Commercial Sales & Event Manager

Department/Team: Business and Backstage Team

Responsible to: Head of Commercial Event Sales

Contract: Permanent

Location: Mix of home working and from The Old Vic, 103 The Cut, London, SE1 8NB (min 4 office days)

Hours: Full-Time

The Old Vic offers the ability to work these flexibly under the guidelines in our Hybrid Working policy. Additional hours may be necessary in order to fulfil the requirements of the post

Salary: £35,000 - £38,000 per annum

Direct Reports: No direct reports

Benefits

• Hybrid working for eligible teams and a company culture that promotes good work/life balance

• Enhanced annual leave, starting at 25 days per year, increasing by one day per year up to 30 days (plus bank holidays). Opportunity to switch statutory bank holidays to mark a religious event or festival

• Complimentary tickets for you and a guest to Old Vic preview productions

• Discretionary invite to Press Night performances and parties

• Free therapy from our therapy partner SelfSpace

• Mental health support via our in-house Mental Health Champions

• Salary sacrifice scheme with The People’s Pension and enhanced employer pension contributions

• Festive day – one discretionary additional paid day off around the festive period for a collective pause

• Time to volunteer – one day per year to support a charity or project of your choosing

• Commitment to learning, education and development

• Enhanced sick pay

• Access to interest free travel schemes including Cycle 2 work and Season Ticket loans after your probation period

• Family friendly policies and enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption/shared parental pay

• All staff social events

• Staff discount in Penny and The Old Vic bars as well as discounts in local bars and restaurants

• Opportunities to get involved with staff clubs and working groups such as the Inclusion Working Group

• Buddy schemes including New Starter and Parental buddies to support your induction and return to work after parental leave

• Death in Service Benefit

Role Summary

The purpose of the post is to manage the delivery and growth of commercial venue hire and events at The Old Vic, maximising income through proactive sales activity and delivering high-quality, well-managed events that reflect the theatre’s brand values and commitment to excellent customer service.

Your Team

This role sits within the Commercial Events team and works closely with colleagues across departments, including Operations, Technical, Food & Beverage, Finance and Marketing. The role involves regular liaison with external suppliers, clients, producers, contractors and hospitality partners.

Areas of responsibility

The Role will be responsible for:

Sales & Client Liaison

• Acting as the first point of contact for all venue hire, filming and event enquiries.

• Proactively generating and responding to event sales leads, providing accurate information on spaces,capacities, rates and facilities.

• Developing tailored proposals and quotes that meet client needs while maximising income and upholding The Old Vic’s brand values.

• Managing client relationships from enquiry through to contract signature, delivery and final invoicing.

• Preparing and issuing hire agreements, ensuring compliance with The Old Vic’s policies, licensing regulations and insurance requirements.

• Maintaining accurate records of sales pipelines, bookings and income to support reporting and forecasting.

Event Planning & Coordination

• Leading on the detailed planning of each confirmed event, producing schedules and operational booking documents in line with client requirements.

• Overseeing all food and beverage arrangements for in-house catering, confirming menu choices and guest numbers.

• Liaising with internal teams (Technical, Operations, FOH, Finance, Business, Marketing, Production) to ensure clear communication of all event requirements.

• Managing relationships with external suppliers, such as caterers, production companies and equipment hire firms, ensuring delivery to agreed standards, budgets and timelines.

• Ensuring all health & safety, access and licensing requirements are met, completing risk assessments and documentation as required.

• Maintaining accurate event information across internal systems, updating changes in real time.

On-the-Day Event Management

• Working as the Event Duty Manager as required, or working closely with the Event Duty Manager, overseeing setup and delivery.

• Leading briefings with staff, contractors and volunteers to communicate event plans, timings and expectations.

• Providing professional, calm and welcoming support to clients and guests, resolving any issues swiftly.

• Managing event timings, hospitality and guest experience, maintaining The Old Vic’s high service standards.

Administration & Reporting

• Managing hire agreements and financial administration, including raising invoices, processing payments and reconciling event costs.

• Evaluating events post-delivery, gathering client and internal feedback to inform continuous improvement.

• Supporting the wider team in meeting annual commercial income targets.

This is not an exhaustive list of duties and the Theatre's management may, at any time, allocate other tasks which are of a similar nature or level.

Person Specification

• Previous experience of venue sales and event management, ideally within a theatre, heritage or cultural environment.

• Experience of managing budgets of up to £200k

• Strong sales acumen with the ability to convert enquiries into bookings and maximise income opportunities

• Adept understanding of event operations, logistics and health & safety procedures

• Exemplary organisation skills as well as written and verbal communication skills.

• A positive ‘can do’ approach and strong relationship building skills across departments

• Acute attention to detail.

• A proven ability to work effectively and efficiently.

• Excellent customer service skills with a people-centric approach.

• A skilled team player.

• IT literacy, with good experience of the Microsoft Office suite and Excel in particular. (Training will be given on software programs as required.)

• Ability to work to deadlines and prioritise tasks.

• Strong networker and able to bring innovative ideas into the team

How to Apply

We understand that everyone is different and we want you to apply in whichever way you feel best shows your skills and experience. There are a range of ways that you can apply with us:

• 1. Sending a short video file of yourself (no longer than two minutes in length), detailing your experience, why you are applying for the role and what about working at The Old Vic interests you (have a look at the person specification in the job description).

• 2. Sending a short audio file of yourself (no longer than two minutes in length), detailing your experience, why you are applying for the role and what about working at The Old Vic interests you.

• 3. Completing our application form.

• 4. Uploading your CV and covering letter, explaining why you are interested in the role and working at the Old Vic.

As a Disability Confident employer, The Old Vic has made a commitment that all applicants with disabilities who meet the essential criteria for this job will be invited to interview. However in the event that we have a high volume of applications all of whom meet the criteria and identify as disabled, meaning it is not practicable to interview everyone, we may apply a weighting to the shortlisting criteria, or add an additional shortlisting stage before any interviews take place. In all cases we will take care to ensure that any criteria or weightings do not disadvantage disabled applicants.

All appointments are made subject to satisfactory references and proof of eligibility to work in the UK.

The Process

The recruitment process for this role will be two stages:

• 1st stage virtual conversation

• 2nd stage in person conversation

• You may be asked to complete a work based skills assessment or challenge.

The closing date for this role is 5 January 2026. First Conversations are likely to take place w/c 12 January 2026.

Equal Opportunities

We actively support and encourage people from a variety of backgrounds, experiences and skill sets to join us and help shape what we do. We are particularly keen to receive applications from people of the global majority, LGBTQ+, neurodiverse and disabled candidates.

We may take positive action, in cases where candidates are equally qualified, to increase the employment of under-represented groups at The Old Vic.

In the event that we ask you to attend the theatre for a conversation and you are struggling financially, we may be able to reimburse you for any reasonable travel costs.

We partner with a range of inclusive organisations, to find out more please read our FAQs.

FAQs

Read our recruitment and selection and equal opportunities FAQs here. 

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About The Old Vic

The Old Vic, 103 The Cut, London SE1 8NB. oldvictheatre.com

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