Associate Executive Director: Commercial Operations in Portsmouth

Location: Royal Navy Museums: Portsmouth, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, with hybrid working available. Royal Navy Museums is one of the UK’s leading museum groups, caring for nationally significant collections, historic ships and museum sites across Portsmouth, Yeovilton, Hartlepool and Belfast. Through our Strategy 2025-2030, Linking Navy and Nation with inspiring stories and experiences, we are delivering ambitious plans to grow audiences, strengthen financial sustainability and develop inspiring visitor experiences across our sites. Our museums and historic fleet welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors annually and generate the majority of our income through admissions, commercial activity and visitor operations.

This is a great opportunity to join the team: We are seeking an experienced, collaborative strategic operational and commercial leader to lead and coordinate operational and commercial performance across the Royal Navy Museums group and help shape the future sustainability and success of one of the nation’s most important heritage organisations. Reporting to the Executive Director of Museum Operations, this is a key senior leadership role within the Museum Operations Directorate. The Associate Executive Director: Commercial Operations will lead operational coordination across museum sites and drive commercial performance, visitor experience and operational excellence through a team of General Managers / Museum Managers and the Head of Commercial. The role combines strategic leadership with operational delivery and requires an individual who can successfully balance commercial performance, visitor experience, public engagement and organisational purpose across a complex, multi-site museum environment. The role will also contribute to delivery of major organisational projects and transformational investment programmes across the museum group, supporting the long-term sustainability of the Royal Navy Museums estate, visitor experience and historic fleet.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading operational and commercial performance across multiple museum sites.
• Driving growth in commercial trading income and secondary spend.
• Leading, supporting and developing General Managers / Museum Managers and operational leadership teams.
• Ensuring consistent visitor experience and operational standards across museum sites.
• Coordinating operational planning, collaboration and performance across sites.
• Supporting delivery of strategic and financial objectives.
• Developing commercial partnerships and operational improvement initiatives.
• Supporting operational delivery of major organisational projects and capital programmes.

What you can bring:

• Substantial leadership experience within a multi-site, visitor-facing or commercially complex organisation.
• Operational leadership capability with the ability to develop high-performing teams and deliver strategic objectives.
• Commercial awareness and experience delivering income growth and operational sustainability.
• Experience leading multi-site operational teams.
• Strategic planning, communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience of translating organisational strategy into effective operational delivery.
• A collaborative, inclusive leadership style aligned to the Royal Navy Museums values.

What we offer:

• The opportunity to be part of a friendly and diverse workplace within a unique heritage environment.
• Group pension plan with Royal London (6% employer contributions, 2% employee contributions and death in service benefit).
• 25 days’ annual leave (plus bank holidays) pro rata for part time employees, increasing to 30 days’ annual leave (plus bank holidays) after 5 years’ service, pro rata for part time employees, with the option to purchase additional annual leave.
• Enhanced maternity/adoption and paternity pay.
• Flexible working.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Free admission to other national museums and attractions within the reciprocal agreement.
• Discounts at our shops and cafes.
• Free and discounted tickets for family and friends.
• A range of other benefits including cycle to work, electric vehicle scheme, employer supported volunteering leave, mobile tech, etc.
• Paid reservist leave.

This post requires a DBS check as a requirement of working on the naval base, as well as the right to work in the UK. Please note we cannot currently sponsor work visas. This is an exciting opportunity to help shape the future operational and commercial success of a transforming national museum group with ambitious plans for growth, engagement, sustainability and effective operational delivery. We welcome applications from candidates with experience across the heritage, cultural, visitor attraction, hospitality, leisure or other relevant public-facing sectors.