Department/Team: Theatre Operations

Responsible to: Head of Building Operations

Contract: Permanent

Location: The Old Vic, 103 The Cut, London, SE1 8NB

Hours: Full-Time, 40 hours per week, on a shift pattern to be determined but within the hours of 08.00-22.00 no more than 40 hours per week Monday-Sunday 

Additional hours may be necessary in order to fulfil the requirements of the post.

Salary: In the region of £35,000 per annum, depending on experience

Direct reports: 2 x Building Operations Technicians

Benefits

• Enhanced annual leave, starting at 25 days per year, increasing by one day per year up to 30 days (plus bank holidays).
• Opportunity to switch statutory bank holidays to mark a religious event or festival
• Complimentary tickets for you and a guest to Old Vic preview productions
  
• Discretionary invite to Press Night performances and parties
• Free therapy from our therapy partner Self Space
• Mental health support via our in house Mental Health Champions
• Enhanced employer pension contributions with The People’s Pension
• Festive day – one discretionary additional paid day off around the festive period for a collective pause
• Time to volunteer – one day per year to support a charity or project of your choosing
• Commitment to learning, education and development
• Enhanced sick pay
• Access to interest free travel schemes including Cycle 2 work and Season Ticket loans after your probation period
• Family friendly policies and enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption/shared parental pay
• All staff social events
• Staff discount in Penny and The Old Vic bars as well as discounts in local bars and restaurants
• Opportunities to get involved with staff clubs and working groups such as the Inclusion Working Group
• Buddy schemes including New Starter and Parental buddies to support your induction and return to work after parental leave
  
  Role Summary
  The Theatre Operations Team are collectively responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the building day-to-day. The Building Operations Manager will provide hands on practical support and is integral to the upkeep of The Old Vic’s historic Grade II listed building and facilities. The role has responsibility for maintaining a safe and well-kept building, delivering and planning regular maintenance and planned preventative maintenance, including arranging and overseeing contractors.
  
  Your Team
  Operations Director, Head of Building Operations, Building Operations Manager, Building Operations Technicians, Head of Front of House Operations, Operations Administration Manager, Operations Administration Coordinator, Front of House Operations Coordinator, Bar Operations Manager and Health, Safety & Compliance Manager.
  
  In addition, the role will work closely with the Theatre’s Hard FM external contractor who are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the Theatre’s Hard FM infrastructure.
  
  Areas of responsibility
  The Building Operations Manager will be responsible for:
  
  Building Management
  • Undertaking a range of maintenance and fabric tasks to aid the upkeep of our building.
  • Creating and managing the rota for the Building Operation Technicians and themselves to ensure that there is coverage from a member of the team as required in line with building activity (6 days a week, 08.00-22.00 as standard with additional coverage required outside of this on an ad hoc basis).
  • Practical maintenance of our auditorium space, including auditorium seat repairs and numbering, and change overs as required.
  • Monitoring and responding to all requests including radio requests for Building and Facilities related tasks.
  • Taking receipt of deliveries and assisting with moving equipment and assets around the organisation's premises.
  • Preparing spaces, equipment, furniture, and the format of rooms ready for use.
  • Operating the Building Management System – for which training will be provided.
  • Working with the Head of Building Operations to plan and manage continuous maintenance and improvement of the building and the annual maintenance programme.
  • Maintaining a system of logging maintenance and repair requests from all departments.
  • Prioritising and coordinating all work/repair requests in a timely manner.
  • Supporting with business continuity incidents as required such as plant failure and access issues, working swiftly to achieve a solution.
  • Acting as a keyholder and Out of Hours Emergency Contact, responding as required.
  • Providing day to day support and supervision to the Building Operations Technicians including the allocation of work to ensure timely repairs and completion of PPM.
  • Programming the BMS and other systems according to the weekly building operating schedules.
  • Working collaboratively with The Old Vic’s third-party Facilities Management company.
  
  Contract Management
  • Monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) for building operations, ensuring targets are consistently met or exceeded.
  • Overseeing service level agreements (SLAs) with contractors and suppliers, ensuring compliance and addressing any underperformance.
  • Managing soft service contracts such as waste disposal, cleaning, pest control, window cleaning.
  • Supervising external maintenance contractors when working on site, providing site inductions at the start of their work(s), and ensuring that they adhere to our safe working policies and procedures.
  • Liaising with the cleaning supervisor to ensure high standards of hygiene and cleanliness are maintained throughout the building and offices. Liaising on cleaning schedules and working with the cleaning contract manager on day-to-day requirements.
  
  Health & Safety
  • Ensuring equipment is compliant though appropriate testing or inspection (for example LOLER, ladder inspections, PAT testing) – for which training will be provided where required.
  • Preparing method statements and risk assessments for in house works, ensuring these are reviewed when required, taking account of changes in legislation and best practice.
  • In respect of COSHH, producing and reviewing inventories and risk assessments and maintaining data sheet records.
  • Assisting with fire, health & safety and any other relevant training for staff and contractors as required.
  • Carrying out any log specified building, H&S, environmental, and accessibility checks.
  • Maintaining up-to-date knowledge of current and new safe working practices and adhering to them.
  • Undertaking Fire Marshall duties during evacuations and performing evacuation duties were required.
  • Acting as a First Aider and attending refresher training courses when required.
  • Actively participating in the management, administration and implementation of the building's health and safety policies and procedures.
  • Setting an example as a strong leader in health & safety and its practical application in all areas of work - and encouraging a culture of responsibility for H&S throughout the organisation.
  • Acting as Deputy Responsible Person in relation to Legionella Management.
  
  Environmental Sustainability
  • Assisting the Head of Building Operations and Operations Administration Manager with longer term objectives, such as the goal to reduce energy and carbon emissions, by identifying any patterns or practices that could be improved.
  • Actively promoting and encouraging recycling and energy and water efficiency around the building.
  • Ensuring environmental consideration forms part of all maintenance and facilities decisions.
  
  This is not an exhaustive list of duties and the Theatre's management may, at any time, allocate other tasks which are of a similar nature or level.
  
  Person Specification
  Essential
  • Strong knowledge of UK building regulations, health and safety standards, and fire safety requirements.
  • Experience in monitoring KPIs and managing SLAs for operational performance.
  • Relevant qualifications, such as: Technical qualifications (e.g., City & Guilds, NVQ) in building services, plumbing, or electrical systems.
  • A strong facilities and/or building management background with at least three years working experience
  • Previous experience of working within a theatre or large multi-purpose building with public-facing premises
  • Experience in effective building management, including planned preventative maintenance (PPM), reactive repairs, testing/inspections, and waste management
  • Understanding of basic health & safety principals
  • Experience of carrying out basic building maintenance tasks
  • A good understanding of the safe and effective use of power and hand tools
  • Able to multi-task, identify priorities and prioritise tasks with competing demands.
  • A positive ‘can do’ approach and strong relationship building skills across departments.
  • A flexible team player, with the ability to work proactively and autonomously, as well as part of a team.
  • Able to use common sense, initiative, apply pragmatic solutions and seek improvements
  • IT literacy, with good experience of the Microsoft Office suite and Excel in particular. (Training will be given on software programs as required.)
  
  Although not essential, it would be useful should the candidate have
  • IOSH Working or Managing Safely Qualification.
  • Legionella Responsible Person Training

How to Apply

We understand that everyone is different and we want you to apply in whichever way you feel best shows your skills and experience. There are a range of ways that you can apply with us:

• 1. Sending a short video file of yourself (no longer than two minutes in length), detailing your experience, why you are applying for the role and what about working at The Old Vic interests you (have a look at the person specification in the job description).
• 2. Sending a short audio file of yourself (no longer than two minutes in length), detailing your experience, why you are applying for the role and what about working at The Old Vic interests you.
• 3. Completing our application form.
• 4. Uploading your CV and covering letter, explaining why you are interested in the role and working at the Old Vic.

As a Disability Confident employer, The Old Vic has made a commitment that all applicants with disabilities who meet the essential criteria for this job will be invited to interview. However in the event that we have a high volume of applications all of whom meet the criteria and identify as disabled, meaning it is not practicable to interview everyone, we may apply a weighting to the shortlisting criteria, or add an additional shortlisting stage before any interviews take place. In all cases we will take care to ensure that any criteria or weightings do not disadvantage disabled applicants.

All appointments are made subject to satisfactory references and proof of eligibility to work in the UK. 

The Process

The recruitment process for this role will be two stages:

• 1st stage virtual conversation
• 2nd stage in person conversation
• You may be asked to complete a work based skills assessment or challenge.

The closing date for this role is 31 March 2025. First Conversations are likely to take place w/c 7 April 2025.

Equal Opportunities

We actively support and encourage people from a variety of backgrounds, experiences and skill sets to join us and help shape what we do. We are particularly keen to receive applications from people of the global majority, LGBTQ+, neurodiverse and disabled candidates.

We may take positive action, in cases where candidates are equally qualified, to increase the employment of under-represented groups at The Old Vic.

In the event that we ask you to attend the theatre for a conversation and you are struggling financially, we may be able to reimburse you for any reasonable travel costs.

We partner with a range of inclusive organisations, to find out more please read our FAQs. 

FAQs

Read our recruitment and selection and equal opportunities FAQs here.