Sports Park Director North

The position

As Sports Park Director, you will serve as the public face of the sports parks in the Noord district and work to ensure that these facilities are utilized to their fullest potential—not only for athletic activities but also for other community initiatives. Your goal is to increase participation in sports and physical activity in Amsterdam, and you will be the driving force behind this effort. You will work closely with sports clubs, residents, the neighborhood, community organizations, and internal stakeholders at the municipality, such as the district’s sports brokers.

Your first assignment is to draft a development strategy. This strategy will include an analysis of the current situation (through environmental scans and vitality assessments of sports providers), as well as a description of the desired situation (desired functions of sports parks and desired programming). When developing the development strategy, keep in mind that sports parks (buildings, sports fields, and other sports facilities) are utilized by the neighborhood based on the 7 functions of Amsterdam sports parks: exerting, relaxing, uniting, meeting, learning, undertaking, and breathing.

You serve as the link between all stakeholders. You are also practical and proactive, and you are highly visible and accessible to the various (potential) users of sports parks, as well as to colleagues in the various municipal departments and the district. You work closely with the district’s sports brokers, the sports facilities advisor, and the club support staff of the Sports & Forestry Department.

Here's what you do on an average day

• You are committed to developing a suitable range of sports and physical activity programs at the sports parks so that activities are organized every day of the week to promote the health of Amsterdam residents and social cohesion in the neighborhood or district. You ensure that these programs align with the district’s Social Foundation and objectives in other policy areas, such as healthcare, education, and community engagement.
• You will support the (sports and fitness) providers at the sports parks and serve as their primary point of contact for requests for assistance and issues, ensuring that these are addressed by the municipal organization.
• You ensure that the sports parks are safe, clean, and welcoming gathering places. To this end, you maintain close contact with, for example, the managers of sports parks (Sports Halls and Parks Department), the managers of the surrounding public spaces, and other stakeholders.
• You will also contribute to the development of sustainable, nature-inclusive, and climate-adaptive sports parks, and will seek to collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to achieve this.
• You identify bottlenecks and contribute ideas on how to optimize operational processes.

This is where you get started

We strive to be a great employer that ensures all our colleagues feel seen and valued. We embrace the differences among our colleagues; these differences lead to better results for both our organization and our city. We aim to build a workforce that reflects Amsterdam’s diverse population. So, whoever you are, you’re more than welcome here!

Your position is within the Sports & Forests Department, Sports Promotion Division. Amsterdam aims to create open, safe, and clean sports parks and foster active hospitality to increase and optimize the use of these facilities (Sports Vision 2025). To ensure that the potential of our sports parks is fully realized, the City of Amsterdam is deploying sports park directors at various sports parks. They play a key role in realizing the vision “Amsterdam Sports Parks: Connected and Welcoming.” This vision centers on four key objectives:

1. Sufficient and diverse sports facilities for every Amsterdam resident.

2. Heavily used sports parks.

3. Sports parks that contribute to addressing broad social challenges in Amsterdam.

4. Sustainable, climate-resilient, and nature-inclusive sports parks.

You will operate within municipal policy frameworks such as the Sports Vision 2025, the Sports & Exercise Agenda, the Urban Sports Agenda, the future vision for Amsterdam Sports Parks, and the area plans for Amsterdam North. You will be able to assign (functional) tasks to implement the development strategy (for example, to Sports Halls and Parks and Sportpunt). In your role within the Sports Promotion Department, you will carry out your work in close collaboration with the district.

What you bring

For this position as Sports Park Manager North, you must have:

• A bachelor's degree in sports, wellness, and/or leisure, or social work, or demonstrable administrative and/or organizational experience with a (sports) provider.
• Demonstrable experience with or expertise in the operation of sports facilities and policies related to sports and physical activity.
• Administrative and/or organizational experience at a sports club. It is important that you understand (and have experienced) how a sports club operates.
• At least one year of experience in sports promotion and the city and borough’s policies regarding sports and sports promotion.
• At least 1 year of experience in process management and project-based work.

You should have the following skills:

• Initiative: Takes independent action. Identifies opportunities and turns them into initiatives for improvement and innovation that contribute to better organizational performance.
• Environmental Awareness: Demonstrates a solid understanding of professional, organizational, social, and political developments, as well as other environmental factors, and knows how to effectively apply this knowledge to one’s own role or organization.
• Collaboration: Makes a constructive contribution to a shared outcome, particularly to the atmosphere and relationships within the group or team.
• Relationship Management: Builds, maintains, and leverages personal relationships with customers and other contacts.
• Results-oriented approach: Setting specific goals as a starting point for one’s own behavior and sticking to them until the goal is achieved.
• Persuasiveness: Uses personal authority to influence people and situations, with a focus on gaining acceptance and overcoming resistance. Communicates ideas clearly and confidently.

What we offer you

As the Sports Park Manager for the North, you will join our team for 32–36 hours per week and can expect the following terms of employment.

• A gross monthly salary ranging from at least €3,895 to €5,621 (scale 10A) based on a 36-hour workweek. The exact salary will be determined based on your education, knowledge, and experience.
• A 12-month fixed-term employment contract, with the possibility of conversion to a permanent contract if you do not currently have an employment contract with the City of Amsterdam, or if you have only a temporary contract.
• If you already have a permanent employment contract with the City of Amsterdam, you will retain it and be assigned to another organization under a temporary assignment agreement.
• Opportunities for professional development and training. Our in-house training center, the Amsterdam School, offers a variety of training programs, professional development tracks, and on-the-job coaching to help you continue to challenge yourself.
• An individual flexible budget (IKB) equal to 17.05% of your salary, which you can use for things like additional pension contributions or extra days off.
• A pension plan with ABP, the pension fund for the public sector and education.
• A travel allowance of €0.10 per kilometer for travel by car, €0.15 per kilometer for travel by bicycle, and €0.21 per kilometer for travel by public transportation. This applies to a one-way commute of up to 45 kilometers and for the number of days you work in the office.
• Your work location will depend on the sports complex or group of sports complexes where you will be working. You will have a flexible schedule and can tailor your duties to the activities taking place at the sports complex.
• There is also the option to work in a hybrid model: in this role, you can work partly from home, but you will primarily be working at a sports complex. We provide the necessary equipment to help you set up a safe and healthy workspace at home.
• A cell phone and/or laptop.
• An office space in downtown Amsterdam, overlooking the canals.

Want to know more about our employment terms and conditions? Check out the City of Amsterdam Personnel Regulations (PGA).

Apply for this job

• If this job opening interests you, please submit your application by July 7, 2024, using the “Apply Now” button.
• This job opening is being advertised internally and externally at the same time. Employees of the City of Amsterdam will be given priority in the hiring process.
• We would like to receive your cover letter, in which you explain, in no more than one A4 page, why your work experience and skills are a good fit for this position. Your cover letter will be taken into consideration during the selection process.
• The selection process consists of a CV/cover letter review and one or two interview rounds. We have formed a three-person selection committee consisting of the manager, an HR advisor, and a direct colleague with whom you will be working.
• If your resume meets the job requirements, we would be happy to invite you for an interview.
• The interviews will take place in person at our office on the Amstel in Amsterdam.
• We require a recent Certificate of Good Conduct (VOG) from every colleague who joins our team.

We do not appreciate unsolicited solicitation from recruitment agencies, and such actions may result in exclusion from our other recruitment initiatives. We also consider the unsolicited submission of resumes by agencies to our employees to be solicitation. We will not review these resumes.

Do you have any questions about this job opening?

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Roos Duijs, Policy Advisor for Sports Policy & Development, at r.duijs@amsterdam.nl or 06-38 08 02 83.