Department: Human Resources and Payroll Department

Hours of Work: Full Time

Contract Type: Permanent

Salary: Up to £35,000 per annum depending on experience

Location: Bodymoor Heath Training Ground

Closing Date: Tuesday 17 December 2024

Interview Date: Week Commencing 6 January 2025

1. The Department

At Aston Villa Football Club, we recognise that our staff are at the heart of everything we do, and we are committed to making our Club a truly great place to work.

Our Human Resources and Payroll Department plays a key role in delivering our ‘people’ strategy. We are focused on ensuring the Club has the right skills and resources in place to deliver an elite, high performance culture that drives our success both on and off the pitch. We provide support to over 1,000 staff Club-wide, and deliver a diverse range of activities across recruitment, employee relations, reward and benefits, employee engagement, talent, and people analytics.

2. The Role

We have a new exciting opportunity for a Learning and Organisational Development Officer to develop and shape our learning and organisational development (OD) provision, which will ensure that our workforce are equipped with the right skills and knowledge to deliver our ambitious plans.

You will be responsible for planning, developing and implementing key learning programmes and OD initiatives to drive employee engagement, enhance employee and leadership skills, and promote our ‘One Club, One Team’ culture. Key themes will include values and behaviours, leadership development, employee engagement, culture, coaching, mentoring, talent, and performance management.

This will be a varied and dynamic role which will involve working collaboratively with Club departments to understand, collate and review training needs, identify skills gaps, and align our training and OD offering with overall priorities. You will design, develop and deliver a wide range of in-house training and workshops such as our New Staff Club Induction and HR systems training and also identify, facilitate and co-ordinate any external training provisions as appropriate.

This postholder will also optimise the use of the apprenticeship levy to meet individual and Club development needs and support the development of Club culture initiatives including employee surveys and focus groups to provide actionable insights and actions plans.

For further information about the Role, please see the Role Profile.

3. The Person

We are looking for a proactive, engaging, resilient self-starter with a ‘can-do’ attitude, who is passionate about enabling people to reach their full potential. You will need to have a degree in Human Resources, Organisational Development, Education, or a related field (or have equivalent demonstrable experience). A professional certification in learning or OD practices would be ideal. You will need to possess an understanding of learning and development principles and best practice, along with demonstrable experience in designing, delivering and sourcing relevant learning and development programmes in an engaging and accessible way.

You will need to be able to work independently, as well as collaboratively with the wider HR and Payroll team and be able to manage several projects simultaneously. The successful postholder will be able to build relationships and establish credibility with a range of colleagues and external clients, communicating and engaging effectively at all levels. You will thrive in a dynamic and changing environment and be able to pivot and balance priorities in order to keep up with business demands.

Based at our Bodymoor Heath Training Ground, you will need to have access to a vehicle and have an ability to travel between our Club sites including Villa Park and our London Office. You will also need to be able to work flexibly including occasional evenings and weekends to support the needs of the Club as and when required.

As part of your application, you will be asked to:

1. Upload your CV

2. Answer the following question:

Please outline your key skills, qualities and experience which make you the ideal candidate for this role (400 words maximum)

Right to Close Vacancy Posting Early

The Club reserves the right to close any advertised vacancies earlier than the advertised closing date if sufficient applications have been received.

Equality Statement

Aston Villa Football Club celebrates the diversity of its Club and embrace equal opportunities for all.

We welcome applications from all candidates regardless of age, race, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, sex and religion or belief.

Safeguarding Statement 

Aston Villa Football Club is fully committed to safeguarding children and adults at risk across our Club. As such, we adhere to Safer Recruitment processes and for some roles a satisfactory enhanced disclosure via the Disclosure & Barring Service may be required prior to starting in a role at the Club. For more information, please see Aston Villa Football Club | The official club website | AVFC - Safeguarding