Operations Manager

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, Waltham Forest is a place where people want to live, raise a family, and start a business. It’s also a fantastic place to work, as we do all we can to improve the lives of residents and maintain the borough’s reputation as an attractive place to visit and invest in. We’re looking for candidates with initiative, resolve and creativity to help us build on our successes as the Mayor of London’s first-ever London Borough of Culture and so expectations, confidence and ambitions are high. 

We are looking for people to join the Culture and Heritage team with a range of skills and experience that add to and complement the existing team’s expertise.  Our focus is to ensure that Waltham Forest continues to grow as a borough of culture supporting and empowering our local artists, creative sector and diverse communities to deliver inclusive, relevant and high-quality cultural activities. We also work closely with our colleagues in economic growth to boost the reopening of our high streets, deliver longer term cultural infrastructure projects and connect people to jobs.  We need to ensure we achieve all of this in a sustainable way by maximising our commercial opportunities and responding effectively to the climate emergency.

A key member of the new cultural enterprise and operations team, you will provide the leadership and operational expertise to contribute to a thriving cultural borough by managing and developing high quality, welcoming and accessible venues, including the award-winning William Morris Gallery and Vestry House Museum. 

You will be a great communicator and problem solver, bringing experience of high quality venue operations from both a strategic and ‘hands on’ perspective.  You will have excellent customer service skills with an awareness of, and commitment to, the promotion of equal opportunities to ensure our venues are welcoming to our local diverse communities as well as our visitors from further afield.   A key aspect of this dynamic role will be to motivate your team to drive retail sales, maximise income generation and commercial opportunities including leading events to deliver a sustainable cultural offer.

This role will require working as part of the duty team, meaning the working pattern will mostly be Tuesday to Friday or Tuesday to Sunday. 

Waltham Forest Council recognises that diversity is a strength and what people bring through their personal experiences, background and identity significantly enhances our ability to deliver to our staff and residents.  Therefore we would particularly welcome applications from individuals with a Black, Asian or other ethnic minority background, those who identify as disabled and individuals from the LGBTQI+ community.

In your application, please make sure you show how you can meet the job specific accountabilities and demonstrate the experience required.  Interviews are planned for the week of the 9th August 2021. 

For further information or a discussion, please contact Lorna Lee lorna.lee@walthamforest.gov.uk