Learning Programme Lead
City Football Group
2 hours ago
Full-time
On-site
Manchester, GB #job-location.job-location-inline { display: inline; }
Our Story
Established in 2013, City Football Group is the world’s leading private owner and operator of football clubs, with total or partial ownership of twelve clubs across the world. City Football Group also invests in other football related businesses and serves as a global commercial platform for our partners, whilst fulfilling our purpose of empowering better lives through football on a local and global scale, consistent with what “City” football has meant to people for over a century.
Our Winning Team
Our purpose is to empower better lives through football. We are proud of the role City Football Group clubs play in their localities, delivering positive economic, social and environmental impact through our operations and through programmes and activities that bring about meaningful, lasting change.
Within our People Team, the Talent and Culture function plays a critical role in building organisational capability through targeted learning interventions that drive culture, behaviours and performance. We are committed to delivering impactful, engaging learning experiences that enable our people to perform at their best and support the long-term success of our organisation and communities.
The role
As Learning Programme Lead, you will play a pivotal role in shaping and delivering a high-quality, strategically aligned learning portfolio across our UK operations. Sitting within the Talent and Culture team, you will lead the end-to-end programme management of key learning initiatives, ensuring they are effectively designed, delivered and embedded to drive measurable impact.
You will own and manage a diverse portfolio of programmes spanning apprenticeships, Access to Work, early careers and capability development, ensuring each initiative is aligned to organisational priorities and delivers an exceptional learner experience.
A central part of your role will be to bring structure, rigour and innovation to our learning approach owning the UK learning calendar, coordinating delivery, and embedding clear success measures across all programmes. Through data-led insights and continuous improvement, you will ensure learning interventions translate into tangible capability uplift across teams.
You will take full ownership of the apprenticeship lifecycle, from onboarding through to completion, managing levy processes, compliance and provider relationships while ensuring programmes align with business needs. In parallel, you will lead our Access to Work programme, working closely with partners to maximise engagement, impact and accessibility.
Working collaboratively across the organisation, you will build strong relationships with stakeholders, including Talent Acquisition, People Business Partners, line managers and external providers. Acting as a trusted subject matter expert, you will influence and challenge to ensure learning is prioritised, relevant and impactful.
This role offers the opportunity to continuously evolve our learning offering developing blended solutions, enhancing existing programmes and embedding best practice to drive engagement, retention and behavioural change across the business.
What we are looking for
- Significant experience within a Learning and Development function, with experience of owning and delivering programmes end-to-end.
- Deep expertise in managing Apprenticeship programmes, including levy utilisation, compliance and provider management, alongside experience of Access to Work initiatives.
- Proven programme management capability, with the ability to plan, deliver and evaluate complex learning initiatives with clear structure, milestones and success measures.
- Strong data literacy, with experience using insight and metrics to evaluate learning impact and drive continuous improvement.
- Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the ability to build credibility, challenge constructively and align diverse stakeholders.
- Experience designing and evolving blended learning solutions across digital, virtual and in-person formats.
- Commercial awareness, including budget tracking and financial management, particularly in relation to apprenticeship funding.
To apply
If you are passionate about creating impactful learning experiences and want to play a key role in building organisational capability within a high-performing, purpose-driven environment, we would love to hear from you. Please apply with your CV via our careers portal by 6 April 2026.
This is Your City
As part of our team, you will be entitled to 26 days annual leave plus an additional day off for your birthday, private healthcare and dental cover, an annual discretionary bonus, plus a range of partnership and lifestyle discounts.
Equal opportunities
City Football Group promotes equal opportunities in employment and we positively welcome applications from all candidates regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
We will screen all applicants and select candidates whose skills and experience seem to meet our needs. We will carefully consider your application during the initial screening and will contact you only if you are selected for an interview.
Employment is subject to the provision of proof of eligibility to work in the UK.
Due to our safeguarding promise, all UK based CFG roles will be subject to a DBS check upon commencing employment with us. This will be either a basic, standard or enhanced check depending on the job role and responsibilities.
Established in 2013, City Football Group is the world’s leading private owner and operator of football clubs, with total or partial ownership of twelve clubs across the world. City Football Group also invests in other football related businesses and serves as a global commercial platform for our partners, whilst fulfilling our purpose of empowering better lives through football on a local and global scale, consistent with what “City” football has meant to people for over a century.
Our Winning Team
Our purpose is to empower better lives through football. We are proud of the role City Football Group clubs play in their localities, delivering positive economic, social and environmental impact through our operations and through programmes and activities that bring about meaningful, lasting change.
Within our People Team, the Talent and Culture function plays a critical role in building organisational capability through targeted learning interventions that drive culture, behaviours and performance. We are committed to delivering impactful, engaging learning experiences that enable our people to perform at their best and support the long-term success of our organisation and communities.
The role
As Learning Programme Lead, you will play a pivotal role in shaping and delivering a high-quality, strategically aligned learning portfolio across our UK operations. Sitting within the Talent and Culture team, you will lead the end-to-end programme management of key learning initiatives, ensuring they are effectively designed, delivered and embedded to drive measurable impact.
You will own and manage a diverse portfolio of programmes spanning apprenticeships, Access to Work, early careers and capability development, ensuring each initiative is aligned to organisational priorities and delivers an exceptional learner experience.
A central part of your role will be to bring structure, rigour and innovation to our learning approach owning the UK learning calendar, coordinating delivery, and embedding clear success measures across all programmes. Through data-led insights and continuous improvement, you will ensure learning interventions translate into tangible capability uplift across teams.
You will take full ownership of the apprenticeship lifecycle, from onboarding through to completion, managing levy processes, compliance and provider relationships while ensuring programmes align with business needs. In parallel, you will lead our Access to Work programme, working closely with partners to maximise engagement, impact and accessibility.
Working collaboratively across the organisation, you will build strong relationships with stakeholders, including Talent Acquisition, People Business Partners, line managers and external providers. Acting as a trusted subject matter expert, you will influence and challenge to ensure learning is prioritised, relevant and impactful.
This role offers the opportunity to continuously evolve our learning offering developing blended solutions, enhancing existing programmes and embedding best practice to drive engagement, retention and behavioural change across the business.
What we are looking for
- Significant experience within a Learning and Development function, with experience of owning and delivering programmes end-to-end.
- Deep expertise in managing Apprenticeship programmes, including levy utilisation, compliance and provider management, alongside experience of Access to Work initiatives.
- Proven programme management capability, with the ability to plan, deliver and evaluate complex learning initiatives with clear structure, milestones and success measures.
- Strong data literacy, with experience using insight and metrics to evaluate learning impact and drive continuous improvement.
- Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the ability to build credibility, challenge constructively and align diverse stakeholders.
- Experience designing and evolving blended learning solutions across digital, virtual and in-person formats.
- Commercial awareness, including budget tracking and financial management, particularly in relation to apprenticeship funding.
To apply
If you are passionate about creating impactful learning experiences and want to play a key role in building organisational capability within a high-performing, purpose-driven environment, we would love to hear from you. Please apply with your CV via our careers portal by 6 April 2026.
This is Your City
As part of our team, you will be entitled to 26 days annual leave plus an additional day off for your birthday, private healthcare and dental cover, an annual discretionary bonus, plus a range of partnership and lifestyle discounts.
Equal opportunities
City Football Group promotes equal opportunities in employment and we positively welcome applications from all candidates regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
We will screen all applicants and select candidates whose skills and experience seem to meet our needs. We will carefully consider your application during the initial screening and will contact you only if you are selected for an interview.
Employment is subject to the provision of proof of eligibility to work in the UK.
Due to our safeguarding promise, all UK based CFG roles will be subject to a DBS check upon commencing employment with us. This will be either a basic, standard or enhanced check depending on the job role and responsibilities.