Explore careers
A sports development officer is responsible for promoting participation in sport and physical activity across communities. Their goal is to increase access, engagement, and performance in sports - from grassroots to elite levels. The role of a sports development officer aligns to the CIMSPA Entry Manager occupational professional standard.
managersleaders
Entry Manager
The role
Key responsibilities of a sports development officer include:
Organise and deliver sports programmes for schools, communities, and clubs.
Encourage underrepresented groups (e.g. women, disabled people, ethnic minorities) to get involved.
Lead campaigns to raise awareness of the health benefits of physical activity.
Develop strategies to increase participation in sport.
Work in partnership with schools, clubs, local authorities, health services, and national governing bodies.
Assist in setting up local sporting initiatives, leagues, and events.
Train and support coaches and volunteers.
Organise workshops, accredited courses, and mentoring programmes.
Evaluate the success of programmes (e.g. participation rates, long-term impact).
Report findings to stakeholders and funding bodies.
Apply for grants or sponsorship to support new or ongoing projects.
Manage budgets and ensure programmes are delivered in a cost-effective manner.
What it takes
The following common or transferable skills are most frequently asked for by employers in sports development job adverts across the UK:
| Skills and behaviours | % prevalence in job adverts |
|---|---|
| Coaching | 29% |
| Communication | 27% |
| Management | 26% |
| Planning | 22% |
| Training And Development | 16% |
| Customer Service | 9% |
| English Language | 9% |
| Interpersonal Communications | 9% |
| Presentations | 9% |
| Self-Motivation | 8% |
Getting in
To become a sports development officer, there isn’t one set qualification route. Most employers look for a mix of education, experience, and skills related to working in the sport and physical activity sector.
Many sports development officers hold a college qualification or university degree in a sport and physical activity related subject such as:
Some universities have built content into their courses that matches the Entry Manager occupational standard. The sports development officer role falls under this standard.
In the CIMSPA endorsed training directory, you can check what courses our partner colleges and universities offer as well as course entry requirements, a summary of course content/material and more information on how to apply.
If you’ve done a similar job before, or have the right skills and knowledge, you could apply to be a sports development officer. For jobs that are sport specific (for example, working for a sporting National Governing Body (NGB)), expertise or a strong understanding of that sport is often desirable.
You can complete an apprenticeship to gain skills to become a sports development officer such as:
Training
Typical earnings
Not currently available
Demand
Not currently available
Typical working patterns
Not currently available
Career progression
As well as exploring new career pathways, as a sports development officer, you can also choose to progress your career by completing further training or continued professional development (CPD) in your role. This training can be added to enable sports development officers to show their expertise in additional populations, in different environments and with technical specialisms.
Examples of specialisms that may be added are:
The content of the job posts displayed on the CIMSPA jobs board are pulled in through feeds from websites which are not under the control of CIMSPA.
CIMSPA will not be liable for any false, inaccurate, inappropriate or incomplete information presented on the jobs board.