Academy Operations Manager - AWFC

The Opportunity

We are seeking an Academy Operations Manager to play a central role in the Women’s Academy. The postholder will take full responsibility for delivering academy operations to a high standard, covering administration, logistics and compliance, while creating consistent processes, setting expectations and ensuring strong governance and operational performance.

About the Club

Arsenal is among the best-known football clubs in the world, with a long-standing tradition and a strong record of achievement. The club is also deeply connected to its local community and offers varied careers behind the scenes. Its purpose is to support a winning team, culture and community by acting with courage, backing the people around us and doing the right thing even when unobserved.

Safeguarding and Compliance

The club is dedicated to keeping children, young people and adults at risk safe in inclusive environments. The successful candidate must complete an enhanced DBS check and any additional background checks before starting work.

Key Responsibilities

This role will lead the operational delivery of the Women’s Academy (U9 to U21), ensuring that day-to-day administration and wider academy processes run smoothly and consistently.

You will manage and support the Academy Operations Coordinator, setting goals, monitoring performance and helping develop the team member in the role.

You will coordinate matchdays, fixtures, training venues and academy communications, while making sure deadlines and standards are consistently met and operational priorities are well managed.

The role includes responsibility for player registrations, contracts and associated administration in line with FA and league rules, as well as maintaining accurate and effective player management systems such as Teamworks.

You will oversee casual staff administration, including onboarding, payroll coordination and qualification monitoring, ensuring compliance with FA requirements and building clear workforce processes.

Logistics and programme delivery sit within your remit, including training, fixtures, Talent ID activity, matchday experiences, ticketing for academy players, and the coordination of kit and equipment with the Kit Manager.

You will also plan and quality-check travel arrangements for players and staff, balancing safety, efficiency, budget and operational needs.

In addition, you will embed and uphold compliance with FA and club policies relating to safeguarding, health and safety, equal opportunities, and you will act as the designated safeguarding officer for academy operations.

What We Are Looking For

We are looking for someone with experience in elite sport or another high-performance setting, ideally with exposure to academy or youth development environments and a background in operations, administration or logistics.

You must hold FA Level 1 Introduction to First Aid in Football (IFAiF), a current FA Safeguarding Children certificate, and valid FA DBS clearance.

A strong understanding of the Women’s talent pathway, elite player development environments and child development principles is important, along with the ability to work appropriately and sensitively in a youth-focused setting.

You should be highly organised, able to prioritise multiple demands, meet deadlines and manage complex scheduling, events or programme delivery involving several stakeholders.

Strong collaboration and communication skills are essential, as is the confidence to build effective working relationships across different functions and disciplines.

The role also requires leadership ability, with experience of managing a direct report and supporting team delivery proactively.

Previous experience working with regulated, compliance-led processes such as safeguarding, audits or FA regulations will be valuable.

Confident IT skills are important, including Excel, Word and operational systems, plus the ability to handle data accurately and use databases, scheduling tools and reporting systems effectively.

Additional Requirements

This position involves unsociable hours, including evenings and weekends, in line with training and matchday schedules. A full UK driving licence and access to your own transport are also required.

As a position of trust involving regular contact with children or vulnerable adults, you will be expected to maintain high standards of conduct and help prevent sexual, physical or emotional harm. You will also need to remain up to date with club and FA safeguarding training and education.

Why Join Arsenal

Arsenal offers a workplace built on trust and belonging, alongside a range of employee benefits. These include a reward and recognition scheme, holiday allowance that grows with length of service, internal learning and development opportunities, a flexible hybrid working model, priority access to match tickets, health and wellbeing benefits, an employee assistance programme, partner discounts and the chance to contribute to ED&I through employee networks.

Equality, Inclusion and Recruitment

Arsenal is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and aims to ensure everyone connected to the club feels part of the Arsenal family. The club welcomes applications from people with disabilities and long-term health conditions and may offer interview consideration under the Disability Confident Scheme for eligible applicants. Recruitment updates are sent by email, so applicants should check spam and junk folders regularly.

Application Deadline

The closing date for applications is Friday 10 July 2026. The club may close the vacancy early if application numbers are high.