With the recent announcement that £205 million of government funding will be made available to invest in community sports facilities across England in the next three years, the Football Foundation is well-supported to continue to invest in pitches and communities across the nation. This investment will be used by the Football Foundation to target communities up and down the country who will benefit most from access to better sports facilities.

To help us with this important mission, we currently have a vacancy for a SQL Developer to be responsible for the management and development of our new grant management system database model. You will also be responsible for the maintenance and analysis of data to support the delivery of the FF’s strategy and operations.

You will be responsible for ensuring that the Foundation are using the most efficient and effective methods of recording, organising, and implementing data and that the information stored is kept up to date and that the grant management system and information assets are fully supportive of business processes and all future innovation strategies and initiatives.

About the Football Foundation

We are the Football Foundation - the Premier League, the FA and government’s charity delivering upon a shared vision to help communities improve their local football facilities through our investment. We are the only example of a partnership between a national Government and a national sport coming together to support communities throughout the country.

Over the last 20 years we have been planting the seeds to grow grassroots football, transforming communities where demand is greatest, and the impact will be strongest. We have worked closely with local authorities, County FAs, and other passionate people in communities up and down the country to deliver over 17,000 sports projects worth over £1.8 billion and we’ve got big plans to revolutionise England’s grassroots facilities over the next decade.

The role

This role will manage all aspects of the support for SQL databases (including software installation, planning and creation of databases, working to tight deadlines for multiple support and environment improvement activities at the same time, using the existing ITIL processes and working with service management functions.

The SQL Developer will create conceptual data models from Football Foundation information systems and implement solutions under Agile software development methodologies.

You will be responsible for maintaining and advising on the data requirements during the development of our suite of applications that provide the Football Foundation and our key partners with information on the condition and usage of grassroots football facilities.

How we achieve our goals is equally important to us. We are striving to be an inclusive and diverse organisation which reflects the diverse communities, users and beneficiaries of our work and the outcomes we deliver. Becoming part of the Football Foundation team, will give you the chance to deliver a positive impact in every community in England; to help transform lives and communities through great places to play; and to be part of a supportive and inclusive staff team that works hard and plays fair to achieve its goals.

What are we looking for?

You don’t need to be passionate about football or have a detailed knowledge of how to improve grass pitches to apply, but it is expected that you have a genuine interest in using your skills and experience to help the Foundation achieve our charitable and strategic objectives.

You must have a wide range of strong technical skills and have experience with SQL server technologies (SSIS, SSRS, T-SQL, Power BI) and experience of creating scripts, stored procedures & DTS packages to facilitate data interoperability & integration across multiple data sources. You will have an understanding of current Microsoft Windows Server Operating systems and of the analysis and interpretation of data and its application in a business context.

You will have the ability to articulate and implement a robust SQL backup and restore strategy (full, system, user and transactional) and be well-versed in the development of tools to analyse and report on data for business intelligence, using the most appropriate software (e.g. Crystal Reports, Dashboards, SSRS, SSAS, Excel etc).

Most of all we want someone who reflects who we are as an organisation. We refer to our values as our four corners:

• Fair Players – open and inclusive in our approach


• Star Performers – trusted to deliver


• United Team Player – collaborative and easy to work with


• Passionate Supporters – flexible and willing