Director of Athlete Programmes and Impact

Organisation: Switch the Play Foundation
Salary: £52,000-£65,000 dependent on experience
Location: Home based with some travel across the UK
Contract type: Permanent (Full time)
Closing date: 6 August 2026
Interview date: 18 August 2026
Job Description: PURPOSE

The Director of Athlete Programmes and Impact is a key member of the leadership team within the charity with primary responsibility for overseeing the effective design and implementation of athlete support programmes in line with our mission as a charity.

This is a pivotal new role, created as we consolidate a period of significant growth and focus on deepening our impact, driving an evidence-based approach to strengthening our programmes for beneficiaries, and fostering a healthy, well-coordinated working culture across a fully remote team.

The role will lead on the development and delivery of our Athlete Services plan ensuring a clear, high quality offer, informed by insights and evidence of need, and with easy and consistent points of entry for beneficiaries. The role will manage our Athlete Services team and network of Team Mates (our wider delivery team of facilitators, mentors, coaches and counsellors), bringing greater cohesion, coordination and shared learning across our work. A key priority will be to develop our impact framework and drive simple, effective approaches to monitoring, evaluation and learning, enabling us to better understand, communicate and improve our impact.

The postholder will be somebody who can think and act strategically in shaping our partnership and engagement strategy with sporting bodies, with a clear and focussed plan for who we partner with and how we steward trusting, long-term partnerships with the goal of raising awareness of the support we offer and creating easy access into our programmes for athletes. They will also lead on partnership plans with other not for profit organisations and providers of athlete support services whose work complements that of the charity.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who combines strategic thinking with a practical, empowering approach, and who is motivated to build the systems, relationships and culture that allows Switch the Play Foundation and our beneficiaries to thrive.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Programme Leadership
> Provide strategic oversight across all Switch the Play Foundation’s (STPF) programmes.
> Ensure programmes align with charity strategy, mission and values and meet with any funder commitments.
> Take an evidence-based approach to simplifying and strengthening our programme offer, and identify opportunities for consolidation and synergy between our current programmes.
> Drive an impact-led culture, and champion a data-led approach in order to maximise positive outcomes for our beneficiaries
> Lead charity-wide programme planning, prioritisation and review processes.
> Budget responsibility for all Athlete Services activity including tracking progress against forecasts.
> Line manage and support the Senior Manager - Athlete Programmes to ensure effective delivery of our core Switched On programme offer.
> Oversee individual programme managers (Team Mates) to support delivery against objectives, and ensure that these are part of a joined up programmatic offer that creates a coherent beneficiary journey.

Team Leadership and support
> Support our delivery team (staff and Team Mates) to work collaboratively and effectively.
> Encourage collaboration, reflection and knowledge-sharing across deliverers.
> Support a culture of learning and continuous improvement across the team.

Partnership and Engagement
> Act as a strategic leader in shaping the engagement strategy with sporting bodies with a clear plan for who we partner with, why, and how, to drive awareness of our work and create easy access to programmes for athletes.
> Lead key strategic relationships with sporting bodies.
> Support wider SLT priorities in developing new corporate partnerships that align with the charity’s strategy and values.
> Lead our approach to partnership and collaboration with other (mainly) not-for-profit providers of athlete support services whose work complements our strategy.

Data, Learning, and Impact
> Develop and implement simple, effective frameworks to monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) to better understand and communicate our impact.
> Manage the Data and Impact Lead (when recruited later in 2026) to ensure programmes are delivering maximum impact and that the Theory of Change is thoroughly embedded.
> Create quality assurance mechanisms, such as live dashboards (via our Athlete Management System), to capture and regularly make sense of what we are learning from our work.
> Work closely with the delivery team to ensure that learning from our impact and evaluation work is embedded into programmes and operations.
> Champion sharing of learning beyond Switch the Play to support system change.

Charity Leadership
> A member of the Charity’s Senior Leadership Team contributing to the overall strategy and culture of the charity, taking an active role in fostering a positive workplace culture and in communicating the vision, strategy and impact of the charity to external stakeholders.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCES

Strategic Leadership:
> Proven experience in developing and delivering successful strategies to support the personal development of people and have a transformational impact.
> Strong ability to drive multiple programmes and identify connections, gaps and priorities.
> Confident working with senior leadership and contributing to organisational decision-making. Experience of working as part of a senior leadership team within an organisation is preferred.

Programme design and development:
> Experience of designing and developing impact-led programmes within the third-sector and / or high performance sport.
> Ability to translate strategy into practical plans and systems

Data driven and learning mindset:
> Experience designing and implementing monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) approaches (does not need to be highly technical, but must be confident and practical).
> Proficient in using data and insights to evaluate impact, guide decision-making, and refine strategies for supporting beneficiaries..

Team Leadership and Development:
> Exceptional ability to lead, support, and inspire remote teams, fostering collaboration, driving high performance and building a positive culture.

Organised and proactive:
> Demonstrates a positive and proactive approach and attitude, using initiative to get things done, and manages and prioritises a busy workload with excellent organisation skills and attention to detail.

Strong Networking and Relationship-Building Skills:
> Excellent communication and collaboration skills, including working across teams.
> Adept at building and nurturing relationships with colleagues, third partner deliverers, and stakeholders.

Adaptability and Resilience:
> Thrives in a fast-paced environment, managing competing priorities with focus and flexibility.

Transition knowledge:
> Experience / understanding of sporting transitions and supporting sportspeople with their personal development and future planning (desirable).

Budget management:
> Experience of budget management and charitable governance linked to spend .

Organisational change / growth:
> Experience of organisational change and growth phases.

Charity knowledge:
> Understanding of the charity sector and fundraising compliance (desirable).

Passion for Social Impact:
> A resonance with the mission of Switch the Play Foundation and a commitment to supporting sportspeople to thrive in their lives beyond sport.

BENEFITS PACKAGE

> Competitive salary with an annual review.
> Employer pension contribution.
> Flexible working arrangements - we are a remote team and whilst you have core working hours we have created a culture of trust in people to find the right way to work that suits both team and individual needs.
> Generous annual leave package with 25 days annual leave plus UK statutory/bank holidays, and an additional 3 days off for the week of Christmas.
> An organisation that values you. As a smaller organisation, we value everyone’s individual perspective and voice and all team members are able to contribute to our strategic planning.
> A positive, supportive and collaborative culture and leadership style centred around our Team Code. Central to this is a focus on personal wellbeing and happiness.
> Expenses paid for any UK travel undertaken for Switch the Play Foundation purposes.
> Professional development, with an annual CPD budget and a commitment to aid your development and ambitions whenever possible.
> Access to professional memberships with the cost of memberships to relevant organisations covered.
> Tech support/equipment allowance, providing necessary tools for remote work.
How to apply: Please apply via Linked In - https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4440771523/

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Director of Athlete Programmes and Impact