Customer Experience Manager

About the Role

Join Royal & Derngate as our next Customer Experience Manager. If you're passionate about delivering exceptional customer service, leading high-performing teams, and creating memorable visitor experiences, this is your chance to make a real impact in one of the region's leading cultural venues.

Job Opportunity

Key Task Areas:

Customer Experience & Customer Journey

• Lead delivery of an exceptional customer experience across both venues.
• Maintain a visible, approachable presence, particularly during busy periods.
• Ensure a consistent, welcoming and inclusive customer journey.
• Identify and implement customer journey improvements.
• Ensure Front of House teams consistently deliver Customer Experience Handbook standards.
• Work across the organisation to resolve issues and improve processes.
• Ensure inclusive support for customers with access requirements.
• Promote a strong culture of hospitality.

Front of House & Venue Operations

• Oversee effective Front of House operations during all activity including keyholder and alarm responsibilities.
• Set staffing and rotas to meet operational, service and safety needs within budget, correcting actual or forecast variances.
• Brief teams clearly on event requirements, risks and customer priorities.
• Liaise effectively with visiting companies, hirers, artists and colleagues.
• Ensure venues are prepared, presented and staffed before opening including VIP Lounge and related services.
• Maintain high standards of cleanliness, presentation and customer facilities.
• Check customer areas regularly and resolve issues promptly.
• Resolve operational issues and escape appropriately.

Leadership & People Management

• Act as Duty Manager when required and provide visible, supportive leadership to Customer Experience colleagues.
• Line manage designated colleagues, providing supervision, feedback and development.
• Manage performance, attendance, conduct and employee relations with the Head of Customer Experience.
• Identify training needs and support the Customer Experience training programme.
• Ensure colleagues understand and can fulfil their responsibilities.
• Recognise excellent service and team performance.

Volunteers

• Support volunteer recruitment, induction, training and management.
• Ensure volunteers are briefed, supported and valued.
• Develop volunteer engagement, training and progression with the Head of Customer Experience.
• Ensure volunteers understand their role in the customer journey and culture.

Commercial, Budget & Financial Management

• Manage relevant income and expenditure within agreed budgets and targets.
• Monitor actual and forecast performance against budget and identify material variances promptly.
• Correct income shortfalls or overspends and elevate significant risks or variances.
• Support budgets and forecasts with accurate operational information on pressures and opportunities.
• Control staffing and other costs within budget while maintaining service and safety.
• Support commercial objectives through service and secondary-spend opportunities.
• Coach teams to increase appropriate upselling and customer spend without compromising experience.
• Oversee bars, retail and other customer-facing commercial activity.
• Monitor sales and financial performance against budget, understand variances and act on underperformance.
• Ensure effective stock, ordering, cash and EPOS controls to minimise waste, loss and discrepancies.
• Maintain high presentation standards in retail and bar areas.
• Implement commercial initiatives, promotions and new products.

Health, Safety, Safeguarding & Compliance

• Maintain a safe environment for customers, colleagues, volunteers and visiting companies.
• Ensure Health & Safety procedures are followed and communicated.
• Manage emergency procedures, including evacuation, lockdown and vulnerable-person incidents.
• Identify hazards, risks and maintenance issues and ensure action is taken.
• Ensure compliance with licensing and relevant legislation.
• Hold, or work towards, required First Aid qualifications.
• Contribute to relevant Health & Safety, Operations and safeguarding meetings.

General

• Work collaboratively across Royal & Derngate and Northampton Filmhouse.
• Represent the organisation professionally with customers and partners.
• Support organisational sustainability initiatives and ensure that customer experience minimises its impact on the environment.
• Attend relevant meetings and training.
• Undertake other reasonable duties as required.
• Work evenings, weekends, Bank Holidays and other hours required by venue operations.

Responsibilities are shared across the Customer Experience Manager team. Each post-holder has specific accountabilities while collaborating to provide consistent operational leadership across both venues.

Essential Skills

Essential Experience:

• Significant customer-facing management or supervisory experience in entertainment, hospitality, leisure, cultural or visitor environments.
• Experience leading and motivating teams in fast-paced operations.
• Experience delivering consistently high customer service standards.
• Experience dealing professionally with diverse customers.
• Experience resolving challenging situations and customer issues.
• Experience of working with EPOS/till systems.
• Experience of managing or supporting volunteers and/or casual staff
• Experience working evenings, weekends and busy periods.
• Experience managing income and expenditure against budgets or targets and acting on variances.

Essential Knowledge/Qualifications:

• Strong understanding of customer experience and the customer journey.
• Understanding of Health & Safety and safe working practices.
• Understanding of safeguarding responsibilities.
• Understanding of equality, diversity, inclusion and accessibility.
• Understanding of commercial service and secondary-income opportunities.
• Understanding of theatre, cinema or comparable venue operations.
• Willingness to develop knowledge of licensing and relevant legislation.

Essential Skills/Abilities:

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Strong leadership and people management skills.
• Calm, confident and solution-focused under pressure.
• Excellent organisational and time-management skills.
• Strong decision-making and problem-solving ability.
• Ability to prioritise in a busy, unpredictable environment.
• Ability to build positive relationships with customers, colleagues, volunteers and partners.
• Ability to coach colleagues and improve performance.
• Strong financial and commercial awareness; able to manage budgets, explain variances and take corrective action.
• Good IT skills, including Microsoft Office and operational systems.
• Ability to use data and feedback to improve customer experience.
• Commitment to equality, diversity, inclusion and a welcoming environment

Desirable Experience:

• Experience in theatre, cinema, arts, cultural or entertainment environments.
• Experience of managing Duty Managers or Front of House teams.
• Experience of working with volunteers.
• Experience delivering customer or operational training.
• Experience developing or implementing customer service standards.
• Experience managing events, performances or large customer operations.

Desirable Knowledge/Qualifications:

• Personal Licence Holder, or willingness to obtain one.
• First Aid at Work qualification.
• Knowledge of licensing law and premises/event licences.
• Knowledge of EPOS and stock management systems.
• Understanding of theatre/cinema operations and cross-departmental working.

#J-18808-Ljbffr