Patrons Manager - WC2E 9DD

Salary: c.£40,000 per annum based on skills and experience

Hours: Full time, 40 hours per week

Based in: Covent Garden, London

The Royal Ballet and Opera continues to lead the way in opera, ballet, music and dance both live on stage and through multiple digital platforms, from live streaming to worldwide cinema screenings. Our Covent Garden theatre has been at the heart of London and British cultural life for three centuries. We are home to two world-class Companies: The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera.

This role sits within the highly committed and successful Development and Advocacy Department, which generates over £41m revenue annually, plus additional capital funds, and secures the annual Arts Council England grant (currently £22.9m). The Department’s revenue generation and advocacy to Government of the value of our creative sector ensures the RBO can retain the best artists and crafts people, deliver our thriving National Schools’ Programme, maintain our beautiful grade I listed building, deliver on our charitable mission, and continue to produce world class performances.

The Membership Team, responsible for Friends and Patrons, are responsible for circa £10m annually. Friends and Patrons also make up 30% of ticket income, 55% of other donations and 88% of legacies, emphasising the importance of community building, good processes and customer service. The Patrons of the Royal Ballet and Opera are a core loyal audience who provide vital philanthropic support to the RBO. As a thank-you for their support, they enjoy premium benefits including a concierge Box Office and special events.

The Patrons Manager will be responsible for both Individual and Corporate Patron relationships from prospecting to renewal, managing recruitment, stewardship and overseeing excellence in customer service via the Patrons Box Office. This is a strategic role, with responsibility for managing and growing the Patrons Scheme, ensuring members make the most of their Patron membership to achieve maximum renewal and upgrade rates.

Our ideal candidate will be results driven, with a pro-active, can-do attitude that is role modelled in the small team of reports and more widely across the Department. You will be solutions focused with experience of taking accountability for improvements and resolutions. You will be able to lead and develop a small team, manage a busy workload with high output and productivity and demonstrate highly effective influencing skills.

You will have:

• Experience of working in a membership organisation and/or with high-net-worth individuals in a philanthropic environment.
• Experience in a box office/ticketing environment is also highly desirable.
• Experience of working in revenue growth environments, with an aptitude for working toward KPIs.
• A firm understanding of Gift Aid and other charitable legislation and laws.
• Demonstrable experience leading on relationship management (including face to face) within a Patrons or Philanthropy scheme or similar.
• Experience identifying new initiatives and ways to enhance Patron experience, with experience delivering in a culture of continuous improvement and customer service excellence.
• Developed communication and rapport building skills; able to tailor communications effectively and quickly forge strong relationships, both internally and externally.
• An understanding and knowledge of the art forms is not essential but the ability to learn and communicate effectively and persuasively about opera, ballet, music and dance to Patrons is critical for this role.

The Royal Ballet and Opera is one of the UK’s leading arts organisations and our aim is to inspire imagination, ignite emotion and make the extraordinary for everyone. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion underpin all that we do. We want our people to be representative of the diversity in the UK. We understand the creativity and innovation that diversity can bring and strive to create an inclusive environment in which everyone can thrive. We encourage applications from people with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences and skills to join our teams. We particularly welcome applications from those who are from a global majority background and/or those who are disabled, as they are under-represented within our organisation.

We are a Disability Confident Employer, which means that we are actively working to ensure that candidates with disabilities and long-term health conditions feel supported, engaged and able to fulfil their potential in the workplace. We will endeavour to offer an interview to candidates who tell us they wish to participate in the scheme and who demonstrate in their application that they meet the essential criteria for the role, though sometimes due to the volume of qualified candidates with declarations this is not possible.

The RBO is also committed to safeguarding and protecting all children, young people, and adults and we implement robust safer recruitment practices. Due to our safeguarding promise, certain roles will be subject to a DBS check before commencing employment with us, which will be indicated in the advertising.

Closing date for applications: 11:59pm, Sunday 15th February 2026.

Interviews will be held over two stages. The 1st stage will be online via Microsoft Teams w/c 23rd February 2026. The 2nd stage will be in person at ROH Covent Garden w/c 2nd March 2026.

To ensure a fair process, late applications will not be considered under any circumstances.

Applicants must have work authorisation for the UK. No agencies.