholders, and drive measurable change.

· Strong track record of embedding equity, inclusion, and belonging and stakeholder engagement across complex systems or networks.

· Excellent partnership management skills and experience of managing national or regional partnerships within federated or membership-based structures.

· Inspirational and inclusive leadership style with experience of leading multidisciplinary and geographically dispersed teams.

· Highly effective communicator, able to influence at Board level, across Member Bodies, and with external strategic partners.

· Personally resilient, values-led, and committed to driving systemic change through collaboration and shared purpose.

Desirable

· A demonstrable passion for the role of sport and physical activity in creating social impact and systemic change.

· Understanding of federated, membership-based, or multi-stakeholder organisational structures.

· Experience of designing or delivering frameworks that measure social value or community impact.

· Experience in sport development within a club, community, or grassroots environment, particularly in sports where delivery involves owning, managing, or accessing facilities or land.

· Experience of equestrian sport

· Ability to travel to and between meetings, primarily in the Warwickshire and Midlands geographical area. A full driving licence and use own vehicle for business use is highly desirable for this role.

Qualifications

· Educated to degree level or equivalent by experience.

As the needs of the business change this role will change accordingly, therefore this document should be viewed as a guideline which may be subject to change.

If you think this is a role you’d be passionate about, please apply through the following link at Be Applied:- https://app.beapplied.com/apply/2gajzwwzgc

Closing date for applications will be Tuesday 26th August at 12 noon. Interviews to be held 8th September. Second interviews to be held 15th September.

If you would like to discuss the role in further detail, please contact melissa.kinrade@bef.co.uk

British Equestrian is committed to becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation to bring new and different perspectives to our work. So that we can more closely reflect UK society, we particularly encourage applications from individuals within groups which are currently underrepresented within our organisation and include candidates from ethnically diverse communities, candidates with a disability, candidates from the LBTQ community or from under-served communities.
How to apply: If you think this is a role you’d be passionate about, please apply through the following link at Be Applied:- https://app.beapplied.com/apply/2gajzwwzgc