Independent Football Regulator – Chief Digital and Data Officer (Job share)

Independent Football Regulator

Manchester, UK

Hybrid

Expires: Expiring in less than 3 weeks

Part time

£40,425 - £47,898 per year

Job summary

The Independent Football Regulator

The Independent Football Regulator (IFR) has been established to protect and promote the sustainability of English football, for the benefit of fans and the local communities football clubs serve.

The IFR will help improve financial sustainability of clubs, ensure resilience across the leagues, and safeguard the heritage of English football. It will operate a licensing regime; set corporate governance standards and monitor, protect, and promote financial resilience. It will also enforce compliance with requirements on financial regulation, club ownership and directors, fan engagement, and heritage protection.

The IFR will also have powers to prohibit clubs from joining competitions that are not fair or meritocratic, or that threaten the heritage or sustainability of English football.

Job description

About the role

This role is offered as a job share alongside the existing Chief Digital and Data Officer (CDDO).

Current post-holder works Monday to Wednesday
This role will work Wednesday to Friday

Wednesday is a shared working day to ensure continuity, collaboration and joint leadership.

Role Purpose

This is a senior leadership role within the Independent Football Regulator, responsible for jointly leading the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) function alongside the Chief Digital and Data Officer.

The role oversees a complex and high-profile portfolio, including all organisational technology, regulatory systems, CRM, end-user compute, data and digital strategy, cyber security, data protection and information security.
As a newly established organisation, this role offers a unique opportunity to shape and deliver digital and technology capability from the ground up, leading major digital transformation programmes, managing multi-million-pound contracts, and building a strong, inclusive and high-performing team culture as the organisation matures.
The post-holder will bring strong commercial awareness, programme and project management expertise, and digital transformation leadership, operating confidently in a fast-changing regulatory environment.

Person specification

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

Jointly lead the Digital, Data and Technology function with the CDDO, setting clear strategic direction aligned to organisational priorities.
Develop and deliver digital, data and technology strategies that support effective regulation and organisational maturity.
Act as a senior digital leader across the organisation, advising executive colleagues on technology-enabled change and risk.

Digital & Technology Delivery

Oversee all organisational technology, including:

End-user computing and core IT services
Regulatory systems and platforms
CRM and case management systems
Data platforms, analytics and reporting
Lead significant digital and IT transformation programmes, ensuring delivery to time, cost and quality.
Manage ongoing change programmes, embedding new systems, processes and ways of working.

Security, Data Protection & Risk

Provide senior oversight of cyber security, information security and data protection, ensuring compliance with relevant legislation and standards.
Manage digital and technology risk effectively, balancing innovation with regulatory and security requirements.

Essential Requirements

Leadership & Transformation

Significant experience leading digital, data and/or IT functions in a complex organisation.
Proven track record of delivering large-scale digital or IT transformation programmes.
Strong people leadership skills, including building teams, developing capability and leading through change.

Digital, Data & Technology

Broad understanding of modern digital and IT estates, including enterprise systems, cloud services, data platforms and cyber security.
Experience overseeing regulatory, case management or CRM systems is highly desirable.

Commercial & Financial

Strong commercial awareness, with experience managing large supplier contracts and significant budgets.
Ability to secure value for money while maintaining service quality and resilience.

Programme & Project Management

Demonstrable experience of leading complex programmes and managing interdependencies, risks and delivery at pace.

Stakeholder Engagement

Excellent communication and influencing skills, with the ability to operate credibly at senior levels and with external partners.

Desirable Skills

A formal degree level qualification in digital and or data delivery or equivalent.
Experience in developing digital and data strategies in a similar organisation.

We are running an information session where prospective applicants can find out more about the role. This will be hosted by Matt Reader and will take place on:

Monday 16th February at 12pm

The session will be an opportunity to hear more about the role, the team and wider directorate and the department. It will also be an opportunity for you to ask any questions.

Please register your interest by filling out this form and you will be sent an invitation. The invites will be sent the night before the session. The sessions are not recorded.

Please note that the session will not focus on the IFR recruitment process - please direct any queries that you have on this topic (timelines, reasonable adjustments, onboarding etc) to careers@footballregulator.org.uk

Applicants are strongly encouraged to arrange an informal “chemistry call” with the current post-holder before applying to discuss ways of working and shared leadership. Contact Rebecca.NortonPrice@FootballRegulator.org.uk

Benefits

If successful you will join a Non Departmental Public Body and will be employed as a Public Servant.

If you are an existing Civil Servant or a DCMS employee you will no longer have access to Civil Service benefits including the Civil Service pension.

The terms and conditions of employment include:

Pension 12% An employee contribution of 5%, with an employer contribution of 7%.
Flexible Benefit 8% Employees can choose to invest 8% of their base salary into their pension, or take as cash (post tax)
Reward we will have a performance based reward programme.
31.5 days annual leave
Flexible and hybrid working, 40% in office attendance
Occupational sick pay
9 months paid Maternity Leave + generous paternity and adoption leave.
A bespoke L&D programme to help you achieve your personal CPD, including paid membership fees
Cycle-to-work scheme and much more!

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

How to apply

To apply for this vacancy, you will need to submit the following documents which will assessed against the experience success profile:

A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential and desirable criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 2 x A4 pages and you should insert your CV into the "Job History" section on Civil Service Jobs on the Civil Service Jobs application form.
A Statement of Suitability (max 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential requirements highlighted. You may also choose to reference the desirable skills listed however these will not be considered in the assessment of your application except in circumstances where there are a high number and calibre of candidates.

For the shortlist, we will select applicants demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application.

In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial sift will be conducted on the statement of suitability. Those who are successful in the initial sift will then be scored on all elements of the application.

The Interview

The interview process will assess experience through competency questions and a presentation. Full details of this, including the topic, length of time, and whether or not you will need to use visual aids, will be sent to you prior to your interview.

Prior to the interview you will be sent the competency questions in advance. The questions will be based on the essential criteria listed on slide 7 of the attached information pack.

Your interview will take place remotely via Teams.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

UK nationals
nationals of the Republic of Ireland
nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Salary range

£40,425 - £47,898 per year