About Active Partners Trust (APT)  

Being physically active is good for us, for society, health, and even for the economy. There's no doubt about that. But how do we get people moving more? That's a bit trickier, and the need varies from place to place, programme to programme, and person to person.  

As one of 43 Active Partnerships (APs) across England, Active Partners Trust, working in Derbyshire and Notts, teams up with local councils, community groups, businesses, healthcare organisations, charities, schools and more to find out what's needed. That means asking questions, making suggestions, sharing our knowledge, finding the right partners, and spotting opportunities, all to make movement part of everyday life. Because when we all work together, we can better understand, reach, and support the people who need it most.  

Making our Move – Our shared vision for Uniting the Movement in Notts and Derbyshire is a new plan to guide our and partners' work over the next 10 years - where we work and how we work.  

You will be working to support the Place Partnership work in Nottingham. We believe that strengthening relationships, aligning priorities, and creating the conditions for local people and organisations to work in partnership is the key to success. Click here to read more: Nottingham Plan on a Page.

This role is the overall Programme Lead for the Sport England-funded Place Partnership work in Nottingham.  

Working as part of a small team dedicated to the successful implementation of the place partnership in Nottingham City, the role sits within the team responsible for the programme's project management, under the guidance of the overall lead for the Nottingham Place Partnership work.  

The role has two key elements:  

• Programme delivery – planning, coordinating and reporting on an already agreed programme of work, managing budgets, procurement, risk and evaluation. 

• Partnership and influence – building trusted relationships across a wide range of partners so that information flows freely, learning is shared and used, and local authority and statutory services work collaboratively with wider partners.  

The postholder is integral to building strong collaboration across partner organisations, ensuring all partners work together to deliver the commitments set out within the bid to Sport England.  

Key Responsibilities 

• Serve as the overall programme project manager for Place Partnership work in Nottingham, hosted by Active Partners Trust (APT).  

• Share and embed the vision of the Nottingham Place Partnership Theory of Change (ToC) across the system, using the ToC to guide implementation and evaluation of the work.  

• Responsible for the co-ordination and delivery of all aspects of the Place Partnership Programme, including budget management, evaluation, learning, programme co-ordination and reporting.  

• Serve as a consistent advocate for the Place Partnership approach with key partners and services operating in Nottingham.  

• Operationally connect across the system to join up and align processes, work and investment.  

• Support VCSE organisations to secure funding from system partners.  

• Build and maintain the relationships needed to ensure partners share the information, data and insight required for effective programme delivery. 

• Influence statutory partners to adopt new ways of working in support of the programme's aims.  

Governance, Management, and Reporting  

• Work closely with Nottingham City Council, Health & Care, Public Health and VCSE organisations to support and evolve appropriate governance for the work at a community and system level.  

• Prepare and manage programme reporting to internal governance and external funders/partners as required.  

• Manage the programme budget effectively and ensure procurement procedures are followed, and delivery partner agreements are in place, where relevant.  

• Maintain delivery plans; identify, escalate and mitigate risks and issues.  

• Work with the Safeguarding Lead at Active Notts to ensure procedures and requirements are in place for any provision funded or supported as part of this programme and investment.  

• Work with colleagues to plan for the next phase of work beyond March 2028, based on a good understanding of the lived experience of communities and the systemic barriers to physical activity that exist.  

Learning and Evaluation  

• Lead on implementing the local evaluation and learning framework that aligns to the Nottingham Theory of Change and delivery plan.  

• Use findings and the latest community insight to plan and oversee a programme of opportunities for partners to come together and develop practice.  

• Contribute to a learning culture: capturing learning, adapting delivery based on evidence and feedback, and sharing insight with partners so it is actively used. 

Understanding and Insight   

• Work with the APT marketing and communications team to develop procedures to understand community insight, lived experience, resident voice and existing data (e.g. Active Lives, School Health and Wellbeing Survey), ensuring it is collated, analysed and translated to inform action for the place partnership team.  

• Map the community engagement work in Nottingham and work with others to facilitate and strengthen community influence across the wider system.  

• Oversee and ensure the effective use of Moving Communities (the Sport England monitoring platform), helping the place partnership team support community providers to use it effectively.  

• Support the collation and sharing of data and insight gained from Moving Communities with and for community organisations.  

Workforce Development  

• Work with the rest of the place partnership team to develop a local Workforce Development Plan and help manage and oversee its implementation.  

• Plan and deliver a programme of training and development opportunities and events, including training around collaboration and tools to capture insight and measure impact.  

• Use learning gathered to suggest ways to evolve practice in response to lived experience and community insight and develop shared priorities for action across the system and with communities.  

• As required, line manage roles funded by the Nottingham Place Partnership programme.  

• Ensure a commitment to safeguarding and equity and diversity through all work, internally and externally.  

We are looking for someone to join us who is / has:

Programme Delivery and Management

Essential 

• Strong, proven project management, organisation, and leadership skills, including the ability to manage large, complex programmes, ensuring deadlines are met and workloads are prioritised.  

• Experienced in developing and maintaining accurate budgets, and in procurement and managing contracts or delivery partner agreements. 

• Strong report writing skills, particularly for Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL). 

• Analytical, able to interpret complex data and insight from a range of sources, translate it into a usable format, and use it to inform the work.  

 Desirable  

• Able to plan and deliver a programme of training and development events.  

• Able to develop and nurture the project management skills of others working within the programme.  

• Experienced in project management and planning, and the tools and IT that support this (e.g. delivery plans, risk registers, milestone tracking).

• Confident using a range of IT platforms; able to use AI tools to help analyse large volumes of qualitative data and insight.  

• Gained a recognised project/programme management qualification or clear equivalent experience.  

• Experience of managing programme evaluation in a multi-partner or system-change context.  

• Experience working within, or delivering funding to, the VCSE sector.  

Relationships, Influence and Collaboration

Essential 

• Able to develop good working relationships and build trust with partners, and to develop these into a collaborative environment across several communities and organisations. 

• Able to influence local authority and statutory service partners to consider new approaches and ways of working, including in situations without formal authority over those partners.  

• Excellent communicator – writing, speaking and presenting to a variety of audiences, confident presenting to groups and articulating complex challenges; a good listener, inquisitive and curious.  

 Desirable

• Experience developing positive relationships with people from a wide range of backgrounds, organisations and sectors, including statutory and clinical partners.  

• Experience mapping or strengthening community engagement and influence within a wider system. 

• Understanding of the value of learning and evaluation, and experience embedding it within place-based work across multiple communities and partners within a city footprint.  

• Understands the importance of reducing inequalities, recognising some communities need more support, and understands the role physical activity can play in this; understands the relationship between physical activity and health.  

• Passionate about Nottingham and understands the needs of its residents.  

• Self-reflective and self-aware, adapting own behaviours; Able to adapt to change, as the work often evolves.  

• Understands and can work within a political environment and understands the value of values and behaviours in shaping culture for place-based working.  

Please note that these are the skills we want you to tell us about in your application as we’ll be assessing candidates against them.    

Our values  

Our values and behaviours define us as an organisation – they are who we are and what we stand for.  

Make a Difference. We seek to positively make a difference through movement, physical activity and sport. We add value through insight and learning, influencing relationships, strengthening our networks and connections and embedding what works well.  

Integrity. We will act with integrity in all that we do, being open, honest and trusted. Encouraging this culture with others.  

Collaborate. We commit to collaborate, giving time and space to develop relationships, to listen, to reflect and to build shared purpose. We take collective responsibility and learn together to inform our work.  

Inclusive. We ensure we are inclusive in everything we do. We are open-minded and equitable, encouraging others to reflect on how they think and act. We are a committed ally to inclusion.  

Passionate. We believe in what we do. We are energetic, curious and aspire to think creatively. We are bold in our thinking, not afraid to try new things.  

Our behaviours  

We will  

• Seek to understand and add value  

• Be open and honest  

• Be mindful of others and show emotional intelligence  

• Lead by example, adapting our style as required  

• Take collective responsibility and be accountable for our actions  

• Give time and space to developing relationships  

• Be open-minded and equitable  

• Commit to being an ally of inclusion  

• Be willing to learn and grow  

Your main place of work will be our office based in Nottingham, with access and desk space within local partner organisations.

If you’re passionate about addressing inequalities and physical activity, we welcome your application. We encourage people to join our organisation from all walks of life; you don’t need experience in the sport and physical activity sector to work for us. Disabled people and those from ethnically or culturally diverse communities are underrepresented in our workforce and are particularly encouraged to apply.

Please note that we are unable to support employees with Visa costs. Proof of Right to Work in the UK is essential and will be requested during the application process. 

If you want to find out more about the role to help you decide whether to apply, you are welcome to email Helen Davis at recruitment@activepartnerstrust.org.uk or give her a call on 07771 885 590 for a quick chat.

How to Apply   

• Complete the anonymised work-related questions by 19th August 2026 11:59pm.  

• Submit your CV whilst completing your application – please note your personal details will remain anonymous whilst shortlisting decisions are made.  

• Stage 1 interviews (online): Thursday 27th or Friday 28th August 2026 (for 30 mins). 

• Stage 2 interviews (in person): Friday 4th September 2026 at Dryden Enterprise Centre, Nottingham, NG1 4FQ.

This post is funded by Sport England Lottery Fund.