Senior Facilities Worker

Job Description

Job title: Senior Facilities Worker – Sports & Open Spaces

Salary: £30,000 per annum

Reporting to: Buildings and Facilities Manager

Hours: 37.5hrs per week, includes evenings and some weekend work (on rota)

Contract: Permanent

Role Summary

This is a fully operational role and involves a good deal of manual labour, often outdoors. You are responsible for overseeing all aspects of the running, maintenance and upkeep of sports facilities including our three eight-a-side 3G football pitches, basketball court and sports changing rooms.

Our sports facilities form an important part of our seven-acre site, providing opportunities for children and young people to gain essential access to high quality sports facilities for free, removing barriers to sports participation for local young people. Alongside this, our football pitches provide essential income for the charity through the provision of commercial hire opportunities.

Main Responsibilities:

1. You will develop and oversee the implementation of a systematic programme of sports and facilities management and maintenance, to ensure consistently high standards of maintenance across our sports facilities and changing areas.
2. You will work closely with the sports team, to develop a strong understanding of the maintenance programme and train staff in the use of maintenance systems and processes (including the use of online management systems).
3. You will carry out a range of regular and non-cyclic tasks in relation to the maintenance and upkeep of our sports facilities including: tractoring and sweeping our football pitches, net replacement, rubber replenishment, cleaning changing rooms, leaf and pollen clearance, moss removal and water testing.
4. You will make sure all sports facility bookings are managed effectively, liaising with colleagues in our office, third-party booking provider, and clients to address and swiftly resolve any issues that arise.
5. You are responsible for the effective and safe management of our sports facilities, ensuring that risk assessments are regularly reviewed and updated, and that the team is briefed and trained in dealing with challenging situations (e.g. behaviour/rule breaking).
6. You are the main point of contact for our pitch maintenance contractor, ensuring that regular inspections and works are carried out to the correct standards and that any issues are reported and addressed promptly.
7. You will supervise the work of two sports workers responsible for the day-to-day running of the sports facilities, allocating tasks and coordinating their workload in response to the needs of the facilities.
8. You will work with the Buildings and Facilities Manager to set the rota for the sports team, ensuring the provision of adequate resources at all times.
9. You will supervise colleagues in the sports team, improving their skills and knowledge and demonstrating safe use of equipment where necessary.
10. You will act as the senior lead on site, alongside the Buildings and Facilities Manager and the Senior Grounds Person.
11. On a rota basis, you will be responsible for the opening and closing of the whole site, ensuring that all tasks are completed as per our opening and closing procedures.
12. You will support the work of the grounds team, through occasional deployment to the main park, playgrounds, and facilities during periods of sickness/absence and to cover breaks.
13. You will support a range of events and park hires throughout the year, setting up and taking down equipment, stewarding events, and ensuring that all health and safety requirements are met.
14. You will provide mentoring and guidance to the Grounds and Sports Apprentice, providing regular constructive feedback to the Senior Grounds Person regarding their performance.
15. You are a visible public presence across the park, ensuring that users respect the park and facilities, diffusing difficult situations and reporting and recording incidents as appropriate.
16. The safety of children that use our services is of paramount importance. You must report any safeguarding concerns in line with the clients' safeguarding policy. This role requires a satisfactory DBS check and registration with the DBS tracker service, given the nature of the work and regular interaction with children.
17. You will attend regular training to refresh skills and acquire new knowledge as appropriate for the needs of the role.

Other Duties:

1. You may be needed to take on additional tasks that may be requested from time to time by your line manager, as may be consistent with the nature and scope of this post.

Person Specification

Essential Qualifications:

1. Recognised qualifications in sport, leisure, or facility management/maintenance (Minimum Level 3).
2. Advanced qualification in sport, leisure, and facility management e.g. foundation degree.
3. Qualification in synthetic pitch maintenance and/or hard sports surface maintenance.
4. SIA security guard licence.
5. Safeguarding training.
6. Working at heights training.
7. Risk assessment training.
8. COSHH training.
9. First Aid at Work qualification.

Experience:

1. Minimum of 3 years’ experience of facility management/maintenance, ideally within the sports/leisure sector.
2. Experience of using and implementing a range of systems, processes, and procedures to deliver high-quality facility maintenance (including where appropriate online systems).
3. Experience of supervising staff, ideally within a sports/leisure environment, including providing training, development, and mentoring opportunities.
4. Experience of working with and alongside external contractors to support the delivery of effective sports/facility maintenance.
5. Experience of contributing to/developing risk assessments.
6. Experience of carrying out a range of inspections for compliance, e.g. water testing.
7. Experience of managing staff, including through the use of formal supervision and appraisal processes and delivery of training and development opportunities.

Skills:

1. A range of practical sports/leisure and facility maintenance skills in areas such as: hard landscaping, pitch and court maintenance, plumbing, electrical.
2. Demonstrable leadership skills and the ability to coordinate the work of a team through clear direction, task allocation, and ongoing supervision of performance.
3. The ability to identify and prioritise work schedules.
4. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Approachable and friendly with the ability and confidence to engage with a range of park users including children, parents, and adults hiring our facilities.
5. The ability to deal with conflict and diffuse situations to achieve an appropriate resolution.
6. Good IT and digital skills, including good working knowledge of e-mail and other Office products and online maintenance and booking systems.

Knowledge/Attributes:

1. Strong knowledge of the key components of a successful facility maintenance plan.
2. Knowledge of COSHH and the regulations regarding the storage of chemical substances relevant to the role.
3. Knowledge and experience of working within robust incident and accident reporting frameworks and an understanding of the thresholds of regulatory report (e.g. RIDDOR/HSE).
4. Knowledge of safeguarding and the application of good safeguarding practice within the context of a public space.