Talent Development Scheme: Expertise Manager - Africa (Freelance)
Application Deadline: 26 March 2026
Department: Professional Football
Employment Type: Freelance
Location: Remote
Description
As the organiser of some of the biggest and most iconic sport events in the world, we lead the way in the sport and event industry.
In 2021, FIFA launched the global Talent Development Scheme (TDS) following a 2-year landscape analysis, with the aim of collaborating with its Member Associations (MAs) to enhance the competitiveness of their national teams. The underlying vision is that long-term, sustainable improvement of national team performance can only be achieved by creating the best possible talent development systems. As part of the TDS, the Expertise Manager will play a central role in connecting strategy to delivery - supporting TDS Leads, Technical Experts and Talent ID Experts worldwide, ensuring alignment and quality across regions, and driving effective implementation, monitoring and continuous evolution of talent development initiatives.
FIFA is now seeking to recruit a TDS Expertise Manager - Region Africa. Join the team as a freelancer and support us on our mission.
THE POSITION
These are your key tasks:
* Act the primary point of contact for TDS Leads, ensuring consistent, reliable, and solution oriented support.
* Foster constructive and professional working relationships that support alignment, encourage open communication and contribute to effective delivery across MAs.
* Communicate regularly with TDS Leads and relevant TDS Experts to gather key information and insights from Member Associations, ensuring a continuous and accurate understanding of local contexts and developments.
* Analyse insights collected across MAs and from TDS Leads inputs to identify trends and synergies which will create opportunities for MA-Exchanges with other High Performance Specialists (HPS) or areas for content development across regions.
* Liaise and act as the relationship owner with the relevant FIFA regional offices to support the implementation of the TDS, including regular communication with Confederations, FIFA’s Member Association Division and other FIFA stakeholders as required
* Oversee the structured onboarding of new TDS Leads, ensuring clarity on the role, tools, workflows and expectations, and supporting their effective integration into the TDS framework.
* Support in the review of TDS project applications in the respective regions by ensuring that information is complete, clear, coherent and well structured for approval
* Liaise with TDS Leads throughout the application review and approval process to ensure requirements are adhered to, address follow up actions and support the handling of non standard cases that require additional clarification, ensuring that the TDS Leads endorsement reflects the appropriate technical expertise
* Support appropriate project monitoring and evaluation, enabling consistent follow up and performance tracking across approved projects
* Follow up with TDS Leads regarding their reporting and action planning in reporting tool, reviewing submissions and proposing amendments where needed to strengthen clarity, consistency and overall quality.
* Maintain quality assurance by monitoring consistency in reporting standards and addressing issues as they arise, supporting a streamlined and coherent approach to TDS Lead reporting across the region.
* Support TDS Leads in understanding and applying the relevant tools for their role through practical guidance that enables consistent and effective use.
* Follow up with TDS Leads pre and post visits, where relevant, to support engagement, gather key information and capture any insights linked to their in country work.
* Identify case studies that can be collected and utilised for the Technical Guide or for use on the FIFA Training Centre, highlighting relevant practices and insights from TDS implementation.
* Identify strong examples and relevant stories from the work of the TDS Leads that offer opportunities to communicate on and coordinate with the TDS Communications Manager on the process and next steps to develop these stories.
YOUR PROFILE
We work hard at FIFA.
We are dedicated, ambitious and innovative.
And we respect our values. Always.
For all roles, we seek talented people with an entrepreneurial spirit and a global mindset.
The specific competencies we require for this position are:
* TDS Coordination & Delivery: Able to coordinate multi-regional initiatives effectively, supporting TDS Leads and relevant TDS Experts in delivering high-quality, consistent implementation of the Talent Development Scheme.
* Stakeholder Management: Builds strong working relationships with Member Associations, FIFA regional offices, Confederations, and internal stakeholders. Communicates clearly, follows up proactively, and ensures alignment across functions.
* Insight & Analytical Thinking: Collects and synthesises insights across regions, identifying trends, synergies, and opportunities to strengthen talent development systems globally.
* Funding & Process Management: Supports the review and coordination of TDS applications, ensuring clarity, consistency, and adherence to governance and approval processes.
* Reporting & Quality Assurance: Maintains high standards of reporting and action planning. Ensures consistency in documentation and promotes a streamlined, structured approach to performance tracking.
* Communication & Storytelling: Translates technical work into clear messages. Identifies strong case studies and supports the development of compelling communication outputs.
* Organisation & Attention to Detail: Highly organised, structured, and reliable, with strong follow-through and the ability to manage multiple priorities without compromising quality.
* Cultural Awareness & Global Mindset: Demonstrates sensitivity to diverse football, cultural, and organisational contexts, adapting approach while upholding global standards.
* Strategic Alignment: Understands the broader objective of strengthening national talent development systems and ensures day-to-day actions contribute to long-term impact.
* Cross-Team Coordination & Emotional Intelligence: Builds constructive and collaborative relationships with TDS Leads, relevant TDS Experts and HQ streams, demonstrating diplomacy, discretion and good judgement in sensitive or complex situations and maintain alignment across the framework.
* Proven experience (minimum 8 - 10 years) coordinating or supporting multi-regional programmes, ideally within football development, high-performance sport, or international sport environments.
* Experience working with Member Associations, federations, or comparable organisations, supporting the implementation of technical or development initiatives.
* Demonstrated ability to manage stakeholder relationships across multiple levels (technical experts, regional offices, governance bodies), ensuring alignment and effective communication.
* Experience supporting reporting, monitoring, or performance tracking processes, with strong attention to quality assurance and consistency of outputs.
* Exposure to funding, application review, or governance processes within sport or development programmes is desirable.
* Experience gathering and synthesising insights across projects or regions to identify trends, best practices, and opportunities for knowledge sharing.
* Comfortable working with digital reporting tools, collaboration platforms, and workflow systems in an international context.
* Experience operating in multicultural environments, with sensitivity to diverse organisational, cultural, and football development contexts.
* Bachelor’s degree in Sport Management, Sports Science, Education, Business Administration, International Development, or a related field (or equivalent professional experience).
* Relevant experience in talent development, high-performance sport, football development, or international programme coordination.
* Demonstrated experience working with multiple stakeholders across regions, ideally within an international federation, confederation, Member Association, or similar global environment.
* Strong analytical capability, with experience in reporting, monitoring frameworks, and performance tracking tools.
* Experience supporting funding, governance, or application review processes is desirable.
* High level of digital proficiency, including experience with reporting systems, workflow tools, collaboration platforms (e.g., Teams, SharePoint), and data management systems.
* Excellent written and spoken English; additional languages are a strong advantage.
* Understanding of national team structures, talent identification and development systems, or technical football environments is highly beneficial.
* Fluency in written and spoken English required.
* Proficiency in French and/or Portuguese is an asset
* Proficient in Word / PowerPoint / Excel
* Willingness to travel internationally and work across time zones as required.
* Ability to represent FIFA professionally in diverse and dynamic environments.
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