Commercial Operations Director in Royal Tunbridge Wells

Our new Commercial Operations Director will be an inspiring leader who will drive commercial growth. You will lead the development and delivery of a strong and successful Commercial Strategy for Wells Cathedral and Vicars' Close, to support the Cathedral's Strategic Plan including the celebration of 850 years since the Cathedral's foundation.

We are seeking a forward-thinking Commercial Operations Director to lead and oversee commercial innovation and growth to inspire a wider range of people to visit the Cathedral with a creative and engaging approach. You will have a demonstrable successful track record at a senior level and be an experienced operator and a creative problem solver. You will inspire and motivate your teams and set a clear shared vision for your department. You will be passionate about identifying emerging trends, technologies and consumer behaviours and working collaboratively across all teams to maximise income generation opportunities.

You will be entrepreneurial and highly focused with a real enthusiasm for the internationally important heritage and visitor experience of the Cathedral and the exciting new visitor experience being developed with the Vicars' Close project. As a commercial leader, you will bring experience in managing large budgets, along with a commercially skilled approach and a high level of self‐motivation and the ability to meet demanding targets within tight deadlines will be essential.

You will relish this role if you're ambitious, focused, commercially astute and committed to providing outstanding customer experiences. We’re looking for someone to support our ambition to be the country’s most joyful cathedral!

A message from our COO: Thank you for your interest in the role of Commercial Operations Director. If you’re motivated by the difference that heritage makes to places and people, about sharing inspiring stories and creating unforgettable experiences, this job may be for you. You will be joining Wells Cathedral at a pivotal time, with our Strategic Plan shaping our work over the next 10 years and the opening of a new dynamic and high‐profile visitor experience celebrating centuries of history. We want more and a wider range of people engaging with the Cathedral, ensuring the celebration and sharing of Wells Cathedral's unique assets, and musical tradition.

This role will play a crucial part in our vision for growth and in helping us to achieve our ambitions. As we build connections and relationships with people, and open up more of our heritage and expand our visitor experience, and grow income generation opportunities and innovation, you will be joining a wonderful team at a really exciting time in our history and we’d love to hear from you.

Purpose of job

Key Responsibilities:

• You will be an inspiring leader promoting a positive and collaborative culture developing, supporting and managing the Cathedral's Commercial Teams to work across the organisation with an integrated approach.
• You will work closely with the Marketing team to create campaigns to promote the visitor offer and attract new audiences.
• Set and deliver ambitious financial targets, maximising profitability and developing new income streams across ticket sales, group trade and commercial operations, such as Shop, Café, and working closely with the Events team.
• Develop and successfully implement the Commercial Strategy to underpin this work.
• Work closely with COO, and Chief Finance Officer to analyse and act on business data and to develop organisational performance measures that monitor progress towards financial sustainability.
• Working closely with the Vicars' Close project team to develop and implement an exciting Visitor journey with a compelling, integrated and exciting whole site approach across the Cathedral and Vicars' Close.
• Build visitor satisfaction and reputation with excellent customer service across all areas and develop creative programming with the Creative Facilitator to engage and inspire.
• Develop and implement an enticing and appealing retail strategy that offers a bespoke and creative range of merchandise aligned with the Cathedral's heritage and visitor experience, including products tied to events or exhibitions, and target audiences, including at Vicars' Close and implement Café strategy.
• For both the shop and café, integrate successfully into the overall visitor journey, expanding dwell time and encouraging repeat visits.
• Ensure that operations are managed in a cost‐effective way that maximises profit for the benefit of the Cathedral's charitable cause, monitoring margins, pricing strategies and supplier contracts to optimise income and ROI.
• Use visitor insights and sales analytics to identify trends, forecast demand, and adjust and adapt strategies accordingly.
• Successfully lead and develop a high performing visitor facing team (staff & volunteers), setting & monitoring personal objectives that achieve excellent customer service standards to create a welcoming and memorable experience.
• Promote and uphold the cultural values and behaviours required by the Cathedral.
• Ensure compliance with all statutory and legal requirements. Executive responsibility for health & safety, safeguarding, UK GDPR and risk management for the Cathedral.

Other duties:

To undertake any other duties or projects commensurate with the nature and grade of this post as required by the organisation. The post holder will be prepared to work at the weekend, bank holiday days as needed, as the busiest visitor times for the Cathedral, and in the evening on occasion.

Person Specification

1. Experience

Essential:

• Significant experience of senior leadership role.
• Extensive track record of driving profitability across multiple income streams in an audience focused industry, while inspiring teams to deliver exceptional customer service.
• Significant and evidenced success in setting and delivering stretching income targets and developing profitable new income streams.
• Significant and evidenced success of managing operations cost effectively, to deliver maximum profit.
• Experience of working with multifunctional teams to develop high quality product for programming and refreshment of the offer.
• Responsibility for setting and managing complex budgets.
• Ability to analyse business data and draw evidenced conclusions for implementation.
• Experience of strategic planning and translating high level strategic objectives into focused personal objectives.
• Leading and managing a multifunctional team.
• Managing operational risk & compliance.
• Experience of working in a complex stakeholder environment.
• To be committed to broad lateral thinking and a solutions focused attitude to support the whole Cathedral.

Desirable:

• Recent senior experience within a heritage or visitor attractions environment.

2. Skills

Essential:

• Strong commercial aptitude, results focused, analytical and highly numerate.
• Strong organisational and leadership skills, with a successful track record of leading and developing diverse teams.
• A team player with a collaborative approach who is able to build relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders and positively manage change.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Skilled in getting the best out of multifunctional teams and able to influence and inspire.
• Negotiation and persuasion skills.
• Ability to juggle multiple priorities calmly & effectively and work successfully on multiple priorities.
• Innovative, creative lateral thinker with a positive approach.
• Customer and audience focused.
• IT, digital/social literate.
• Strong understanding of issues relating to equality, diversity and inclusion, and UK GDPR requirements.

The successful applicant will also be expected to share in Wells Cathedral's commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults. An enhanced DBS check will be required.

3. Knowledge

Essential:

• Clear understanding of what makes a world class visitor experience.
• Passionate about heritage and the wide range of opportunities and experiences it can offer.
• Legal compliance, health and safety and risk management requirements and systems.
• Project Management.
• Visitor Attraction Industry Ticket Selling, group trade, learning and commercial operations knowledge.

Desirable:

• Interpretation techniques.

Interview date:

Round 1 (on line) 19th February 2026

Round 2 (in person) 24th February 2026

Closing date:

12th February 2026

Main Terms and Conditions

Employment status: Full-time, permanent.

Hours of work: 35 hours per week full time. We are open to flexible working and hybrid options for this role.

Remuneration: £60k per annum.

Discount: A discount of 10% is available from the Cathedral Shop and The Loft Café.

Parking: A single car park space is provided in the Cathedral car park. Cars are parked at the risk of the owner.

Pension: Defined Contribution Scheme Contributions as % of salary: Age - Employee 3%, Employer 5% Age 50–55 - Employee 4%, Employer 8% Age >55 - Employee 5%, Employer 10%

Holiday: 6.6 weeks per annum inclusive of bank holidays. The holiday year runs from 1 January to 31 December. Annual leave is authorised by the COO.

Location: Wells Cathedral, Wells. BA5 2UE

Expenses: All reasonable working expenses will be met in line with Cathedral policy.

Probation: This post will be subject to a probationary period of 6 months. The post‐holder will, during their probationary period, be required to satisfactorily complete learning in Health & Safety and in Safeguarding as deemed by the Cathedral to be relevant and appropriate to this post. The appointment is subject to the satisfactory completion of all pre‐employment checks, including an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check.

How to apply: To apply, complete our Application Form and Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form and email them to recruitment@wellscathedral.org.uk. These forms are available on our website https://www.wellscathedral.org.uk/your-cathedral/vacancies#J-18808-Ljbffr