Research and Data Senior Officer

Organisation: Sport and Recreation Alliance
Salary: £29,000
Location: London
Contract type: Permanent (Full time)
Closing date: 18 October 2026
Job Description: The Sport and Recreation Alliance believes that the power of sport and recreation can bring communities together and change lives for the better.

Throughout our new strategy cycle, our unwavering focus will be to deliver with and for our members and in particular our national governing body members who play a foundational role in engaging and keeping people in sport and recreation. As a result of our membership review, we have made a number of changes to the way in which we are structure and how we operate.

We have evolved our membership structures and services to better support our members and strengthen our role as the independent voice for sport and recreation, bringing together sport and national governing bodies to reflect and relevant their systemic role in delivering sport.

We are being smarter in the way we work together with our members, collaborating more effectively to identify key priorities and focusing our resources on delivering against these. We are enhancing our communications and engagement with members to increase awareness of and support for the work w and our members are doing. Using our independent voice, we will protect members’ interests with key decision makers and be bold and ambitious in promoting the benefits of sport and recreation and the impact our members have.

Our Vision, Purpose and Mission

- Vision – a vibrant, safe and sustainable sport and recreation eco-system which enables everyone to participate when, where and how they choose.
- Purpose – We believe the power of sport and recreation should be recognised from the highest levels of Government to the grassroots.
- Mission – We unable sport and recreation bodies to do more than they can alone through the power of our collective advocacy and the strength of our services.

Our three outcome areas

- Protect sport and recreation with key decision makers.
- Provide services, solutions and connectivity to make our members’ lives easier and allow them to focus on what they do best.
- Promote the positive power of sport and recreation to create the conditions for success.

Our Values

- Performance – We set high standards and hold ourselves to account for achieving them.
- Teamwork – We’re at our best when we’re working as a team, collaborating to drive improvement.
- Integrity – We recognise the important of acting with professionalism and ensuring that what we do is consistent with what we say.

Join Us

For the team employed at the Alliance, it is more than just a job. The team all want to make a difference. The Alliance may be small, but the work and the impact is far-reaching. Whilst we are focused on meeting targets and delivering outcomes, we know that it is important that people maintain a healthy life-work balance and feel they are looked after.

About The Role

Position: Research and Data Senior Officer
Salary: £29,000 (including generous benefits package)
Reports to: Director of Research and Development
Location: Holborn, London with flexible/hybrid working – Candidates must be based in the UK and must hold the right to work in the UK.
Hours: Full-time (36 hours)

Are you passionate about turning data into insight and insight into action? We are seeking an experienced and strategic Research and Data Senior Officer to drive our evidence-based decision making, leading the development of high-quality research, data analysis, and performance reporting across the organisation.

As part of the Research & Development team within the Alliance, the Research and Data Senior Officer will report to the Director of Research and Development. The postholder will be the team’s go-to specialist for handling, managing, analysing and presenting data, while also contributing to the design and delivery of high-quality research and insight projects.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who enjoys solving complex problems, influencing senior stakeholders, and translating complex information into clear, meaningful insights that drive real-world outcomes.

About You

We want to ensure the person we recruit reflects a broad range of skills, backgrounds and lived experiences to help us make better informed decisions and remain accountable to the members we service.

A full job description is available on the website - https://sportandrecreation.org.uk/files/job-description---research-and-data-senior-officer-280926143743.docx
How to apply: If you want to know more before applying, then reach out for a confidential chat by emailing recruitment@sportandrecreation.org.uk. If you are ready to apply now, please send a CV with a covering letter outlining why you want the role and how you meet the role specification. Your covering letter should be 2 sides of A4 maximum. Please send your CV and covering letter to recruitment@sportandrecreation.org.uk Closing date: 11:59 Sunday 18th October Interviews are likely to be week commencing 26th October 2026. Diversity is valued within our team. More than just encouraging your application, we're committed to conscious inclusion that (we hope) cultivates an ethos of belonging, connection and shared purpose. Our recruitment process anonymises your application at shortlisting stage. It would really help us if you were able to complete our equality and diversity monitoring survey - https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=328IX2URlk-CtPBplasU_C5uC9Oy-khHnaFoDNqhvtJUNThVUjU0OUVUUkZSNDZWSklJMklaRlFKTC4u. This is anonymous and does not form part of the recruitment process.

We use cookies to track and analyse visitors to our website

Research and Data Senior Officer