Community Game Communications Lead

Job Description

With the Women's Rugby World Cup taking place here in England this year, it's an incredibly exciting time to join the RFU and working at the RFU means being part of the ‘bigger picture’ at England Rugby: to be rooted in our purpose, which is to enrich lives, introduce more people to rugby union & develop the sport for future generations. If our purpose resonates with you, and you recognise the value that sport can bring to people’s lives, we’d love to work with you. An opportunity has arisen for a Community Game Communications Lead to join the Communications team on a permanent basis.

Job Title : Community Game Communications Lead

Department : Communications

Reports to : Executive Director, Corporate Affairs

Direct report(s) : Senior Communications Manager – Community & W&G Communications Manager

Salary Banding : £75,000 per annum

Job Level : Translate

Location : This role is contractually based at Allianz Stadium, offering some flexibility to work from home

Employment Type : Permanent

Working Hours : This is a full-time role, covering 35 hours per week

Application Information:

Please submit an anonymised CV (i.e. please exclude personal details).
The closing date for applications is 09^thOctober at 05:00 PM.
The RFU reserves the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications.
Applications may be considered whilst this vacancy is advertised.

Please note; we are currently experiencing an issue with applications using Live,

MSN

and

Hotmail

Outlookaccounts. Please apply using a different email address if you typically use one of these domains as we cannot guarantee that you will receive communications from us if you use these.

The Role:

This is an exciting time to join the RFU communications team, which is seeking to become more visible, more transparent and engage more widely and innovatively with its large range of stakeholders.

We are looking for a strategic leader to drive engagement and communications with the community and grassroots game. This role is central to strengthening our relationship with the people and clubs who form the foundation of rugby in England — from volunteers and players to coaches and club administrators.

We want to get better at listening, communicating, and connecting with our grassroots stakeholders in more meaningful and inclusive ways. As the landscape of community sport evolves, it’s vital we keep the grassroots game informed, involved, and inspired. This means two-way communication that is clear, timely, and representative — and that celebrates the vital role community rugby plays in sustaining the health, values, and future of our game.

We're looking for someone who can lead this work with empathy, credibility, and clarity — someone who understands the power of storytelling, the importance of consultation, and the unique spirit of rugby at the community level.

You will lead a small team with expertise in communications and content development and work across the organisation to deliver your goals.

Some key responsibilities include:

Develop and deliver a national community engagement strategy aligned with the RFU’s strategic goals, ensuring strong relationships with grassroots clubs, volunteers, players, and regional bodies.
Lead communications for the community game, including creating campaigns, messaging, and content that resonates with diverse stakeholders and promotes inclusivity, growth, and participation.
Act a key liaison with the grassroots rugby community, gathering feedback, listening to concerns, and ensuring community voices inform policy and decision-making.
Work across relevant RFU teams to oversee multi-channel communication plans (digital, social, print, and in-person) that promote grassroots initiatives, share best practices, and celebrate the community game.
Collaborate with internal departments (e.g., Rugby Development, Competitions, Safeguarding) to ensure consistent and effective engagement across all levels of the game.
Help to coordinate national events, roadshows, and forums to connect with clubs, CBs (Constituent Bodies), and volunteers, and to support consultation and information-sharing.
Manage crisis and issue communications for the community game, working closely with the RFU’s media and public affairs teams.
Monitor and report on engagement effectiveness, providing insights and recommendations to improve community relationships and communication outcomes.
Champion diversity, equity, and inclusion across the grassroots game, ensuring communication and engagement strategies reflect the RFU’s values and reach underrepresented groups.
Support the development of volunteer recognition and retention strategies, highlighting the vital role volunteers play in sustaining the grassroots game.
Actively collaborate with colleagues to contribute to the development and delivery of the current strategic, business and operational plans.
Act as an ambassador for, and promote the best interests of the RFU, including the promotion of our culture and core values – This Rose Means Everyone: Put The Team First, Shape The Future, Respect Each Other.
Undertake other duties as may be required from time to time as are consistent with the responsibilities of the post and the needs of the organisation.

Qualifications, Skills & Experience:

The skills and attributes outlined in this description are not exhaustive and we welcome candidates who can bring different relevant experiences to the role.

Essential:

Proven experience in developing and delivering communications strategies across multiple channels.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor messages to different audiences, including volunteers, clubs, and regional stakeholders.
Demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
Experience managing or working in cross-functional teams, with the ability to influence without direct authority.
Proven ability to lead consultations, town halls, or forums, and act as a credible voice for an organisation.
Strong grasp of digital communications, including managing websites, social media platforms, newsletters, and engagement analytics.
Familiarity with media relations and crisis communications in a public-facing or community-based setting.
Committed to embodying the ethos our culture by using our three core values – Put The Team First, Shape The Future, Respect Each Other – to guide your day-to-day decisions, actions and interactions.
Committed to actively contributing and building an inclusive culture in your role and day to day behaviours.
Willingness to travel nationally and work occasional evenings/weekends to attend events or club forums.

Additional Information:

We want you to have every opportunity to demonstrate your skills, ability and potential. If there is anything we could do to support you through your application or to provide the best environment for your interviews, including assistance or adjustment, please reach out to recruitment@rfu.com.
During your application, we will ask questions about your identity. This information is considered highly confidential and will not be seen by hiring managers. You can find out more about why we ask these questions here.

About Us

About England Rugby
England Rugby or Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the national governing body for rugby in England. We deliver three core activities, and our purpose is to enrich lives, introduce more people to rugby union and develop the sport for future generations.

Our core activities are:

Our Culture

At England Rugby, one of our core objectives is to drive rugby union to better reflect the diversity of society. We are aware that rugby, and sports in general, has not always been as welcoming an environment for everyone as we would like, and we are working hard to make rugby a more inclusive space for all identities.

We believe hiring people from underrepresented groups into positions at all levels is vital to creating spaces and initiatives that better support those identities. We would love to see applications from disabled people, LGBTQ+ people, people from ethnically diverse communities, people of faith, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and women and non-binary people.

We know that representation is more than just getting people through the door, it’s about keeping people by responding to structural barriers relating to identities and valuing the insights that different lived experiences bring. We have network groups that provide peer-to-peer support and drive forward change internally. We support colleagues to develop, and each colleague has access to a personal coaching platform that can provide same-day one-to-one coaching. We are pushing ourselves to create a more inclusive culture every day through role modelling our BACK behaviours which stand for Brave, Accountable, Collaborative and Keep improving.

We know that flexible working is important to our colleagues, so our guiding principles are designed to support everyone to work in the way that suits them, their teams, and the organization in the best way.

We want you to have every opportunity to demonstrate your skills, ability and potential. If there is anything we could do to support you through your application or to provide the best environment for your interviews, including assistance or adjustment, please reach out to

recruitment@rfu.com.

What we can offer you
We are proud of the range of benefits we can provide:

A variety of corporate discounts.

Priority access to purchase match tickets

25% discount in Rugby Store and EnglandRugby.com

25 days of annual leave and your birthday day off

Free access to the stadium gym

Life assurance of 4x your basic salary, income protection scheme and Employee Assistance Programme that offers anonymous and confidential, emotional and practical support 24/7

After 3 months, you will be enrolled in our Aviva pension scheme and we will match and double your contribution up to 10%

Ride-to-work scheme, eyecare vouchers and season ticket loans

About Our Team

85% feel motivated to perform their role to the best of their ability

83% feel supported by their Manager

90% agree or strongly agree that their Manager empowers and trusts them to deliver while working from home

83% feel informed and connected with the organisation

https://www.englandrugby.com/about-rfu/rfu-policies/diversity-and-inclusion/our-approach