About Us
Are you looking for an opportunity to work in the UK sport sector and play a part in supporting and promoting a network of impactful and inspirational members?
Are you interested in bringing your events management and stakeholder engagement skills to an organisation working to improve the lives of people across the UK through sport and recreation?
The Sport and Recreation Alliance believes that the power of sport and recreation can bring communities together and change lives for the better.
We provide advice, support and guidance to our members and the sector, who represent traditional governing bodies of games and sport, county sports partnerships, outdoor recreation, water pursuits, and movement and dance exercise. As the voice of the sector, we work with government, policy makers and the media to make sure grassroots sport and recreation thrives. Fostering an active nation is crucial, in order to deliver huge benefits to society and the millions of participants, volunteers, staff and spectators – from boosting public health, to improving community cohesion.
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. We actively encourage learning and development and have introduced a coaching approach to performance reviews and have implemented a new recognition and reward framework.
This a busy role and represents a good chance to learn and make your mark. The environment is very positive and fun (as you might expect in a sporting organisation) but we work hard. As a member of our team, you’ll be doing everything you can to deliver our strategy, and we’ll be doing everything we can to support you every step of the way. We’re committed to helping all of our team develop their skills and reach their full potential. From face-to face training to networking and volunteering – you’ll have all the opportunities you need to make the right moves for you. We know the postholder won’t start with expertise in all these areas and we will help develop your knowledge.
ROLE SUMMARY
This role is based in the SRA’s Communications, Public Affairs, Partnerships and Membership team, which works to support our members and ensure that the Alliance has impact and influence across a wide range of audiences.
The Membership & Events Manager will be instrumental in developing and delivering a high quality and relevant programme of events and engagement opportunities for our members, partners and sector designed to promote member growth and retention, as well as continuing to expand our reach and visibility as a leading industry body.
You will work closely with colleagues to plan, develop, coordinate and deliver all engagement with members - including our events and training programmes, and member meetings, recruitment and retention - as well as supporting with business development with existing and prospective corporate partners. The role will also include line management of the Membership Officer.
You will carry out a range of tasks aimed at building the Alliance’s profile, supporting our members and achieving influence for our work.
MAIN TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Membership Engagement:
- Develop and deliver a membership strategy to support membership retention and growth, and to develop insight to inform work and engagement across the Alliance.
- Manage the day-to-day membership function and the delivery of membership services and support, including leading on membership renewals and retention.
- Working with the Director Communications, Partnerships & Member Services to help lead a Membership Review process, assessing whether and, if so, what changes should be made to the Alliance’s structure and the products and services it delivers to members.
- Lead on developing and maintaining Alliance's customer relationship management (CRM) system and other stakeholder engagement platforms.
- Represent the Alliance externally at member meetings and events.
Events:
- Establish, plan and deliver the Alliance’s annual events programme, including two flagship annual events, and a variety of in-person and virtual events.
- Develop and manage event project plans, working across the team and with the Director of Communications, Partnerships & Member Services, external suppliers and partners to ensure the successful delivery of all events and to leverage the opportunity for income generation.
- Oversee and manage activities on the day(s) of the events, including the allocation and management of staff. Advise and support Alliance staff where appropriate to support conference/event preparation and delivery.
- Work with the Public Affairs and Communications team to design and deliver activities and events to engage and develop the Alliance’s key audiences and networks including members, partners, sponsors and political stakeholders.
- Work with other departments within the Alliance to assess their training programme requirements across the year and to support delivery of an effective and successful calendar of training, which provides value to our members and partners.
Internal responsibilities:
- Line manage the staff members in the membership and events team, with a strong focus on their Learning and Development and ensuring all members of the team are motivated and performing at their best.
- Work collaboratively with other Alliance teams and colleagues to deliver projects, outputs and events.
- Working alongside the Director of Communications, Partnerships & Member Services to help plan and implement the annual events and membership budget.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
The ideal candidate will have:
- A demonstrable track record of successfully delivering events and/or conferences.
- The ability to build, develop and maintain good relationships with a variety of stakeholders at multiple levels. Strategic thinking and creative approach to relationship building.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to draft accurate, clear and concise correspondence.
- Meticulous attention to detail and a high level of accuracy, including the ability to edit and proofread.
- Excellent advocacy and presentation skills and good awareness of commercial principles.
- Passion for their work, confidence to make decisions, lead projects, identify issues and resolve them.
- Strong partnership working skills. They will be able to work effectively both with Alliance members and with suppliers to ensure that agreed targets are met.
- Good listening, analysis, and problem-solving skills. with the ability to deal with rapidly changing circumstances and resolve problems swiftly and skilfully.
- Ability to keep up to date with developments in the sport and recreation sector and in society / current affairs, identifying opportunities from these.
- Strong organisational and time management skills with an ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously.
- Ambition, initiative and willingness to learn new skills and take on additional responsibility over time
- Well developed IT skills and experiences in the use of CRM systems.
- Ability to be a team player, work collaboratively and always be willing to support colleagues to achieve broader team objectives.
An ideal candidate, though not essential, might demonstrate:
- Experience of internal communications in a membership organisation.
- Understanding of the role and remit of NGBs and other sport and recreation bodies, and the context within which they work, and the wider sport and recreation sector.
- A good working knowledge of current affairs, public policy and government Interest in sport and recreation.
- Line management experience.
- Sponsorship management experience.
Benefits of working at the Alliance
Below is a list of the range of benefits we offer our employees.
- 25 days paid holiday, increasing to 27 days after 3 years and 30 days after 5 years. Paid bank holidays. You also have the option to buy an additional 5 days leave per year.
- In addition, we offer 3.5 privilege days which is taken between Christmas and New Year.
- 2 moments that matter days to be taken each year which can be used for whatever is important to you - from celebrating a birthday to a movie day.
- 4 volunteering days per year.
- No long-hours culture. Our team work hard but we strongly discourage late working. We like our team to be able to enjoy their personal life as well as their time at work.
- Centrally located attractive office in Holborn which includes collaboration spaces and is close to shops, cafes, bars, gyms and sport clubs.
- Hybrid working from day 1 – all the team do a mixture of working at home and office working.
- Focus on learning and development. The team are encouraged to discuss their career paths with their line managers as our new approach to performance appraisals. We also tap into the expertise within the sector for employees to shadow with possible mentoring opportunities and a focus on learning from each other including our Board members.
- Enhanced sick leave, maternity, paternity and adoption leave.
- Special leave ranging from dependents and carers leave, household emergency, moving house through to bereavement leave for family members and pets.
- Private healthcare with Vitality which includes a range of reward partners.
- £250 annually towards gym, sports club or sports equipment purchases.
- Choice of 2 pension providers.
- Access to an employee assistance programme through Health Assured should you need additional financial or emotion support. We annually train members of our team to become Mental Health First Aiders.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
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. It’s this philosophy that drove us to shape our values and behaviours and we open our doors to those who share those values.
Every role in the Alliance team is open to applications from all sections of society. We believe in the potential of everyone; regardless of race, religion or belief, ethnic origin, different physical ability, family structure, socioeconomics, age, nationality, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other difference that makes you, well, you.
Our recruitment process anonymises your application at shortlisting stage. If you are invited to interview and you have a physical or mental medical condition which could impact on your ability to participate in the Alliance’s recruitment process, please let us know before your interview by emailing the recruiting manager who is recruiting for this position or HR.
How to apply
For full details of the position please visit www.sportandrecreation.org.uk
To apply, 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
If you would like an informal chat about the role, please contact the recruitment inbox and we will ask the recruiting manager to make contact to discuss.
The closing date for applications is 11.59pm on Sunday 21 April. Should we receive a large volume of applications, we may decide to close the application process early.
Protecting your data
Prior to completing and submitting an application, please refer to our privacy notices on our website.
Equality and Diversity Monitoring
It would really help us if you were able to complete our equality and diversity monitoring survey found here. This is anonymous and does not form part of the recruitment process.
Recruitment Agencies - Please note we are only looking at direct sourcing for this role and if this were to change, we will contact our preferred agencies directly.
