Sport and Recreation Alliance

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Board and Executive

Non-Executive Director - Chair of Audit and Risk

Location Nationwide

Salary Voluntary

Organisation Swim England

Contract Contract

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Closing date: 1st August 2025

About Us

Our Purpose and Vision

As the recognised national governing body for swimming, artistic swimming, diving and water polo in England, Swim England helps people learn how to swim, enjoy the water safely, and compete in all our sports.

Our Mission: To lead and serve an aquatics community to enable safe, enjoyable and successful experiences.

It is one of the nation’s most popular recreational activities enjoyed by millions of people in England.

Swim England, through aquatics, is uniquely placed to tackle inequalities and support health and wellbeing given the activities’ accessibility to people of all ages and abilities. On top of this, aquatics is made up of four amazing Olympic and Paralympic sports with our network of clubs and talent pathways supporting people to realise their full potential in the water.

In March of 2024, we published in full the findings of an independent listening research report commissioned as part of our pledge to create a better future for everyone involved in aquatic sports. We are committed to only recruiting individuals who are as passionate as we are about being on this journey.

To find out more about what we do to work towards achieving our vision, download the full candidate pack from the job description button.

To find out more about what it’s like to work with us and the Swim England family visit our website and download a summary of our employee benefits here.

About The Role

About the role

As Chair of our Audit, Risk and Governance Committee, you'll be responsible for overseeing financial strategy, risk management and compliance – ensuring that Swim England continues to operate with transparency, accountability and integrity.

You’ll also play a broader strategic role as a Non-Executive Director on our Board, supporting Swim England’s ambition to provide great experiences in water, for all, for life.

In this role, you’ll:

Lead the Audit, Risk and Governance Committee, helping maintain best-in-class financial oversight
Support long-term financial planning, risk management, and compliance with the Code for Sports Governance
Act as a critical friend to the senior leadership team, ensuring robust decision-making and sound financial stewardship
Help drive performance against strategic goals, and challenge constructively where needed
Promote a culture of inclusivity, collaboration and accountability across the Board and wider organisation

As a Board member, you’ll contribute around 1–2 days per month, including up to six Board meetings annually (three in person, three online) and approximately five Audit, Risk and Governance Committee meetings.

This is a voluntary role, with all reasonable travel and accommodation expenses reimbursed in line with policy.

About you

We’re seeking a confident, collaborative and strategically minded finance professional, with:

A recognised financial qualification and significant experience at senior organisational level
Strong governance expertise, ideally including audit or risk committee experience
The ability to lead and influence effectively at Board level
A clear understanding of the duties of a company and charity director
Ideally possess previous experience of being a Non-Executive director
A commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion
An open, inclusive and forward-thinking approach
Previous experience in sport is not essential, but an enthusiasm for aquatic, membership-based sports or healthy living is highly desirable.

We also welcome additional expertise in areas such as:

Vocational education and training
Safeguarding and welfare in sport
Environmental sustainability
Public policy and government engagement

Further Information

Swim England is committed to inclusion and embracing the spirit of all equalities legislation. As a Disability Confident Employer, we actively encourage applications from disabled people. We recognise that the diversity of our workforce is not reflective of today’s society and we are currently operating a pilot scheme whereby applicants from ethnically diverse backgrounds can opt into our guaranteed interview scheme. Candidates that have opted into the scheme will be guaranteed an interview provided that they have demonstrated, within their application, that they meet the essential criteria for the role. When completing the application, applicants from ethnically diverse backgrounds are encouraged to ‘Opt In’ to the scheme, by ticking the box.

Where possible, Swim England will always make reasonable adjustments for accessibility to anyone who requires it. If you would like any of the documentation in a different format or would like to apply in a different way please get in touch via careers@swimming.org. All appointments will be made on merit, following a fair and transparent process, in line with the Equality Act 2010. However, the organisation may employ positive action where candidates from underrepresented groups can demonstrate their ability to perform the role equally well.

Swim England is also committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

Please be aware that we use parsing software to extract key information from your CV, which you are able to review and edit within the application form. It is advisable to provide a simple text CV (i.e. no tables, images of text etc) to aid the transfer of information. Please review the information in your application form prior to submitting.