The Football Association is recruiting for a PR & Campaigns Executive - Fixed Term Contract until 31st July 2026.
Please provide a cover letter clearly outlining why you feel you are suitable for this role. Please keep as concise as possible.
The role will support in delivering best in class fully integrated campaigns and PR activations across the season, with output across owned and earned channels.
This role is an amazing opportunity for an ambitious individual with experience in PR & communications. Working with the wider PR & Campaigns and Marketing team, the focus will be on delivering the campaigns through proactive PR, social activation, content creation and live events to drive positive engagement with FA initiatives.
The role will work across several FA Campaigns and activations across grassroots football and the professional game.
It represents a perfect opportunity for someone who is wishing to develop their PR and communications skills, as well as diving into the world of brand planning and multi-channel campaign execution within a fast-paced, professional sporting environment, working with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
The ideal candidate will be passionate about sports, whilst also having a strong working knowledge of the football landscape. Candidates will also have a good understanding of youth and lifestyle culture, emerging trends, brands, social media content, and a media contact list/network.
What will you be doing?
- To support the development and implementation of integrated campaigns and comms activations throughout the season (including key England Football grassroots activations, FA-led purpose-driven campaigns and supporting hero moments, such as creative thinking for promotion around international tournaments and/or domestic competitions).
- To drive pre-defined England Football/FA activity in line with priorities (e.g. managing the County FA MarComms network - the 50 regional FA's which govern local aspects of football), plus supporting on tier 1 campaigns such as:
- Love Football. Protect The Game - The cross-football behavioural campaign which aims to address unacceptable conduct on the pitch, on the side-lines and in the stands across both the grassroots and professional game.
- The England Football Family - A volunteer brand platform championing the volunteering community and acts as a symbol of investment, support and recognition for their work.
- Let Girls Play - Launched in October 2021 to support The FA's strategic ambition to provide girls with equal opportunities to football in schools. The campaign has seen huge success with a pledge from the Government on providing equal opportunities and record numbers for the Biggest Ever Football Sessions.
Key Responsibilities:
- Campaign planning and activation:
- Support the development and implementation of fully integrated campaigns across PR, communications and marketing
- Draft campaign assets including press releases, media notices, PR and engagement plans
- Develop campaign creative and supporting assets for earned media, with a strategic focus on aligning with earned and paid channels
- Lead on one-off seasonal campaign activations where necessary
- Proactively support in internal campaign creative brainstorms
- Media planning:
- Drive media coverage for our campaigns and activations
- Identify and pitch proactive PR ideas to media
- Identify and recruit relevant media/influencers/talent for specific campaigns - supporting the development of the PR & Campaigns key contacts
- Brand/Marketing planning:
- Develop engagement plans with County FA networks - quarterly webinars, sharing campaign plans for buy in and support
- Active role in the direction of content across campaigns and activations
- Stakeholder Management:
- Working closely with wider PR & Campaigns and Brand teams to manage external stakeholders and internal stakeholders on all aspects of campaigns including media, broadcasters, partners, and third-party suppliers
- Create a positive relationship with communications and marketing officers at County FAs, being the go-to for any marcomms support and assets they need, including forward thinking and planning for campaigns
- Agency Management:
- Support the management of a range of agency and/or supplier relationships.
- Finance + Adhoc:
- Delivering a range of administrative tasks, including raising POs and managing budget trackers, compiling presentations, tracking coverage and supporting with team events.
- Manage integrated campaigns calendar for external and internal planning
- Trend Reporting
- Provide regular updates of industry trends and analysis of competitor activity to internal stakeholders.
- 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:
Work experience
- Demonstrable Communications/PR/Marketing experience
- Experience of delivering integrated, multi-channel campaigns
- Experience of dealing with national and regional media
- Experience of supporting PR campaigns and delivering excellent results
- Collaboration with internal and external stakeholders
- Experience in project management and delivering tasks to deadline
Knowledge
- Manage integrated campaigns calendar for external and internal planning
Technical Skills
- Strong writing skills with the ability to write to deadline
- Ability to work as part of a team and build and manage stakeholder relationships
- Capable of managing multiple tasks
- Confident communicator across key stakeholder groups and partners
- A creative thinker - coming up with ideas that will generate positive coverage across the campaigns/activations
Beneficial to have:
Work experience
- Sports communication experience
- Experience in developing creative campaigns
- Understanding of social networking and other promotional media platforms
- Experience in sports marketing/communications campaigns with a youth audience
- Experience of working with influencer and content creators
- Experience of working with PR agencies, as well as paid media/design agencies
Knowledge
- A good understanding of the football marketplace
- Interest in all aspects of marketing and communications, including brand management
Technical Skills
- Able to work on own initiative; accountable and reliable
- Reporting and measuring on campaign effectiveness across all channels
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.
- 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.
