Senior Innovation Hub Manager

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UEFA is seeking a Senior Innovation Hub Manager to lead the Innovation Hub’s strategy and delivery, blending internal expertise with external partners to anticipate trends and drive high impact solutions for European football. You will lead a team, manage the budget, and ensure initiatives scale in line with UEFA’s mission. The ideal candidate has 10+ years in international sport or innovation, a proven record in defining and implementing corporate innovation strategies, strong stakeholder management, and startup or accelerator experience. A Master’s degree, English proficiency, and relocation to Switzerland or nearby France are required. Apply with quantified results, demonstrate executive leadership and budgeting, and align your narrative with UEFA priorities before 6 March 2026.

Job information
Division/Unit: Financial Sustainability & Research / Division Management
Contract type: Permanent
Location: Nyon (WFH up to one day per week)
Start date: 01.05.2026 or as soon as possible
Application deadline: 06.03.2026

Background

The UEFA Innovation Hub (UIH) was established in 2018 as a response to rapidly evolving fan habits, technological shifts and an increasingly demanding environment for European football. The UIH supports UEFA in adapting to these changes in line with its organisational strategy by embedding innovation methodologies across the workforce and leveraging its ecosystem to deliver future‑proof initiatives. It acts as a sandbox for developing cutting‑edge solutions through collaborations with start‑ups, academic institutions and public and private sector partners, helping UEFA to anticipate industry‑shaping forces and stay ahead of key trends.

Mission

As a Senior Innovation Hub Manager, you will be responsible for driving an innovation‑focused environment that empowers UEFA to anticipate future trends and operate with agility. You will ensure the successful definition and delivery of initiatives aligned with UEFA’s strategic priorities by combining UEFA’s internal expertise with the creativity and technological capabilities of external partners. You will also provide leadership, strategic direction and operational oversight of the UEFA Innovation Hub, strengthening collaboration across business units and guiding programmes that foster entrepreneurship, open innovation and high‑impact solutions for European football.

Key responsibilities

• Formulating and leading the development of new ideas and innovative strategies for European football and UEFA, especially with regard to the organisation's strategic priorities
• Recognising promising, effective and cost-efficient opportunities within the scope of the company's mission and strategic development goals and finding ways to introduce them into UEFA’s future plans
• Leading a team and overseeing the successful delivery of all UIH initiatives that have already been launched or are in preparation as well as the scaling of ongoing initiatives
• Advertising the UIH and its projects and services to UEFA staff and other European football stakeholders
• Managing the UIH budget, ensuring sufficient resources to maintain the organisation’s existing strategy while also accounting for new projects
• Evaluating progress and adjusting the pace or direction of new projects as needed
• Ensuring that all new projects are in line with UEFA’s mission, strategic priorities and core values

Requirements

Experience:

• At least 10 years of experience working in an international sports or innovation organisation
• Experience defining and leading the implementation of innovation strategies, in particular designing and facilitating innovation products at corporate level
• Experience managing stakeholders
• Experience using insights and analysis of competitor activity to generate strategic approaches and using insight and evidence to influence organisational direction and action
• Experience in the start-up community, for example in an accelerator or incubator, with an investor or with a corporate or governmental innovation programme

Education:

• Master’s degree in the field of innovation, entrepreneurship and management, business and service design, sports management or any other relevant field

Languages:

• English: Proficient
• Any other European languages would be an asset

Other requirements:

- Relocation to Switzerland or nearby France is expected
- Strong leadership at executive-level and from a strategic perspective
- Willingness to understand UEFA's environment
- Ability to manage budgets and resources
- A project-oriented mindset and excellent project management and monitoring skills
- Excellent stakeholder management, including the ability to manage teams’ failures and expectations and to win strong support for your ideas
- Problem-solving skills
- Excellent communication skills
- Advanced user of MS Office

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UEFA welcomes applications from all, actively working to ensure that we are an inclusive employer that finds the best candidate for our positions, regardless of aspects such as sex, gender identification, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity or nationality.