Commercial Manager

The Welsh Government operates name-free recruitment. The recruiting panel will not see personal information such as a candidate's name and address during the sifting process. This policy is in line with our commitment to end bias and promote equality and diversity.

Pan Wales means the post holder can be based in any Welsh Government office, subject to business needs. Roles based outside Wales, including London, are not available unless explicitly stated in the advert. Please note it may not always be possible to accommodate a preference for a specific office location. The post holder's travel from their home to their assigned Welsh Government office is considered their ordinary commute and must be done in their own time and at their own cost.

Cadw is the Welsh Government's historic environment service, working for an accessible and well-protected historic environment for Wales. We do this by:

• Helping to care for our historic environment for the benefit of people today and in the future
• Promoting the development of the skills that are needed to look after our historic environment properly
• Helping people to cherish and enjoy our historic environment
• Making our historic environment work for our economic well-being
• Working with partners to achieve our common goals together

This post sits within the Marketing and Business Development team, reporting to the Senior Commercial Manager. The commercial team comprises one SEO, two HEOs (including this post) and one EO.

This role is key to improving the commercial performance of Cadw sites. It does this by maximising existing income streams and identifying, researching and developing new commercial opportunities. The post holder will manage Cadw's third-party holiday-let properties and the third-party food and drink offer; ensure the right licences are in place across all sites to enable trading; develop commercial pricing policy; and oversee the third-party hire programme and related processes, including health and safety. The role will also grow income from filming, trading, weddings and photography, and take a proactive approach to meeting annual income targets across the Cadw estate.

The purpose of this role is to lead on maximising income from Cadw's holiday lets and catering, and to manage Cadw's commercial hire operations. The main objective is to meet and exceed annual income targets (£11.030m achieved in FY 2025-2026). The Commercial Manager works closely with the Senior Commercial Manager to develop, deliver and report on Cadw's overall commercial offer.

Key tasks:

• Lead the management of Cadw's holiday lets (currently 10 properties) with commissioned agents. Act as the first point of contact for all letting issues, ensuring regulatory compliance, maximising income, and reporting.
• Lead the management of Cadw's catering offer at five Cadw sites, including all pop-up catering operations. Act as the first point of contact for operators, ensuring compliance, maximising income, and reporting.
• Assess applications for the commercial use of Cadw's historic places. In 2025/26, commercial income (including travel trade, weddings, events, filming, holiday lets and cafés) reached £910k (from total Cadw income of £11.030 million).
• Develop coherent pricing structures for all commercial activity (including holiday lets, catering agreements and private hire), ensuring an appropriate economic return to meet stretching income targets for 2026/27.
• Work closely with the Senior Commercial Manager and Head of Branch to identify and deliver additional income streams, in line with Cadw's 3-year Business Plan objective: Commercial opportunities at our properties in care are enhanced so that they maximise their economic, community and social contribution.
• Liaise with colleagues across Cadw (e.g., site staff, Inspectorate and conservation teams) to ensure commercial use aligns with planned maintenance, conservation work and other events, and that approvals are thorough and legally compliant.
• Carry out robust financial evaluation of all activity and provide recommendations to the senior team on streamlining work and improving effectiveness (e.g. reviewing the holiday-let model and changing catering operations).
• Proactively engage with, and build relationships across, customers, internal teams and external organisations regarding the hire and use of monuments.
• Act as the senior contact for Custodian staff across Wales on third-party hire, holiday lets and catering. Provide H&S instructions, assess risk assessments, and advise customers on site restrictions.
• Ensure the correct licensing is in place to support income-generation activity, and ensure all licence conditions are met.
• Attend trade and commercial events to promote Cadw's commercial offer (maximum six per year).
• Work alongside colleagues to add value to the core activity set out in the Heritage in Arts Framework, Community Archaeology Framework, Lifelong Learning Strategy and Events Framework, ensuring potential commercial opportunities are fully exploited.
• Manage and develop staff within the team to ensure day-to-day operations are supported effectively. This role will manage between 1 and 2 staff in the commercial department at EO and TS level.
• Exact duties associated with the role may change over time in accordance with business priorities.

Development opportunities:

As a key member of Cadw's Commercial Team, you will help shape and improve our commercial operations. You will work with colleagues and stakeholders to deliver efficiently and support the achievement of commercial targets. The role offers scope to develop and test new income streams, improve ways of working for Cadw's catering and holiday lets, and grow income from commercial hire across our monuments. You will also contribute to Cadw's wider business objectives by sharing ideas and helping to drive continued growth.

Other vacancy related information:

A CV will be required detailing commercial experience, including experience of managing holiday lets and catering operations across multiple sites. CVs will not be scored but will be used by the panel to gain a fuller understanding of your experience and employment history.

Location and Hours:

Pan Wales. Full time - Applications are welcome from people who work full-time or as part of a job share (minimum 37 hours over 5 days with overlap). It is expected that if you apply as a job share partnership, this arrangement is in place when submitting your application and please make it clear on your application forms that you are applying as part of a job share partnership. As part of the small Commercial Team, the post holder will be required to work core hours between 9 and 5 (on a rota basis) in order to answer the commercial phone line. The post holder may be required to attend trade shows within the UK and Europe.

Merit Order:

In the event of two or more candidates having the same total score at interview, the following criteria will determine a merit order to which candidate will be appointed.

• Experience: Experience of successfully generating commercial income within the heritage or tourism sector via catering and holiday lets.
• Behaviour: Managing a Quality Service - successfully deliver high quality outcomes that meet the customers' needs and give value for money.

Other Information:

In the event of a large number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted against the lead assessment experience criterion number 1 (application form). Only candidates who pass the initial sift on criterion 1 may be progressed to a full sift. A reserve list may be held for this opportunity. Any candidate who is successful in being offered a reserve status will remain on the reserve list for 12 months. A full driving licence is required for this role.