Assistant Private Secretary

The Independent Football Regulator; Manchester; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

The Independent Football Regulator (IFR) in the United Kingdom seeks a proactive individual to support the Director, Deputy Director and Head of the Supervision Office, coordinating agendas, briefing materials and decisions.

You will engage with clubs in distress, identify risks, and help drive regulatory priorities, while maintaining close collaboration with football authorities and senior leaders across the organisation.

Qualifications

• Familiarity with Non-Departmental Public Bodies, especially Regulators and their relationship to Government
• Knowledge of the football industry

Responsibilities

• Provide support to the Director, Deputy Director and Head of the Supervision Office, developing a strong understanding of the Football Regulator's priorities, operating environment and the wider football industry.
• Manage the time and priorities of the Director, Deputy Director and Head of the Supervision Office, ensuring diaries, meetings and travel align with business needs and strategic objectives.
• Coordinate key decision‑making forums, preparing agendas and briefing materials, recording decisions, and ensuring actions are delivered.
• Support supervisors overseeing clubs in distress or crisis, helping to prioritise critical issues, assess risks and support effective decision‑making.
• Undertake the supervision of clubs when required, acting as a key point of contact and supporting engagement with external stakeholders.
• Support the oversight of high‑risk clubs, identifying emerging risks, trends and issues requiring regulatory attention.
• Maintain effective collaboration between the IFR and key football competition authorities, including the Premier League, EFL and National League.
• Work closely with colleagues at all levels, representing the Director's Office and helping to drive departmental priorities.
• Build strong working relationships with senior leaders across the Supervision Directorate and the wider organisation.
• Manage complex and sensitive issues relating to regulated clubs and corporate matters, while delivering high‑quality reporting, briefings and governance support.

Job description

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.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide support to the Director, Deputy Director and Head of the Supervision Office, developing a strong understanding of the Football Regulator's priorities, operating environment and the wider football industry.
• Manage the time and priorities of the Director, Deputy Director and Head of the Supervision Office, ensuring diaries, meetings and travel align with business needs and strategic objectives.
• Coordinate key decision‑making forums, preparing agendas and briefing materials, recording decisions, and ensuring actions are delivered.
• Support supervisors overseeing clubs in distress or crisis, helping to prioritise critical issues, assess risks and support effective decision‑making.
• Undertake the supervision of clubs when required, acting as a key point of contact and supporting engagement with external stakeholders.
• Support the oversight of high‑risk clubs, identifying emerging risks, trends and issues requiring regulatory attention.
• Maintain effective collaboration between the IFR and key football competition authorities, including the Premier League, EFL and National League.
• Work closely with colleagues at all levels, representing the Director's Office and helping to drive departmental priorities.
• Build strong working relationships with senior leaders across the Supervision Directorate and the wider organisation.
• Manage complex and sensitive issues relating to regulated clubs and corporate matters, while delivering high‑quality reporting, briefings and governance support.
• The ability to work at pace, driving progress in the face of a range of competing views and being calm and resilient in pressurised situations.
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to balance competing priorities and pressure.
• Strategic thinking to understand the sensitivities of the brief and spot the key issues and risks before they arise.
• Leadership skills and ability to form effective working relationships with colleagues and stakeholders internally and externally, and at various levels of seniority.
• Strategic analysis skills to provide challenge and fresh ideas across a broad range of issues and in response to breaking events.
• Familiarity with Non-Departmental Public Bodies, especially Regulators, and their relationship to Government.
• Some supervisory exposures, ideally from a regulator.
• Knowledge of the football industry.

Information Session

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

Monday 2nd November at 12.00pm

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 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 [e-mail]