Women's National League Designated Safeguarding Officer

Organisation: The Football Association
Salary: Competitive
Location: Wembley Stadium with travel required
Contract type: Permanent (Full time)
Closing date: 4 October 2026
Job Description: As the Women's National League Designated Safeguarding Officer, you will play a pivotal role in delivering The FA's safeguarding strategy, leading safeguarding policy and practice across the WNL, and driving continuous improvement to protect and support everyone involved in the game. Working closely with clubs, County FAs and colleagues across The FA Safeguarding team, you will help shape safeguarding culture, manage concerns effectively, and ensure the highest standards of welfare and compliance are embedded throughout the women's game.

This role will require frequent national travel. It is expected that this will be one or two days a week, although this could flex up or down.

What will you be doing?

Work with WNL colleagues to embed safeguarding throughout their governance, policy, standards, systems, and events, supporting learning and development needs as appropriate.
Lead and influence clubs to drive continuous improvements in safeguarding culture and practice. Drive safeguarding standards, where appropriate, aligning with the pro and semi-pro games to maximise impact, including event safeguarding.
Support member clubs to recruit, appoint and induct Club Welfare Officers and facilitate a programme of support, CPD and training for this WNL Club Welfare Officer and Club/Academy workforce.
Work with WNL Clubs, The FAs Safeguarding Teams and County FA Designated Safeguarding Officers to ensure safeguarding concerns are managed in line with The FA's Policy, Regulations and thresholds for referrals.
Develop the standards across the WNL in line with other leagues' safeguarding criteria for the future development of the WNL and its strategy .
Collaborate to ensure systems enable effective visibility of relevant data for compliance oversight of the requirements in the Safeguarding Standard.
Maintain current safeguarding CPD, attend relevant safeguarding training and networking meetings and provide safeguarding updates and reports 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 relevant experience in a safeguarding / welfare role.
In depth knowledge of national safeguarding legislation, policy and implementation.
Knowledge of current issues that impact on the development of grassroots to elite young players, particularly in the Women's game.
A sound working knowledge of data protection principles and practice.
Sound knowledge of equality legislation and inclusive practices as they relate to safeguarding and additional vulnerability.

Experience

Experience of:

Implementing safeguarding policy and safer working practice guidance.
Supporting safeguarding and player wellbeing in elite sport pathways.
Managing referrals and concerns and operating within legal and regulatory frameworks to manage them.
Risk and crisis management.

Technical Skills

Ability to create inspiring presentations and present to a wide range of key stakeholders
Advanced Reporting Writing skills
Advanced Microsoft Office
Excellent communication, management, presentation, and facilitation skills
Reporting Writing skills
Advanced Microsoft Office

Beneficial to have:

Knowledge

An understanding of the case management processes, legislation and related statutory and voluntary infrastructure

Experience

Experience of:

Working in safeguarding in a sporting context
Developing tailored resources for different stakeholders
Differentiating learning materials and using a blended approach to learning

Technical Skills

Basic Project Management skills

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 on 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, encourages 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.
Private medical cover funded by The FA.
A contributory pension scheme.
An additional 'Thank You' day's leave, volunteering days, as well as 25 days of 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 this link: https://careers.thefa.com/jobs/vacancy/womens-national-league-designated-safeguarding-officer-wnsl1139-wembley-stadium/3244/description/

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Women's National League Designated Safeguarding Officer