Role 1: Head of Sport Strategy: This is a high profile, fast moving role covering a breadth of responsibility across sport policy. You are responsible for the implementation of the range of objectives in grassroots sport, including overall ambition for getting more people to be active and make sport safer, more inclusive and more sustainable, key responsibilities include: Responsibility for the overall strategy on grassroots sport, including facilities, grassroots funding, ensuring a safe environment in sport and making it as inclusive as possible. Relationship management with key Departments including DHSC, DfE, MHCLG, DEFRA, DfT, HMT and MOJ and others to deliver a community led approach to grassroots sport following the 10 Year Health Plan. Leading on policy on the future of sport integrity, including shaping Governments response to the Call for Evidence on sporting integrity and the sectors Safe Sport initiative. This will also include work on regulation of sport including safeguarding and in response to governance challenges. Leading to make the sport sector more inclusive, including diversity and inclusion in sport. Overseeing policy for the economic and environment sustainability in sport supporting the team to deliver key outcomes to grow the sector and ensure it is more sustainable. Oversee facilities policy to enable delivery of 400m investment in community sport facilities. Be outward facing with the sport sector working with key partners and stakeholders to deliver shared objectives. Senior policy responsibility for sponsorship of Sport England and UK Anti-Doping, Departmental Arms Length Bodies. Management of four Grade 7s, leading in respective areas of participation, children and young people and integrity, facilities and sustainability. Corporate leadership and active representation in Directorate Senior Leadership Team. Role 2: Head of Elite, International and Womens Sport This is a high profile, fast paced and exciting role covering a breadth of responsibilities across the elite and professional sport sector. You will be responsible for the implementation of a range of objectives to support, champion and add value to the sector, key responsibilities include: Building on the momentum in womens sport by supporting the growth of womens sport through identifying barriers and solutions including via a Womens Sport Taskforce, and ensuring the Independent Review of Womens Football recommendations are delivered via a Womens Football Taskforce. Maximising and strengthening UK international influence using sport diplomacy and soft power, with responsibility for a Cross Government, Arms Length Bodies and cross sport working group. Horizon scanning for international issues that may impact sport policy, our relationships and our sport sector. Supporting Olympic and Paralympic success and capitalising on inspirational performances. Securing cross government buy-in for the growth of the professional sport sector and identifying barriers to growth. Maintaining and enhancing our world leading spectator safety regime. Be outward facing with the sport sector working with key partners and stakeholders to deliver shared objectives. Senior policy responsibility for sponsorship of UK Sport and the Sports Ground Safety Authority, Departmental Arms Length Bodies. Management of 3 Grade 7s leading in the respective areas of: Elite and professional sport; womens sport; and international. Corporate leadership and active representation in Directorate Senior Leadership Team. s Sport Person specification The ideal candidate would have the following key skills and experience: Essential requirements: Leadership - strong evidence of line management and cultural leadership across policy development. Delivery - strong evidence of leadership across a range of policy areas to deliver outcomes, including delivery of funding. Proven experience in project development, utilising data to drive and analyse policy initiatives. Experience in planning and executing announcements to ensure continuous delivery progress. Stakeholder management skills - experience of handling stakeholders across the Department, across Whitehall and with an external sector to demonstrate policy thinking and delivery. Extensive communicating and influencing skills with a proven ability to support project development. Understanding of sport policy and the wider sport context. Desirable skills: Working with Ministers & Centre of Government We are running an information session where prospective applicants can find out more about the two roles. This will be hosted by Adam Conant, and will take place on: Monday 1 September from 13:00-13:45 The session will be an opportunity to hear more about the two roles, 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 Registration form by 9am on Monday 1st September and you will be sent an invitation. Please note that the session will not be recorded and will not focus on the DCMS recruitment process - please direct any queries that you have on this topic (timelines, reasonable adjustments, onboarding etc) to recruitment.team@dcms.gov.uk Behaviours We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process: Leadership Communicating and Influencing Seeing the Big Picture Making Effective Decisions Delivering at Pace Benefits Alongside your salary of 62,203, Department for Culture, Media and Sport contributes 18,020 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. DCMS values its staff and offers a wide range of benefits to everyone who works here. Were committed to developing talent, and supporting colleagues to have great careers in our department. To support with that, some of the benefits we offer include: Flexible working arrangements and hybrid working - DCMS staff work on a flexible basis with time spent in offices, and time spent working from home 26.5 days annual leave on entry, increasing to 31.5 days after 5 years service A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97% Access to the Edenred employee benefits system which offers discounts to popular retailers and access to various useful resources such as financial and savings advice 3 days of paid volunteering leave Up to 9 months maternity leave on full pay generous paternity and adoption leave Staff reward and recognition bonuses that operate throughout the year Occupational sick pay Access to the Employee Assistance Programme which offers staff 24/7 confidential support and resources such as counselling, debt guidance and management advice Active and engaged staff networks to join including the LGBT, Ethnic Diversity, Mental Health and Wellbeing and Gender Equality Networks Exceptional learning and development opportunities that you can explore alongside your day to day work Season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme and much more! Terms and conditions at SCS grades will vary. Those applying for SCS roles should refer to the candidate information pack for more information on terms and conditions. Things you need to know Selection process details This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience. To apply for this post, please send us the following documents no later than 23:55on 10th September 2025 via the CS Jobs portal: 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 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. For indicative sift and interview dates please refer to the attached Candidate Information Pack. 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. For support in writing your application and interviewing, please refer to the Application and Interview Guidance document attached to the job advert. The interview process will assess behaviours and strengths. The behaviours to be tested at interview are: Leadership Communicating & Influencing See the Big Picture Making Effective Decisions Delivering at Pace Prior to the interview you will be sent the behaviour questions in advance. You will not be made aware of the strengths being assessed prior to your interview. You will also be required to prepare 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. Your interview will take place in person at our Manchester office. Further Information If the vacancy is offered as FTA/Loan, existing Civil Servants must join on a Loan basis only. Prior agreement to be released on loan must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return. A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made. Any move to Department for Culture, Media and Sport from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band. DCMS has a London and a National pay scale. For more information on this, including the circumstances in which each pay scale will apply, please see the Candidate Information Pack attached. If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out. In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading. Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicants details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. NSV For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter Reasonable Adjustment We are committed to supporting candidates so they can perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. This includes making reasonable adjustments to our process. In order to request an adjustment, please: Complete the Assistance required section on the Additional requirements page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or a verbal test rather than a written one. Alternatively, contact the Government Recruitment Service via dcmsrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. Accessibility If you are experiencing accessibility difficulties with any of the attachments, please contact us. Contact details can be found in the 'contact point for applicants' section of the job advert. Feedback Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. Security Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window). See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). 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 The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). 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. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy. Diversity and Inclusion The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil 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 Job contact : Name : Adam Conant Email : adam.conant@dcms.gov.uk Recruitment team Email : dcmsrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk Further information The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact recruitment.team@dcms.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/civilservicerecruitmentcomplaints/ Attachments 424974 - Head of Sport Strategy _ Head of Elite, International & Womens Sport - Candidate Information Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 6584kB) DCMS Application & Interview Guidance for Candidates Aug 23 Opens in new window (docx, 67kB)