Sports Business Administration & Marketing Apprentice - University of Oxford - Sport Department

Introduction

As a Sports Business & Marketing Administrator Apprentice, you’ll play a key role in keeping teams moving, solving problems, and supporting the day-to-day operations. We are a fast-moving department with around 3,000 commercial members, supporting 5,000 student athletes and welcoming almost 600,000 visits in 2025.

About the Employer

We are the largest employer in Oxfordshire with around 17,000 staff working in and around Oxford in a huge range of roles. Our apprentices are never on their own and will benefit from a supportive environment working in collaboration with the rest of our committed team. You will also be supported by the central apprenticeship team and you will join our growing network of apprentices within the university.

You will have the opportunity to become an apprenticeship ambassador for the University and region. We will provide you with a welcoming and inclusive workplace, offering support and development opportunities that will enable you to progress and do your best work. We recognise diversity as our strength, vital for innovation and creativity, and we aspire to build a truly diverse community, which values and respects every individual’s unique contribution.

What You'll Do

• Few days will be the same. However, we would like to work with an apprentice eager to help shape and embed new business processes which support all our users in their customer journey whether they’re on a mission to get more active, be healthier or attain high-performance competition standards
• You’ll be involved in all facets of the department to understand end to end how things work and be given latitude for your coursework to choose projects where business processes can be implemented or improved
• At the core of a customer service business is marketing, how we add value to our users, and how we capture more value from their continued patronage. Much of the work will revolve around our commercial facing work, be that how we can better engage and retain users in their subscriptions, or how we expand into new business opportunities
• You’ll experience collaboration with colleagues across the university, learning how to manage multiple tasks efficiently while building strong communication and organisational skills
• This is a new role and as such the appointee will be able to help shape the opportunity with management to meet their own development goals and help shape the future direction of our department on behalf of our customers

You will be:

• Passionate about trying a career that helps more people to become more active, more often
• Prioritising your tasks and manage deadlines in a fast-paced environment
• Supporting the team in producing accurate documents, plans, budgets or reports
• Working on customer communications across a range of media that improves our audience reach
• Experiencing the end-to-end business processes that support customer and staff needs, from car park permits to banking, from managing activity timetable to customer newsletters
• Improving customer retention through arranging appointments, calls, follow-ups or assisting with surveys with our customer base to check on satisfaction
• Assisting with the marketing, customer communications and retailing of our products, events, courses and memberships and helping ensure the team are able to track performance
• A creative thinker, identifying opportunities to streamline processes and improve efficiency
• Support colleagues in across finance & business, operations, sports development, grounds or initiatives from the Pro-Vice Chancellor for External Engagement, Sport and Community

We will also wrap aroundadditionallearning opportunities and professional development, through webinars or attending events and conferences in support of a professional membership for Chartered Institute for Managing Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA). We willpurchasethis annual professional membership of CIMSPA for the duration of your apprenticeship.

Training Outcome

Over 80% of our apprentices continue with us in the role they have been trained for after their apprenticeship and that is just the start of their career.

Skills Required

• IT skills
• Attention to detail
• Organisation skills
• Customer care skills
• Problem solving skills
• Team working
• Creative
• Initiative
• Written communication skills
• Clear verbal communication
• Accuracy
• High level of professionalism
• Microsoft Office experience
• Accuracy and timekeeping
• Working or competing in a team
• Sports orientated
• Advocate for physical activity

Qualifications

• Essential - GCSE - Maths and English - A*-C/9-4 or equivalent

Course Information

Course: Business administrator (level 3)

Level: 3

Route: Business and administration

Apprenticeship Level: Advanced

Working Arrangements

Working Week: This is an 18-month fixed term apprenticeship contract. You will be based at Iffley Road Sports Centre but may be required to work across the university sites from time to time. Some evening or weekend working for events outside regular office hours. Exact shifts TBC.

Expected Duration: 1 Year 6 Months

Training Provider: ABINGDON AND WITNEY COLLEGE

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