Head of Commercial and Visitor Operations

As a member of the Extended Leadership Team, the Head of Commercial & Visitor Operations will play a pivotal role in shaping the future success of Shakespeare North Playhouse.

About the Organisation 

Shakespeare North Playhouse, ‘Theatre Building of the year 2023’ is a unique new arts venue, which opened in the summer of 2022. It presents a vibrant contemporary cultural and learning programme featuring home co-produced and visiting performances, as well as comedy, music, community work, hire and events and a range of education and training activities.

The Shakespeare North Trust (SNT) is the Charitable organisation which is the operator of Shakespeare North Playhouse. The Trust also has two wholly owned subsidiaries within the Group structure. The subsidiaries are limited companies.

Our Vision: “Inspired by Shakespeare. Bringing Joy: Together, we tell stories that feel like our own, that change the way we see the world – opening doors, inviting debate, inspiring a love of learning, and bringing joy to this place; Our Shakespeare North Playhouse.”

Our Mission – The Big Goal: “We share world-class theatre, activities and conversations inspired by Shakespeare and relevant to all of us.”

Our Promise: At Shakespeare North Playhouse we commit to being ‘Bold and Brave’. It is a promise we make to each other internally as a team, to our visitors, patrons, and partners, and to all our artists and makers as we all come together to create a wonderful place.

Our Values and Behaviours: The organisational values define Shakespeare North Playhouse. They create a framework for the way in which the organisation wishes to achieve the vision and objectives. The team are firm in the belief that what is achieved is only half of the plan, as how success is attained is of equal importance. It is critical that there is a framework of how people will thrive together, as a team, with partners, visitors, and audience.

Innovative – Honest – Collaborative – Creative

Equal – Supportive – Accountable – Useful

The Role

As a member of the Extended Leadership Team, the Head of Commercial & Visitor Operations will play a pivotal role in shaping the future success of Shakespeare North Playhouse.

Reporting to the Executive Director, you will provide strategic leadership across commercial activity, visitor experience and venue operations, ensuring every visitor receives an exceptional welcome while driving sustainable income growth.

Leading a diverse portfolio including Visitor Experience, Catering & Bars, Retail and Events & Hires, you will inspire high-performing teams to deliver outstanding service, operational excellence and commercial success.

This is an exciting opportunity for an ambitious, commercially minded leader who is passionate about cultural organisations and understands how exceptional customer experiences and strong commercial performance work hand in hand.

Working collaboratively with colleagues across the organisation, you will identify new business opportunities, strengthen partnerships, oversee operational delivery and contribute to the strategic direction of one of the UK’s most exciting cultural venues.

Reporting Relationships 

You will report directly to the Executive Director and will have responsibility for the Senior Visitor Experience Manager, Catering and Events Manager, Events & Hires Manager and their teams. You will also have overall responsibility for the casual Visitor Experience & Catering teams (50+) and work closely with a large cohort of volunteers.

Place of Work 

The place of work will be Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot, Knowsley. Occasionally work will be required at alternative locations including partners with whom Shakespeare North co-produces.

Salary and Hours of Work 

The hours of work will be contracted as 40 hours per week. The jobholder will be expected to exercise flexibility based on the needs of the Venue. Evening and weekend will be required at times. Your working week will include one Duty Management shift to be agreed with your line manager.

Shakespeare North believes in a healthy and happy workforce and recognises the importance of helping its employers balance their work and home lives by offering working hours that as far as possible enable them to balance their work commitments with other priorities.

The salary for this role is £40,000 per annum.

Main Duties

Commercial Leadership

• Develop and deliver the commercial strategy, supporting long-term organisational sustainability and growth.
• Maximise earned income across catering, bars, retail, venue hire, events, heritage experiences and future commercial ventures.
• Identify and develop new commercial opportunities and partnerships
• Lead commercial planning, pricing strategies, financial modelling and business case development.
• Embed commercial thinking across the organisation and drive a culture of continuous improvement.

Visitor Experience and Operations

• Champion an exceptional visitor experience across every customer touchpoint.
• Lead front-of-house operations, ensuring consistently high standards of customer service.
• Act as Duty Manager and Personal Licence Holder, leading responses to operational incidents when required.
• Ensure systems, processes and facilities support efficient and safe venue operations.
• Work alongside the Senior Visitor Experience Manager to oversee the Heritage offer, including building tours, talks and seminars ensuring year on year income growth
• Working alongside the Audience & Sales team to advance the customer ticketing journey and integration of systems
• To lead on quality assurance, compliance, regulatory and legal obligations
• To lead on Health & Safety across front facing operations, including security, counter terrorism, major/minor incidents and first aid
• To play an active role in managing any incidents on site, and act as a lead responder in any first aid, fire evacuation or other incidents
• To act as Personal License Holder for the venue
• Act as an Incident Controller/Duty Manager for the building as appropriate
• Act as a keyholder and out of hours on-call where appropriate

Leadership & People

• Lead, motivate and develop multidisciplinary teams across Visitor Experience, Catering, Events & Hires and Retail.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive and high-performing culture.
• Work closely with People & Culture to support staff development, wellbeing and performance.
• Contribute strategically as a member of the Extended Leadership Team.

Financial Management

• Oversee departmental budgets and financial performance.
• Deliver annual budget planning and forecasting.
• Monitor commercial KPIs and implement improvements.
• Oversee procurement and supplier relationships to ensure value for money.

Sales & Events

• Work closely with the Events & Hires manager to ensure a successful events and hires function
• Build and develop network of industry contacts and stakeholders
• Overseeing operational delivery of events, including high-profile visits, award ceremonies, and other significant engagements

Person specification:

Essential Experience

• At least 3 years’ management experience within a commercial, operations or visitor experience environment.
• Proven success in growing commercial income and delivering financial targets.
• Experience leading customer-facing teams within arts, culture, hospitality, leisure, visitor attractions or events.
• Strong financial management experience including budgeting, forecasting and commercial analysis.
• Experience managing operational risk, compliance and organisational change.
• A demonstrable track record of successful team leadership and people management.
• A demonstrable track record of achieving improvements in customer experience and/or commercial improvement.

Essential Skills

• Commercially astute with strong entrepreneurial thinking.
• Inspirational leader with excellent people management skills.
• Outstanding communication and stakeholder management abilities.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities.
• Strong understanding of health and safety, compliance and operational governance.
• Strong financial literacy including budgeting, forecasting, and business modelling

Desirable

• Experience working in a theatre, museum, heritage or cultural venue.
• Experience with ticketing systems such as Spektrix and venue management software such as YesPlan.
• Personal Licence Holder.
• IOSH or NEBOSH qualification.
• First Aid, Safeguarding or Food Hygiene qualifications.

How to Apply 

If having reviewed the job description and information about the Shakespeare North Playhouse you consider yourself to be a good fit for this role, please email a CV and a cover letter of application to recruitment@shakespearenorthplayhouse.co.uk . Please also complete our equality monitoring form linked below.

The cover letter of application should be of no more than 2 sides of A4 addressing how your experience matches the role description, why you are interested in the role and why you think your skills and experience would make you a good candidate. Alternatively, you may submit a video/audio file of no more than 10 minutes in length. You can do this via WeTransfer or an alternative file transfer service.

The closing date for applications is Wednesday 5th August 2026. 

Diverse representation 

We encourage and welcome applications from people whose background and experience are under-represented in the cultural sector. We are committed to inclusive working practices and understand there may be barriers people face when considering an opportunity like this. If you are interested in applying for this role but feel there are things that may prevent you from getting involved, please get in touch and let us know how we can support you in making your application and throughout the selection process.

Equality Monitoring 

As part of your application, please make sure to fill out the Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form . The information you provide will not impact on the consideration of your application and will be used solely for the purpose of monitoring. 

Data Protection 

Information provided by you as part of your application will be used in the recruitment process. Any data about you will be held securely with access restricted to those involved in dealing with your application in the recruitment process. Once the process is completed the data relating to unsuccessful applicants will be stored for a maximum of 6 months and then destroyed. If you are the successful candidate, your application will be retained and form the basis of your personnel record. By submitting your application, you are giving your consent to your data being stored and processed for the purpose of the recruitment process, equal opportunities monitoring and your personnel record if you are the successful candidate. In submitting your application, we will assume that consent by you is given. We refer you to Shakespeare North’s job applicant privacy notice which you should read before applying for this role.

If you have any questions or would like to have an informal conversation about the role before applying, please contact us via email at recruitment@shakespearenorthplayhouse.co.uk 

This job description is intended as a guide to the duties expected of the post-holder. These duties may be reviewed from time to time to meet the needs of the business.

This job description is not contractual.