Safeguarding & Welfare Oversight Lead

Organisation: The Football Association
Salary: Competitive
Location: National Football Centre, St. George's Park
Contract type: Permanent (Full time)
Closing date: 27 August 2025
Job Description: We are looking for a Safeguarding & Welfare Oversight Lead to work as part of the team that leads the safeguarding strategy and preventative interventions to drive safe, inclusive and fun football culture and environments.

You will support the Senior Safeguarding Manager to embed and deliver operational safeguarding practices across the England Teams landscape, and manage and oversee a team of on-camp casual staff in roles as Designated Safeguarding and Welfare Leads (DSWLs), working alongside a casual Safeguarding & Welfare Support role to maximise the effectiveness of safeguarding delivery across all England Teams activity.

Please include a cover letter with your application, outlining your interest in the role and how you meet the criteria.

If you are shortlisted for interview you will be invited to complete an online video interview. Successful candidates post this stage will be invited to an in person interview at St. George's Park on the 24th September.

What will you be doing?

Oversee a team of Designated Safeguarding and Welfare Leads (DSWLs) deploying them to all relevant England Women's Development Teams events and camps, being their primary point of contact.
Provide cover as a DSWL for England Women's Development Teams (sometimes this may be at short notice), be deployed as a Tournament Safeguarding Lead, and provide chaperone support for player travel where required.
Develop Safeguarding Plans and Risk Assessments for England Women's Development Team camps and events, providing support where necessary to the pre-event recce process.
Input into the Safeguarding Plan and Risk Assessment process across Men's Development Teams, alongside casual Safeguarding & Welfare Support across these areas.
Attend relevant pre-event planning and Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) meetings, including tournament working groups, providing safeguarding input to these processes.
Provide safeguarding advice and guidance to England Teams, in line with England Safeguarding Policies and Safer Working Practice Guidance.
Deliver safeguarding briefings and training (in person and virtual), as required across England Development Teams, maintaining currency and relevance of contextualised resources to support learning.
Work with the Senior Safeguarding Manager, to provide cover for the Safeguarding Duty Line (out-of-hours phone support) for England teams.
Be a point of contact for Clubs and other organisations across the Women's Player Pathway, and parents/carers; and support the Men's Player Education Team in relation to their Safeguarding and Welfare work with Men's Clubs.
Ensure individual needs or safeguarding requirements of players (inc. those subject to a child protection plan, education health & care plan (EHCP) etc) are supported through Welfare Plans and work with relevant FA teams/dept's and players clubs, parents and carers regarding safeguarding these needs and requirements and that effective strategies are in place to support player behaviour.
Support the Senior Safeguarding Manager to ensure all safeguarding and welfare concerns and incidents are responded to, reported and recorded using FA processes and systems.
Support colleagues to understand their safeguarding responsibilities, ensuring matters are raised and addressed as appropriate. Escalate and report serious concerns in a timely manner in line with FA Policy.
Review DWSL post camp and event reports, highlighting good practice, identifying development areas and associated actions, and agreeing follow up with the Senior Safeguarding Manager and relevant colleagues.
Support the recruitment, induction, onboarding and retention of Women's Teams DSWL's, ensuring they are supported in their role and are orientated to their responsibilities.
Support the Senior Safeguarding Manager in completing a programme of camp and event Quality Assurance Visits, which will involve travel both within the UK and abroad, for extended periods of time.
Contribute to the wider work of this Safeguarding Team, undertaking tasks as required.
Executes additional tasks as required to meet the FA's changing priorities.
Comply with all company policies and procedures to ensure that the highest standards of health, safety, and well-being can be maintained.
As part of the FA's commitment to ensuring a safe environment for everyone in football, every employee will be required to complete a DBS check. The level of the check required will be based on the activity of the specific job role and in line with legislation and government guidance.

What are we looking for?

Essential for the role:

Knowledge

A professional safeguarding qualification and/or significant relevant experience in a safeguarding / welfare role in a sport, education, youth work or similar environment.
Knowledge of child protection and safeguarding legislation, policy and implementation.
Understanding of current issues that impact on the development of elite young players/athletes in football, and in particular the challenges facing players in the Women's Game
Sound working knowledge, principles and practice of data protection, information sharing and confidentiality,
Sound knowledge of equality legislation and inclusive practices as they relate to safeguarding and additional vulnerability.
Understanding of men's and women's football and their respective player pathways.

Experience

Experience of implementing safeguarding policy and safer working practice guidance.
Experience of making referrals to statutory organisations.
Experience of risk and crisis management.
Experience of delivering safeguarding training and CPD to those working with young people and ideally within a sport environment.
Experience of managing others, particularly those who have been in child facing roles.
Experience in collaborating effectively within a multi-disciplinary setting.

Technical Skills

Ability to deliver engaging safeguarding briefings, training and workshops to a wide range of staff and players in a way that is accessible and age appropriate.
Ability to work collaboratively with different levels of professional roles
Proficient project management skills.
Proficient reporting writing skills.
Proficient Microsoft Office skills.
Excellent communication, management, presentation, and facilitation skills.
Willingness to work flexibly, sometimes with extensive travel with national teams for extended durations.

Beneficial to have:

Knowledge

An understanding of case management processes and the role of a Designated Safeguarding Lead working with National Teams in these processes.

Experience

Experience of running residential activities with young people.
Experience of working in a safeguarding role or player wellbeing role in an elite sport pathway or environment, with a multi-disciplinary team.
Experience of differentiating learning materials and using a blended approach to learning.
Experience of delivering safeguarding awareness learning opportunities with young people.
Experience of international travel involving elite teams and/or youth groups.

Technical Skills

Completion of the FA Safeguarding Children Course or similar sports-related training.

What's in it for you?

We are committed to ensuring everyone can flourish in their roles, to achieve this we have unique office spaces under the arch of the iconic Wembley National Stadium, which is the home of English Football. We are also delighted to offer a world-class, Elite Performance Centre, St. George's Park in Staffordshire which is an exceptional setting to develop and inspire high-performing England teams and leaders.

We pride ourselves in offering a competitive salary as well as great opportunities to develop and grow in your role. But that is not all; we also have a range of exciting benefits, some of which can be found below:

Access to event day tickets at Wembley Stadium, alongside a host of regular internal events throughout the season, encouraging you to connect and learn with your colleagues and look after your mental health and well-being.
Free, nutritious lunches at Wembley Stadium and St. George's Park.
Free private medical cover.
A contributory pension scheme.
An additional 'Thank You' days leave, volunteering days as well as 25 days annual leave (based on a full-time, permanent contract.)
A hybrid working model which offers greater flexibility.

For more information on what it is like to work at The FA, please visit our FA Careers page, https://www.thefa.com/about-football-association/careers

Currently, we are working within a hybrid working model whereby the expectation is to work from your contractual location for part of the week, and as and when required by the team. The remaining days can be worked remotely. We will continue to monitor this model, and it may be adjusted in future if deemed necessary. The contractual location of this role can be found on the FA Careers page.

We are a diverse workplace, aspiring to represent football across the country. The Football Association actively promotes inclusion and diversity, encouraging you to be the best version of yourself at work.

We welcome applications from everyone and are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. If you have any particular requirements in respect of the recruitment or interview process, please mention this during your application.

As part of the FA's commitment to ensuring a safe environment for everyone in football, every employee will be required to complete a DBS check. The level of the check required will be based on the activity of the specific job role and in line with legislation and government guidance.
How to apply: For further information and to apply, please follow the below link: https://careers.thefa.com/jobs/vacancy/safeguarding--welfare-oversight-lead-nfcsgp0490-national-football-centre-st-georges-park/2696/description/