Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a vibrant international community of musicians, actors, and production artists in the heart of the City of London. Ranked in the top four conservatoires for Music and Performing Arts in the QS World Rankings 2025, and first in the UK in the Complete University Guide, the School is globally renowned exemplar of creative and professional practice, delivering world-class professional training in partnership with distinguished artists, companies, and ensembles. Since its founding in 1880, Guildhall School has been an outstanding example of the City of London Corporation’s commitment to education and the arts.

As a key member of the Executive Leadership Team reporting to the Principal, Professor Jonathan Vaughan, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) will play a vital role in delivering our 2030 strategy—sharpening our competitive edge through the strategic deployment of resources, operational efficiency, and high-quality service provision. The COO will support the School’s strategic and financial planning and work collaboratively with colleagues to lead transformational initiatives that optimise infrastructure, enhance services, and improve ways of working. Responsible for business planning and strategic oversight of the organisation’s buildings and assets, this role offers a unique opportunity to drive impactful change by leading the development of the School’s digital, physical, and cultural working environments.

We are seeking an inspiring and energetic individual with a track record in financial planning, strategic leadership, operational management and service transformation within a complex and multifaceted organisation. The ideal candidate will have the ability to translate their professional experience effectively into our context striking a thoughtful balance between commercial, artistic, and educational priorities.Collaborative and forward-thinking, they will contribute to delivering cohesive, agile operations—managing multiple projects, agendas, partnerships, and timelines with clarity and focus. They will bring strong influencing skills, experience in leading multidisciplinary teams, and act as a positive catalyst for change. We are looking for a highly motivated professional who shares a deep commitment to our values—particularly around equality, diversity, and inclusion—and who is driven to help us achieve and exceed our environmental sustainability goals.

Application is by submission of a full curriculum vitae and a covering letter of application, addressing the job description and person specification and including suitable daytime and evening telephone contact details.

Guildhall School welcomes applications from people of all backgrounds and experiences. We are particularly keen to encourage interest from people with disabilities, LGBTQIA+, Black, Asian, and other global majority backgrounds who are currently under-represented at Guildhall School. In recognising the positive value of diversity, we want to better reflect and understand the communities we exist to serve. We are members of the Disability Confident Scheme and guarantee to interview all disabled candidates who would like to be considered under this scheme and who meet the minimum essential criteria for the role.

Here at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, we are challenging ourselves to think and act differently. As such, we are enhancing and developing our diversity, equity and inclusion learning opportunities across the institution. Ensuring our commitment to employing a diverse workforce is reflective of our diverse and international student population. Moving us from words to actions in our commitment to creating an equitable and inclusive environment for all. Colleagues are welcomed to be their authentic selves and every person is treated with dignity and respect. To enable our student population to see themselves within our workforce we actively encourage applicants from under-represented groups and differing socio-economic backgrounds.

We are members of the Disability Confident Scheme and guarantee to interview all disabled candidates who would like to be considered under this scheme and who meet the minimum essential criteria for the role. We support and provide adjustments for people with disabilities – if you have a disability, caring responsibilities or other access requirement and need adjustments during the recruitment process please email .

The Guildhall School is committed to Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk and expects all employees, workers, and volunteers to share this commitment.

The City of London Corporation is currently undergoing a programme to ensure that our pay and reward practices are competitive and equitable across the whole organisation, to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to thrive in the work that we do.

Because our roles are so varied, we don’t have a ‘one size fits all’ policy for workplace attendance. How many days a week you’ll be required to attend your workplace will depend on the requirements of your role. It’s important that you understand the requirements before applying to ensure you are able to meet them. We are committed to considering requests to work flexibly and job share.

For details of the appointment, including further information about the job description, person specification and how to apply, please visit Perrett Laver\’s website,quoting reference 7981.

For informal inquiries please contact Anna Tan at or on 02073406231

Deadline for Applications is on Tuesday, 26^th August at 09:00 BST

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