Senior Independent Director – The Football Association, UK

Our Organisation

The Football Association [The FA] is the not-for-profit governing body of football in England. It is responsible for promoting and developing every level of the game, from grassroots through to the professional game, and successfully generates enough revenue to support investment of over £150m into English football each year. The FA oversees England international teams across men’s, women’s, youth and disability football, as well as running the National League System and FA Competitions including the Emirates FA Cup, Barclays FA Women’s Super League, FA Women’s Championship, and Vitality Women’s FA Cup, and the world-class facilities of Wembley Stadium and St. George’s Park, all with a purpose to Unite the Game and Inspire the Nation.

The Role

The principal role of the Senior Independent Director (SID) is to support the Chair in their role; to act as a trusted intermediary for other non-executive directors when necessary; to lead the non-executive directors in the oversight of the Chair and to ensure there is a clear division of responsibility between the Chair and CEO.

The SID will:

• Support the Chair in their primary role to lead the board with a collaborative style that ensures cohesion throughout our governing body.
• Ensure a close working relationship with the Chair and the CEO and be there to offer expert advice and be a valued sounding board.
• Spend quality time with a range of key stakeholders to listen to their views in order to help develop a balanced understanding of the FA’s business and the issues and concerns of those stakeholders.
• Be available to non-executive directors and key stakeholders if they have concerns that contact through the normal channels of Chair, CEO or Vice Chair cannot resolve, or where those normal channels would be inappropriate.
• Lead the non-executive directors, in meetings without the Chairman present, to enable them and/or key stakeholders to relay any issues or concerns they may have and to determine how these could be resolved.
• Lead the performance review of the Chair, taking into account the views of other stakeholders as appropriate.
• Play a leading role in planning for the succession of the Chair and lead any subsequent appointment process.