Bid General Manager - FIFA Women's World Cup 2035

Bid General Manager - FIFA Women's World Cup 2035

On Wednesday 5th March, The English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish FAs (Home Nations) announced their intention to bid for the 2035 FIFA Women's World Cup. The bid is to be delivered by the English Football Association (The FA) on behalf of all partners - working with the host associations, UK Government, devolved governments, UK Sport and wider partners.

This role sits at the centre of the UK bid to host the 2035 FIFA Women's World Cup. It is a varied role that will bring a focus on leadership, integration, and delivery across both a bid team to be established, and the wider partnership.

Please note this is a fixed term contract through until July 2026 and applicants must be able to start no later than May 2025.

What will you be doing?

• Working with an established FA Senior Management team to design, build and deliver an effective bid management function/team to meet the needs of the FIFA World Cup bidding process, ensuring the successful and timely submission of a compliant bid
• Working with FA leadership to design, implement and coordinate a comprehensive strategy for the bid process, ensuring alignment with FIFA's requirements and expectations
• Ensure all bid workstreams are well planned, resourced, and reported on, leading to effective execution
• Working with key delivery partners across football and government, ensure all are informed, consulted and integrated into delivery where applicable - and that they deliver their obligations to ensure a compliant and competitive bid. Lead operational engagement with FIFA bidding team to manage process.
• Working with technical experts to deliver a compliant bid, including key infrastructure requirements (i.e. Stadiums, cities and airport authorities etc), service requirements (accommodation, transport, safety and security) and legal requirements (guarantees, staging agreements and commercial contracts - supporting negotiations where required)
• Oversee the preparation of bid documents - including an event vision, legacy, sustainability and human rights commitment and ensure all necessary information is presented clearly and effectively. Oversee the liaison with FIFA, appoint key agencies and suppliers, and lead the creation of presentations for FIFA and other key stakeholders.
• Develop and manage the bid budget, ensuring that all financial resources are allocated efficiently.
• Working with FA led teams/resource to deliver effective marketing, Communications, PR and International Relations strategy for the bid.
• Lead and manage the bid team (mix of new hires, secondees and agency support), ensuring coordination between workstream, providing guidance and mentorship to team members throughout the bidding process.
• Where required act as the interface with key support services within The Football Association e.g.

• • Procurement - tender materials development
  • Recruitment - job description development
  • Technology - software and hardware requirements definition
  • Budget - financial management

• Executes additional tasks as required in order to meet FA Group's changing priorities.
• Comply with all company policies and procedures to ensure 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:

• Major Event experience, ideally within football in a General Management/Programme Delivery role
• Previous bid experience in the sports industry is an advantage
• A knowledge of FIFA tournaments is an advantage
• Significant experience of managing multiple and complex stakeholders (including governments, venues and football stakeholders)
• Strong project management experience
• Strong leadership experience with a track record of successfully building and motivating a team from inception, through to delivery
• Experience of working in a purpose led organisation with the ability to quickly understand the dynamics and culture of sport, ideally football and its ecosystem
• Experience in a management consulting environment beneficial but not essential

Technical skills required:

• Attention to detail and pride in the presentation of outputs
• Ability to write concise presentations and reports
• Strong analytical skills
• Comfort in working with numbers/building budgets
• Proven skill in stakeholder management - both internal and external
• Capable communicator with experience of dealing with sensitive and complex matters
• Ability to demonstrate flexibility where required
• Experience in Microsoft Office 365 applications

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 in 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, encouraging you to connect and learn with your colleagues and look after your mental health and wellbeing.
• Free, nutritious lunches, at Wembley Stadium and St. George's Park.
• Free private medical cover.
• A contributory pension scheme.
• An additional 'Thank You' days leave, volunteering days as well as 25 days 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

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.