Visitor Experience Event Lead in London

We are seeking a dynamic and knowledgeable Visitor Experience Event Lead to play a key role within the Visitor Experience Team. This is a rare and exciting opportunity for someone with strong leadership to lead the Visitor Experience, Security and Medic Teams during Summer Series and Laughterama. Somerset House events are fully inclusive safe spaces for any person to participate and enjoy without fear of feeling marginalised, unrepresented, or unwelcome. We particularly welcome applicants from underrepresented backgrounds.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the team to ensure the highest standards of visitor engagement, crafting a warm and friendly welcome and a vibrant and responsive visitor experience.
• Confidently and efficiently manage large scale events, leading on visitor experience, operations and logistics.
• Ensure teams (e.g. Visitor Experience Assistants and Security) are briefed and have the information they require to deliver a consistent, high-quality service across site.
• Ensure that all areas of the site are always well presented and maintained.
• Deal with customer complaints and feedback and effectively manage challenging conversations to ensure a mutually beneficial solution.
• Support the collection and analysis of visitor feedback. From this, in conjunction with the Senior Visitor Experience Manager and Head of Visitor Experience, make recommendations for improvements.
• Be confident and capable of producing daily event reports.
• Refine operational procedures.
• Monitor and act on factors that enhance or compromise customer experience.
• Be a champion for Access and Inclusion and use this as an integral part of decision making during events.
• Undertake any other duties and responsibilities as may be necessary from time to time to fulfil the obligations of the role.

Departmental Management

• Provide clear, inclusive and consistent leadership to the front of house teams, maintaining a professional and positive team culture.
• Have experience of running Ticket Office and providing operational support of Ticket Office teams.

Operational planning and delivery

• Work closely with Somerset House and external programming teams to advise on visitor experience and operations at the planning stages.
• Ensure highest standards are achieved for our visitors and that positive working relationships are established with internal and external contacts.
• Operationally deliver events and activities to the highest professional standards, at times managing multiple events at once.
• Ensure effective working relationships between the Visitor Experience department and the wider Somerset House Trust teams.
• Book and manage external contractors including Security, Medics, Catering and Cleaning teams to ensure that the highest standards are maintained throughout.
• Deal with any issues that may arise with the contractor(s) and make recommendations for any improvement of service.
• Maintain awareness of site wide activity and competing priorities.
• Demonstrate strong judgement under pressure, particularly during live operations or incidents.
• Respond flexibly to unexpected challenges e.g. crowd management, technical issues etc.
• Implement practical, solution focused approaches to operational issues.
• Support communication and coordination across departments.
• Must have experience of working with ticketing systems, preferably Tessitura and have a strong understanding of ticketing and event requirements to advise on planning, capacities and the ticketing offer.

Health and Safety

• Ensure that Somerset House is safe and secure for all visitors, staff and residents, leading on evacuations as required.
• Conduct regular refresher evacuation sessions throughout the year to ensure the Visitor Experience team are confident and able to safely evacuate.
• Work across all Somerset House programming teams to embed emergency procedures, licencing and security knowledge.
• Work closely with our Health and Safety Advisors to ensure best practice throughout the site.
• Ensure incident reporting, disaster management and business continuity procedures are followed appropriately as required.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise Experience

• Experience of the delivery of complex projects and/or events, including leading on visitor experience, operational planning and logistics.
• Experience of managing large scale site-specific projects such as gigs or exhibitions.
• Experience managing teams in a visitor experience or customer service environment.
• Experience working with external partners in operations.
• Previously managed multiple priorities across a complex site.
• Confidently devised and delivered complex briefings to large groups.
• Knowledge of Health and Safety regulations for both the public and staff, with experience of managing onsite evacuations.
• Confidence in liaising and effectively communicating with a wide variety of people.
• A professional manner and appearance and the ability to demonstrate and promote high standards.

Skills

• Excellent customer service and organisational skills.
• An innovative, calm and efficient approach to problem solving and ensuring strategic aims.
• Be able to adapt with ease to the changing demands of the operation.
• Strong leadership skills, with the ability to motivate teams to achieve excellence.
• Demonstrable line management experience including HR requirements.
• A confident administrator who is used to working in a fast-paced environment, with the ability to work under pressure and with competing priorities.
• A strong negotiator and communicator with evidence of excellent written, verbal and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment.
• IT literacy with demonstrable proficiency in MS Office and other related software packages.
• Ability to manage and diffuse difficult situations with a diplomatic approach.
• A commitment and passion for ensuring an outstanding visitor experience to a diverse audience, in line with the Somerset House Safer Space and Diversity and Inclusion policies.
• First Aid qualified (Desirable)
• IOSH (Desirable)
• Personal License Holder (Desirable)

Benefits

• Access to our external Employee Assistance Programme (CiC) for free 24/7 confidential advice and support, including up to 6 free counselling sessions per year where needed.
• Discounts, offers and free stuff! The list is endless and includes tickets to Somerset House events and entrance to other London Heritage sites.
• Discount to local leisure centres.