Head of Commercial Event Sales

Department/Team: Business

Responsible to: Deputy Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer

Contract: 12 month Fixed Term Contract

Location: Mix of home working and from The Old Vic, 103 The Cut, London, SE1 8NB (min 3 office days)

Hours: Full-Time – 40 hours per week, including evenings and weekends as required by the events schedule in the fulfilment of the post’s duties. 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: In the region of £50,000 per annum

Direct reports: None

Role Summary

The purpose of the Head of Commercial Event Sales role is to manage all aspects of commercial venue hire across The Old Vic, particularly within our new Backstage building, opening October 2025. It is anticipated that the spaces available in the building will host a mixture of commercial private hires for conferences, parties, receptions, and more, alongside our many internal Development events to aid fundraising, and Press Nights (which are managed by the Development team). There is a £0.5m income target relating to the commercial hires of the building, once the operation is established, and this role will be integral to maximizing the income to meet and hopefully exceed this target. As this is a new role, there will be a research phase which will involve scoping the possible commercial uses of our spaces, contributing to the development of a sales strategy, prospecting our target audiences, building our hires frameworks and costings, then resulting in booking commercial events within our new building from January 2026. The role will be both strategic and operational and the postholder will be driven to adapt well to both.

Your Team

This role will work closely with many teams, specifically: Theatre Operations, Front of House, Marketing & Commercial, Development, Technical, and the Business Team. There will be some administrative and operational support provided within our existing teams.

Areas of Responsibility

• Event Sales

• Work closely with the Chief Marketing Officer to develop and implement a commercial sales plan to maximise hires revenue for The Old Vic event spaces.
• Develop sales collateral and campaigns alongside the Marketing team, including event photography, social media presence, web listings, etc.
• Identify and pursue new business opportunities through networking, cold calling, and industry events to build a portfolio of client relationships.
• Manage commercial events income and expenditure budgets.
• Collate and analyse business data pertaining to all event activities, including client feedback.
• Proactively maximise income potential and profitable event hire occupancy.
• Manage site visits for clients, showcasing our spaces and services to maximise conversion to sales.
• Build and nurture long-term collaborative relationships and partnerships with key clients to result in repeat bookings and liaise with Development on the propensity to build support for The Old Vic across its full list of opportunities.

• Liaise with The Old Vic’s F&B team to create corporate and private events packages.
• Coordinate all commercial events, ensuring venue booking, setup catering, client liaison.
• Manage and coordinate the operational aspects of private hire and commercial activity.
• Collaborate with the operations, technical, front of house, and event delivery teams to ensure the successful execution of events with the highest quality of service.
• Manage the competing needs of booking the space, discussing with the Deputy Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer and agreeing on any cases of event clashes.
• Ensure all hires are booked in Microsoft Outlook.
• Actively maintain a high level of administrative practices throughout all venue hire and event activity, ensuring meticulous detail throughout each step.
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders across The Old Vic.
• Liaise with internal and external caterers and contractors to ensure the successful delivery of all private hires.
• Undertake due diligence when working with suppliers to ensure confidence in service delivery.
• Ensure suppliers adhere to The Old Vic’s Goods & Services Agreement.
• Always ensure the health and safety standards for events are maintained.

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

Essential

• Experience of successful commercial event sales and management with a strong network of contacts within the events and corporate sectors and within London.
• Track record of achieving sales targets (of circa £400-500k income) and delivering a growth strategy.
• An understanding of Health and Safety regulations related to events and their implementation.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team in a fast-paced environment.
• Detail-oriented with excellent organisational and time management skills.
• Flexibility to work early mornings, evenings, and weekends as required.
• Experience of researching clients.
• Experience of managing financials relating to event hires.
• Acute attention to detail.
• Innovative and solutions-focused.
• Excellent networking and customer service skills with a people-centric approach.
• Ability to prioritise a number of varied tasks and work to tight deadlines.