Education & Community Inclusion Lead

Contract: Fixed Term - 12months maternity cover starting 1 July 2025.

Hours of work: Full-time, 37.5 hours per week.

Based: Sale Sharks High Performance Centre, Carrington, M31 4AB, with expected travel across local areas

Interview date: w/c 31st March 2025

ABOUT SALE SHARKS FOUNDATION

Sale Sharks Foundation is the charity partner of Sale Sharks Rugby Club. Our Vision is to use the power of our sport to change lives throughout the North West. We work hard every day to deliver change in our communities to people of all ages and abilities.

We work with over 15,000 people annually in three key areas: Community Inclusion, Education and Rugby Development. You can see the impact we had by checking out our 2022/ 2023 Sharks Watch Impact Report. Our highly skilled, dynamic and passionate team now deliver over 50 community projects that change the lives of a huge spectrum of people across the North West: from children and young people right through to senior citizens.

We believe in the immense power of our sport to positively transform people’s lives. We believe the North West is a home to extraordinary people like you.

This is your chance to be part of our story!

JOB SUMMARY

The Education & Community Inclusion Lead will have responsibility to develop and deliver the strategic direction of both the Education and Community Inclusion departments at Sale Sharks Foundation. This will include developing the Foundations Education department which focus’ on alternative provision in primary and secondary education as well as our Hitz program for 16–19-year-olds. They will also work closely with the Community Inclusion Manager and with team to develop and monitor project/programmes around disability, social inclusion, health and wellbeing.

The role will have a focus on developing a range of provision across both Education and Community Inclusion. Priorities for this role will include exploring the development and opportunity to expand our alternative provision offer, securing funding, developing key internal and external relationships with partners, and managing a diverse team of staff. You will also be a key part of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) at Sale Sharks Foundation, reporting directly to the CEO and responsible for departmental budget you will work with the rest of the SLT team to set the strategic direction for the departments and Foundation as we look to deliver our new strategy, to be launched in the 2025/26 season. This is an exciting time for an experienced leader to join the Foundation and help us achieve our strategic direction goals across the education and community inclusion space

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Relationship Management

• Lead the strategic direction of the team, building strong relationships with internal and external organisations.
• Lead on the scope and development of a new Alternative Provision offer.
• Work with existing and new commercial partners to support key projects across the Foundation, enabling us to secure the long-term future of key programmes.
• Identify, establish, and maintain effective partnerships with key stakeholders across the Education and Community Inclusion sectors.
• Work with existing and new grant funders, building rapport and developing relationships to make sure we maintain strong relations and meet KPI objectives.
• Work collaboratively with internal teams across Sale Sharks to support wider Foundation goals and objectives. Leadership.
• To fully contribute to the Foundations Senior Leadership Team, including managing budgets, providing reports to the CEO and trustees, staff CPD and providing strategic support to the CEO on all areas of the Foundations operations.
• Line management of managers and officers within your team, as well as matrix management support for others who feed into your programmes.
• To be responsible for the Education and Community Inclusion budgets including setting, monitoring and meeting departmental targets.
• Develop, lead and manage the execution of strategic operational plans across both Education and Community Inclusion to lead the team and meet specific KPI’s Development .
• Work with your wider team to iterate, design and lead on the development of existing and new programmes and initiatives linked to Education and Community Inclusion.
• Work with department managers and officers to ensure health and safety and programme procedures are in place across all Sale Sharks Foundation activities.
• Be one of the key points of contact and work closely with the Foundation’s funding consultant in identifying and writing bid applications.
• Oversee the planning and delivery of all Education and Community Inclusion programmes, ensuring staffing and resources are effectively managed.
• Working closely with the Safeguarding lead, to support the wider department with any safeguarding concerns, make sure to follow Sale Sharks Foundation protocols.
• Undertake any other duties as required by the CEO.

Monitoring & Evaluation

• Keep clear, accurate records and data collection linked to all grants and commercial funding streams.
• Overall responsible of, and supporting teams to, effectively track and deliver against agreed KPI’s associated with grant funding.
• Overall responsible of, and supporting teams to design, deliver and ensure monitoring and evaluative feedback systems are in place for all programmes across Education and Community Inclusion, linking in with wider organisational KPI trackers.
• Analyse data and produce reports to present findings to grant and funding partners, including both outcomes and outputs of social impact using industry recognised measurement tools.
• Ensure that quality assurance of Sale Sharks Foundation Education and Community Inclusion activities, working with colleagues to ensure all materials are relevant and up to date.
• Lead on and ensure your teams support the creation of content, media, news articles and case studies/good news stories to support measure the impact of events and activities for the Foundation and relevant partners.

It is expected that the role may, on occasions, include working evenings and weekends including match days. This will always be agreed in advance with time off in lieu offered. This job description is not necessarily an exhaustive list of duties but is intended to reflect the range of duties the post-holder will perform.

It is key to this role that candidates:

• Always demonstrate the Sale Sharks Foundation values.
• Promotes Sale Sharks Foundation’s brand and ethos in a professional and positive manner.
• Be committed to applying and promoting equality, diversity and inclusion as Sale Sharks Foundation and comply with all Charity policies and procedures.
• Act in line with the Foundations code of conduct always showing professionalism in all environments we work across, acting as role models for our community.