Head of Planning & Operational Readiness - UK & Ireland 2028 Limited

Fixed Term Contract to September 2028

Closing date to apply is midnight on Sunday 23rd March 2025

The Tournament

Contested every four years, the UEFA European Championship has been showcasing the continent's top talent since its inception in 1960 and is the world's third largest sporting event.

UEFA EURO 2028 is taking place across the UK & Ireland where Europe's top 24 national teams will compete in a 31-day, 51 match tournament, attended by over 3 million spectators and with a global tv audience of upwards of 2 billion people.

As one of the world's largest and highest-profile sporting events, UEFA EURO 2028 will attract the attention of the sporting and major event communities, the media, and the public at large across the UK& Ireland, Europe and the World. With its unique hosting model, the event promises to spread the impacts and benefits of the tournament across the nations and communities of the UK and Ireland.

The Organisation

UK & Ireland 2028 Limited has been set up as a new company to locally deliver several UEFA requirements for the tournament, working closely with UEFA, 9 Host Stadiums, 8 Host Cities and other key stakeholders.

The Role
This key role will lead an integrated PMO function working closely with UEFA to design a tournament roadmap and programme plan, and report on progress internally, to top management and across the partnership. Design and deliver an operational readiness programme for UK&I 2028 across the partnership.

What will you be doing?

• Lead the implementation, management and education of PMO tools to facilitate engagement across the organisation.
• Build effective relationships with internal functions and Government Partners to deliver tournament priorities through an integrated planning approach.
• Identify and manage risks, issues and dependencies across all UK&I 2028 projects.
• Responsible for KPI reporting to ensure organisation is on track to meet strategic objectives.
• Create high-quality outputs using Microsoft Office for senior leadership and stakeholder forums.
• Provide operational planning and project management expertise to internal functions to support priority objectives being achieved.
• Lead the establishment and delivery of a UK&I 2028 readiness program that tests key processes and stakeholders to destruction.
• Design and implement command, control and communication protocol together with UEFA.
• Develop contingency plans for significant tournament-time risks together with UEFA and internal functions.
• Lead the UK&I 2028 Main Operations Centre during the Tournament.
• Responsible for the debrief and knowledge transfer process post-Tournament.
• Recruit and lead a team of circa 10 people and contribute to a culture that allows team members to achieve objectives.
• Execute additional tasks as required to meet changing priorities.
• Comply with all company policies and procedures to ensure the highest standards of health, safety and wellbeing can be maintained.