About this vacancy
Department and salary
Department – Sport System: Governance, People and Ethics
Salary – Grade 9 - £49,734.98 - £53,277.34
Working Hours – 37 hours (consideration will be given to job sharing / reduced hours in line with our flexible working policy)
Location – Cardiff, Llanelli
Who we are
Sport Wales is the national organisation responsible for developing and promoting sport and physical activity in Wales. We are the main adviser on sporting matters to the Welsh Government and are responsible for distributing National Lottery funds. We aim to not only improve the level of sports participation at grassroots level but also provide our aspiring athletes with the support required to compete successfully on the world stage.
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do at Sport Wales. Further information on this can be found in our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Statement here.
We are a progressive employer that offers excellent employee benefits and promotes a healthy work life balance, offering a range of flexible approaches to support you.
Language skills (bilingualism & multilingualism) are desirable characteristics across all roles within Sport Wales. We are passionate about promoting the use of Welsh language and, as part of our development programme, give everyone the opportunity to learn Welsh if they wish to do so, offering learning programmes from beginner right through to fluent.
Sport Wales embraces a blended approach to work, where you will be able to split your time between the office and home.
Sport Wales careers are funded by Welsh Government and the National Lottery. Find out more about Sport Wales’ relationship with the National Lottery.
Sport Wales strongly advocates continuous learning and improvement. On your very first day of work, you will embark on a tailored induction programme and will be offered all the essential training to get you started. Joining Sport Wales means joining a culture of learning and continuous professional development. Job specific training, lunchtime workshops, coaching and mentoring, improving Welsh language skills and long term study opportunities are all part of being on our team.
How you'll contribute
Shape the Future of Sport in Wales
Sport Wales is looking for a visionary leader to drive cultural transformation and leadership development across the Welsh sport sector. As our Sport System Leadership and Culture Lead, you will play a pivotal role in building inclusive, high-performing leadership and workforce practices that help sport in Wales thrive.
Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of everything we do at Sport Wales. You will provide leadership and support, ensuring that inclusion and equality are embedded within people development programmes, projects and opportunities, within partner organisations and across the sector.
Who you’ll work with
You will work across all Sport Wales partners, National Governing Bodies of Sport, National Partners and Sport Partnerships. You will also work across Sport Wales liaising with partner facing staff and strategic leads. In addition to partnerships within Sport and Wales we would expect the successful applicant to form effective relationships with partners outside of Sport and also UK Sport organisations who can help deliver the outcome of the role.
What you'll need
Please look at the job description, however we value lived experience and transferable skills. If you meet most but not all the criteria, we still encourage you to apply.
What happens next
You should read the full job description (please note we do not accept CV's).
You can apply for this role now.
If you need any support to apply for this role, then please email [javascript protected email address]
Closing date
10/11/2025 9am
Provisional interview date
19/11/2025
Full job description
Responsible to
Head of Sport Systems Governance, People and Ethics
Responsible for
Senior People Development Officer
Job purpose
This strategic leadership role will shape the future of sport in Wales by developing inclusive, high-performing leadership and culture across the sector.
You will work collaboratively with Sport Wales colleagues and partners to support the development of Chairs, Board Members, and senior leaders across our partners, National Governing Bodies, Sport Partnerships and National Partners—ensuring they have the skills, behaviours, and support to enable sport in Wales to thrive.
You will lead the cultural development work linked to the Arwain Cymru: Governance and people development framework, helping organisations evolve their behaviours and values. This role also connects across the UK and internationally to ensure Wales remains at the forefront of workforce development in sport.
The role requires strategic vision, stakeholder management expertise, and hands-on experience in co-designing, delivering and evaluating culture and leadership development initiatives.
Main duties
Drive the strategic development of the workforce across the Welsh sport system, specifically focussing on leadership and culture strategies that instigates long term change and measurable improvement.
To collaborate with the Sport Sector to support the development of Chairs, Board members and Leadership positions that will have a positive impact on Sport across Wales.
To champion the importance of people development across the Sport Sector and work with organisations to improve the opportunities for funding and delivery of workforce development.
Working collectively across Sport Wales on the implementation of Arwain Cymru and our approach to accountability focusing on people development and cultural change.
Facilitate relevant networks to promote collaboration and best practice to ensure the network delivers value to its member and contributes to sector wide improvement
Build strong partnerships across Wales, the UK, and internationally to enhance the reach, relevance and innovation of workforce development initiatives.
Manage budgets and oversee the work of the Senior People Development Officer to deliver maximum impact.
Fulfil responsibilities which contribute to delivering an exemplary service for Sport Wales in respect of our statutory duties, including the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales), Equality, Information Security, Risk Management, Safeguarding, Financial Regulation and Health, Safety & Environment.
Work flexibly, performing any other duties as required, where relevant to the post and appropriate to the grade.
Our values
Our approach to enabling sport in Wales to thrive is evolving. We are committed to continually challenging ourselves to:
Learn Together - Constantly exploring, testing and reviewing
Deliver Together - Sharing outcomes, nurturing open and honest relationships, providing robust feedback, constantly improving performance
Celebrate Together - Recognising our shared successes through effective partners
By:
Acting with Integrity - Understanding and Respecting each other’s culture and values. Promoting equality and diversity
Adding Value - Ensuring the optimum mix of support, challenge, investment, skills, and expertise to achieve our shared outcomes.
Encouraging Innovation - Welcoming new ideas and approaches and supporting ambition and fresh thinking. Not being afraid to feel uncomfortable.
Person specification
| Area of focus | Essential Requirements | Desirable Requirements |
Education
| Degree in relevant qualification, or equivalent experience in a relevant field. | Evidence of professional development in the area of leadership and management. |
| Experience | Operational and strategic planning experience in the development of innovative ideas and solutions. Proven track record of achieving high performance through setting and measuring objectives in a multi-disciplinary team of specialists. Experience of working at a Senior Level within organisations and influencing at senior executive and Board Level. The ability to set direction, manage a team and work with individuals to enable them to thrive. | Significant experience of workforce development practice within Wales and across the UK. Experience of running leadership and cultural development programs. Experience of identifying the needs of workforce development and ability to implement effective interventions with partners. Effective management of multiple budgets. |
| Skills, Aptitudes & Abilities | Ability to translate strategic intent into operational delivery. Understands the essential components of high performing teams and can build these using effective leadership skills. Leads, inspires and earns respect from colleagues and partners, through strong problem solving and decision-making capacity, adding value to work. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to work effectively with a diverse range of partners and build strong, positive relations with these groups. Devotes time to others, listens and promotes knowledge sharing to better inform strategy delivery and development. Able to handle confidential data and information sensitively. Holds self and others accountable for standards of performance to successfully deal with a range of often complex situations; seeks support and guidance from others in the organization when needed. Copes effectively with pace, setbacks and changes to priorities; adapts to highly pressured situations and executes good control. | Ability to communicate in Welsh, both written and spoken. Able to initiate projects, based on translating strategic intent into operational delivery, set goals, define roles and track progress, review, evaluate and implement learnings for optimal impact. |
| Special Circumstances | Able to work flexibly, including out of normal office hours. Able to travel as required. |
