Sport Account Manager jobs

As part of the Places for People Group, Places Leisure plays a key role in bringing this to life. Working with local authority partners across the UK, Places Leisure creates active, welcoming environments where people can get healthier, feel supported and build connections within their local community. From gyms, swimming pools and group exercise classes to targeted wellbeing programmes, the focus is always on helping people lead healthier lives and strengthening the communities we serve.

At Places for People, we hire People, not numbers! So, if you like the sound of one of our jobs, please apply, you could be just who we're looking for! Of course, experience and track record are important, but we're more interested in hiring someone that embodies our People Promises. That's someone that does the right thing, is enthusiastic and motivated to grow, believes in Community spirit, is respectful and enjoys their work. As the UK's leading Social Enterprise, we're dedicated to creating inclusive and thriving Communities for both our Customers and Employees.

So, what are you waiting for? Join a community that cares about you!

More about your role

You will support the Head of Swimming and Sport to launch and grow participation sports, with an initial focus on Padel. You will lead the development and optimisation of products that are insight-led, customer-focused, and commercially viable, helping to drive participation and revenue growth.

Working cross-functionally, you will collaborate with teams including Commercial, Marketing, Finance, Operations, Customer Experience and Data & Insight to deliver successful product launches and continuous improvements. You will monitor performance, analyse data, and use insights to refine products, improve participation levels, and maximise return on investment.

You will also shape customer journeys, manage key supplier relationships such as app providers, and ensure products are delivered consistently, safely and to a high standard. Alongside this, you will identify new growth opportunities, contribute to business development activity, and play a key role in creating scalable, innovative participation sport products.

Essential criteria

• Proven experience working as a Product Manager within participation sports, ideally including Padel
• Demonstrable track record of driving revenue growth through product or process improvements
• Strong experience using data to analyse performance, identify trends and inform decision-making
• Experience delivering projects or product launches end-to-end, including planning, implementation and evaluation
• Recognised qualification or practical experience in project, programme or delivery management (e.g. PRINCE2, Agile, Lean or equivalent)

More about you

You are commercially minded and thrive in a fast-paced environment where you can prioritise effectively and make informed decisions under pressure. You enjoy working collaboratively across teams, influencing stakeholders at all levels to drive results. You are highly organised and detail-focused, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver impactful outcomes. With strong analytical skills and confidence using tools such as Excel and PowerPoint, you translate insight into action and are always looking for ways to improve products, enhance customer experience and increase participation.

Benefits

We are a large diverse and ambitious business, which will give you all the challenge you could wish for.

We know that there's always more we can do to make you smile, that's why we offer a comprehensive benefits package with each role, yours will include:

• Competitive salary with regular annual review
• Pension with matched contributions up to 7%
• Bonus scheme for colleagues at 2%
• Option to buy or sell days
• Healthcare cashback plan for everyday medical costs - up to £500 savings per year
• Access to wellbeing support such as counselling and flu jabs
• Private GP and health support services available
• Access to a rewards platform with retail and lifestyle discounts
• Savings on groceries, travel, shopping and home products
• Ongoing training and development opportunities
• Access to professional qualifications and career progression
• Internal development programmes and learning support
• Recognition schemes such as Star Awards and Colleagues Awards
• Strong focus on inclusion, wellbeing and colleague engagement
• Free membership to Places Gyms

What's next?

If you meet the criteria and are ready to make the next step in your career then click apply. You will be redirected to our careers site where you can discover more about the role, read a full job description and apply directly to us.

As part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we offer a guaranteed interview to candidates who are disabled, neurodiverse, or have served in the Armed Forces, provided they meet the essential criteria for the role. If you would like to be considered under this scheme, please indicate this in your application. We are dedicated to creating a supportive and accessible recruitment process for all.

We are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application or interview experience, please let us know. We're happy to work with you to ensure you have the opportunity to perform at your best.

If you are a Places for People customer and you're looking for support with your application, please contact our skills and employment team on skillsemployment@placesforpeople.co.uk.

We understand the importance of a supportive and inclusive work culture so please talk to us at interview about flexibility you may need. We can't promise to give you exactly what you want, but we promise not to judge you for asking. For this role we are open to discussing the possibility of reduced hours, flexible start and finish times or compressed hours.

If you are a recruitment agency please note we operate a PSL and do not take cold calls

Safeguarding

At Places for People, safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. We are committed to creating safe communities for our customers and colleagues by protecting children, young people, and adults at risk from harm, abuse, and neglect.

We follow robust safeguarding policies and procedures, ensuring all employees, volunteers, and contractors uphold the highest standards of safeguarding and accountability. Our recruitment process includes pre-employment checks, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks where applicable, to promote a safe and secure working environment.

By joining Places for People, you are expected to contribute to our safeguarding culture, following our policies and reporting concerns to protect those in our communities