Director of commercial & venue operations

Closing date: Sunday 8th September 2024 at midday

Salary: £50,000-55,000 per annum dependent on experience

Contract: Full-time, permanent role

Hours: Monday to Friday, 9.30am - 5.30pm, although flexibility will be required when overseeing some evening and weekend events

Bring world-class music to diverse audiences and maximise commercial income at this historic Westminster venue!

Sinfonia Smith Square is the exciting coming together of two much-loved and well-respected music organisations: the orchestra - Southbank Sinfonia, and the venue – St John’s Smith Square. We have rebranded to become Sinfonia Smith Square. At our heart: an ambitious orchestra – the upbeat of future classical music. At our historic London home: performances by established world-class artists. We have been welcoming musicians and music lovers to Smith Square Hall since 1969. From lunchtime recitals, Baroque festivals, late night jazz, to activities for families, we bring the joy of music to ever-wider audiences. Located in the heart of Westminster, Smith Square Hall (formerly St John’s Smith Square), is a Grade I listed 18th century Baroque masterpiece offering world class concerts alongside venue hire, in a unique and beautiful setting. We have an established venue team, which delivers corporate parties to award ceremonies. Our multi-purpose event space includes a stage with theatre lighting and a vaulted crypt for smaller functions.

The Director of Commercial and Venue Operations is a crucial role at the heart of the organisation and is a member of the Senior Management Team reporting directly to the Chief Executive. This role is responsible for promoting and managing the venue, overseeing all operations within the building including commercial hire, concerts and community engagement programmes (the latter delivered by the Orchestra Team). The role is accountable for delivering increased commercial venue hire income targets, a need identified in our recent business planning process following the merger.

This role will also be responsible for managing the Box Office team, managing the catering contract, working to improve the audience and visitor experience across all interactions with the organisation, both directly and virtually, and driving improvements to operational efficiency across all areas of the venue operations. In February 2024 we appointed Leafi as our caterer for a minimum 2-year term and is a concession based contract. This role will manage all aspects of the catering agreement.

Key responsibilities

• Support the Chief Executive and Artistic Director in terms of strategy development and being accountable for setting annual targets and managing the operations budget, driving cost efficiencies across the organisation, particularly in the day-to-day operations of the venue.
• Take overall responsibility for the venue calendar, being accountable for delivering the increased venue hire income targets set out in the Business Plan.
• Promote the venue and grow commercial hires to maximise income generation. This should include networking across the sector, promoting filming, events, wedding celebrations, fashion shows and other corporate hires. A number of these relationships are managed by the Operations Coordinator directly, with the Director of Commercial and Venue Operations overseeing.
  • This involves diary management, issuing standard contracts, gathering logistical information, providing invoicing information to finance team, licensing extensions. The Director of Commercial and Venue Operations is involved more closely where needed on more complex or unusual situations or complaints, or where needed at busy times, e.g. during the on-sale process.
• Work with the Operations Coordinator to manage public concerts in the venue, including agreeing equipment hire, stage and seating layouts. Liaising with colleagues for delivery of catering, logistical requirements and availability of venue vs orchestra needs. Ensuring hire information flows efficiently through to the Finance team to ensure prompt post-event invoicing and reconciliation.
• Work with the Communications Team to ensure the organisation’s work reaches a wide and diverse audience. This will include engaging with the on-sale process, website management, our PR consultant and social media campaigns.
• Lead the Box Office Team to ensure sales are maximised and that the organisation’s data is maintained and used efficiently and in full compliance with GDPR regulations.
• Manage the catering contract with a particular focus on the agreed KPI’s and SLA’s. Work with the appointed caterer to ensure that events and performances are well catered for, and all elements of the catering function are integrated into our visitor offer throughout the day. Oversee general approach in terms of opening hours, menu and pricing with a view to maximising the financial contribution this area makes to the organisation. Peer review competitor venues on pricing, offering and service levels ensuring that The Footstool Café and Bar remains competitive.
• Support the Venue Manager in terms of managing the casual staff team of ushers, crew, event security and cleaners. Reviewing resource levels to ensure efficient and appropriate cover for business and service needs. Ensure sufficient team members are trained as Fire Marshalls and First Aid.
• Lead weekly operations meetings to ensure all aspects of venue management comply with health and safety regulations, are fully coordinated and events are delivered successfully.
• Develop and oversee the Hire our Home section of the website with relevant copy and image updates.
• Ensure all relevant policies are up-to-date and regularly reviewed, making recommendations for changes and improvements as required.
• Line manage all direct reports effectively, ensuring all appraisals are undertaken in a timely manner and training needs identified and met.
• Responsible for all venue licensing requirements including the Premises Licence, OFCOM radio licence and PRS. Ensure that relevant members of the team have a personal licence holder qualification where needed.
• This post forms part of the senior team and will attend weekly SMT meetings and quarterly Trustee Board meetings and be responsible for preparing board reports on Operations activity as required.

About you

Sinfonia Smith Square is able to achieve all it does thanks to a dedicated, collaborative, hard-working team.

• This role may particularly suit someone who has significant experience in Event Management and is looking for a role at Senior Management level.

A detailed person specification specifying the relevant knowledge, skills and experience can be found in the job description.

Additional information

The role of Director of Commercial and Venue Operations is advertised as a full-time, permanent role. Regular hours of work are Monday to Friday, 9.30am - 5.30pm, although flexibility will be required when overseeing some evening and weekend events.

Salary: £50,000-55,000 per annum dependent on experience. Sinfonia Smith Square operates an occupational pension scheme via NEST. Sinfonia Smith Square’s base and offices are at Smith Square Hall, London, SW1P 3HA, with additional office space at 4 Millbank, London, SW1P 3JA.

Annual leave is 25 days plus statutory bank holidays. Notice period is 3 months, following a 6-month probation period.

There is a 20% discount in the café at Smith Square Hall for staff members. All staff are eligible for two complimentary tickets for Sinfonia Smith Square fellowship concerts.

Equal opportunities

As an equal opportunities employer, Sinfonia Smith Square is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership. We aspire to have a diverse and inclusive workplace and we strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply for this position. We aim to operate an inclusive recruitment process; applications will be anonymised before being passed to the shortlisting panel. If you have any particular requirements, please let us know at any point during the process.

To apply

The closing date for applications is midday on Sunday 8th September.

• To apply, click the 'Apply' button to access an application form and equal opportunities monitoring form available on the Sinfonia Smith Square website.
• Email both forms to Operations Coordinator, Gabrielle Court by the closing date. Please note that late or incomplete applications cannot be accepted.

If you would like to find out more about the role or would value an informal conversation about how it may suit you at this stage in your career, we would be very happy to hear from you. Please contact Rosie Fraser, Chief Executive, by email to arrange a call on rosie@sinfoniasmithsquare.org.uk

Please state in your application that you found this role via Creative Access.