HEAD OF GROUNDS & PLAYING SURFACES

One of the 12 founder members of the Football League, Everton has played more games in English football’s top flight than any other club.
While rightly proud of our rich past, and Goodison Park, our home of more than 130 years, we are now setting our sights on an exciting future at a state-of-the-art new stadium currently being constructed on the banks of the iconic River Mersey.

In doing so, we remain committed to developing and supporting teams across our men’s, women’s and Academy set-ups that inspire and compete at the highest level of the game.

Our values underpin how we behave, how we represent our club in our city and across the world of football, and how we look after one another and our community. They provide a framework for how we work and engage with partners, suppliers and, most importantly, our fans.

About the opportunity: We are extremely excited to be searching for a Head of Grounds and Playing Surfaces to come and join us in a senior leadership role as we embark on a significant chapter within the history of Everton Football Club.

As Head of Grounds and Playing Surfaces you will be responsible for leading a team across all our Club sites, managing and maintaining the highest standards of playing surfaces and related facilities, ensuring the effective delivery of Health & Safety, landscaping and grounds maintenance services.

Working across the sites of Finch Farm, Walton Hall Park, Goodison Park and our new state of the art Everton Stadium, you will be responsible for the preparation and maintenance of a range of football facilities, preparing, implementing and monitoring weekly, monthly and annual maintenance programmes in consultation with selected leadership teams from all Club sites as necessary to ensure a consistent high standard of surface presentation.

Other key responsibilities as part of this role include:

Leadership across all sites, ensuring consistent high standards of work are maintained and tasks completed

Planning and delivery of all preparatory, cultivation and renovation work to maintain safe quality playing surfaces

Being fully knowledgeable of the Health and Safety regulations in the area of responsibility and ensure compliance at all times, including any necessary risk assessments. Actively promoting safe practices, ensuring all relevant staff are using and maintaining Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as necessary.

Undertaking routine preparation and maintenance work on a range of sports facilities and surfaces as detailed on work schedules

Undertake on an annual basis, the planning, costing and sub-contract tender exercise of the construction and renovation work required on pitches and areas across all sites, liaising with consultants if required.

The role will require strategic thinking – as you work with other relevant key stakeholders to develop, evolve and refine the playing surfaces programme the Club offers, not only for our last season at Goodison, but also ensuring our first season at our new stadium is as successful as we can make it.

Not only will you get to be a part of something special, but you will be responsible for driving forward this key strategic pillar of our football Club.

There really has never been a better and more exciting time to come and join us.

Who we are looking for: We are looking for an extremely knowledgeable Grounds and Playing Surfaces professional, who has experience of working within an elite footballing environment, dealing with playing and coaching colleagues on a daily basis.

You will have a thorough understanding of legislation relating to weed killers and other dangerous chemicals, plant care, facilities management and applying Health and Safety regulations to grounds maintenance scenarios; including machinery operation.

Having a passion for turf management and site presentation, as well as experience in leading and developing a multi-skilled team is essential for this role.

This position is on a Permanent Contract, with a base at our training ground Finch Farm, working 40 hours per week.

The closing date of this advert is Thursday 1st August 2024.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive a substation amount of applications.

Everton Family Safer Recruitment Practices

The Everton Family is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

As a requirement of our safer recruitment practices, this role will require a Basic DBS check or evidence that you are subscribed to the DBS Update Service information of which can be found here

This role is subject to both evidence and verification of relevant qualifications including proof of eligibility to work in the UK which will be discussed with you if your application is successful.

Equity & Inclusion

Everton is committed to ensuring everyone is respected, celebrated, and empowered for who they are, regardless of their identity. We welcome applications from people with diverse backgrounds, those who identify as female and those from racially diverse communities. We are dedicated to supporting the physical and mental/emotional wellbeing of all our people. Should you have a disability or long-term health condition and require reasonable adjustments to be made to the application/interview/onboarding process, please let us know by contacting the Talent Acquisition Team via email - careers@evertonfc.com

To support our pledge to diversify our organisation and through our commitment to the FA’s Football Leadership Diversity Code, Everton welcomes applications from people of all walks of life. As part of our commitment to Disability, Inclusion and Accessibility we are more than happy to make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process should you require.