What does a London Sport Relationship Manager do?

Relationship Manager Matt Roebuck explains what his role entails on a daily basis and why the work of the Relationship Manager team is so important in our work to make London the most active city in the world.

I’m a Relationship Manager with London Sport. “So what does that mean exactly? What do you do?”, is a question I imagine I might get asked at parties, if I got invited to parties.

Well first of all, it is not all about working in sport. It is about working in, and with, the community to achieve London Sport’s ambition to make London the most active city in the world.

To do that, we need to reach those people who are not currently active or are only occasionally active.

Each Relationship Manager at London Sport is responsible as a lead point of contact for four or five London boroughs and have, in collaboration with those boroughs, developed a workplan that directs our activities.

Being a Relationship Manager though isn’t about heading into a borough with a pre-conceived project plan, aim or objective; it is about imagining a future where London is the most active city in the world. 

It is understanding the strengths and assets of your patch that must be supported to realise our dream and helping to remove the barriers in your communities that threaten such a future from existence.

London is more than a city, it’s a whole host of communities; geographic, demographic, people who come together with shared interests and people who live next door but are worlds apart.

We focus our work in each of London’s 33 borough’s by understanding the needs and opportunities present.

Much of this begins in the use of hard data and insight and the reviewing of local authority priorities, but that must be added to an ever-evolving understanding that comes from our meetings with, and by listening to, people from those communities.

Therefore, a key area of our work is to identify organisations, champions and leaders who can reach into those communities, to understand our shared challenges, and to support them to imagine how they might adopt and adapt sport as a tool to support their ambitions.

Importantly, as a Relationship Manager at London Sport, you are part of a team with whom you can share your challenges and learning, so that you can further share that with your partners. 

You’re also the key point of contact between individuals and organisations in your boroughs with our specialist teams and advisors in technology, insight, children and young people, funding, workforce and more, who are equally keen to share opportunities with our partners.

Finally, we work at the House of Sport, a hub for a range of community-minded or charitable endeavours in sport that regularly holds social and networking events, so you have plenty of opportunity to explain what it is that you do.

London Sport are currently recruiting for a full-time Relationship Manager on a fixed term seven-month contract (shared paternity cover). You can find out more about this role here.