Type: Full time position, 42.5 hours per week, with some early morning/late evening work.

Salary: From £35,000 dependant upon experience

Start: ASAP

Apply by 17:00 Friday 7 December by sending your CV and a short cover letter to amelie@villageunderground.co.uk

Here's what they have to say:

We are looking for an experienced Event Sales & Business Development Manager to increase income generation and develop new business opportunities to maximise Village Underground & EartH’s commercial possibilities, which is critical to financially supporting our artistic vision.

The right candidate will have a creative and entrepreneurial approach to income generation and a track record of proactively targeting new and repeat business, selling venues, production and events, and maximising income from those activities. Additionally they will have successful ‘start up’ experience launching new venues or commercial events departments.

Lastly, the right candidate will have experience in setting up commercial partnerships, an understanding of the world of sponsorship and experience in creating commercial packages.

A bit about Village Underground and EartH

Village Underground is a multidisciplinary venue presenting live concerts and electronic music events alongside theatre, performing arts and visual arts. Each year, VU has an attendance of over 150,000 people, stages more than 500 performances and works with more than 1500 artists.

EartH (Evolutionary Arts Hackney) is a multi–arts space for the 21st Century. Programming is broad, global, open and rooted in the highest quality artistic pursuit. We seek to bring together both the leading, rising and other important talents of varied artistic fields under one roof to provide a vital new home for the arts  in London.EartH looks to become a leading light in the city for audiences of all ages and walks of life to meet, listen, watch, dance and enjoy all that artistic endeavour and creativity has to offer.

Both venues play host to commercial events, the revenue of which is put back into the artistic and education programmes.

Roles and Responsibilities:

EartH Commercial Development – ”start up” phase

Having been open for a couple of months, the development and implementation of a commercial events arm, including a sales strategy, for our new venue EartH will be a priority for the post–holder.

● With the Private and Branded Events Manager, develop a creative and ambitious commercial and sales strategy for EartH
● With the Private and Branded Events Manager, develop and implement systems and processes, marketing materials, technical info packages, catering and other suppliers lists, etc.

Strategy and Development - VU and EartH

● With the Private and Branded Events Manager,  develop a creative and ambitious yearly strategy to achieve and exceed budget figures for each financial year, increasing the quantity of quality events and improving the profit margin in events across both businesses.
● Develop a creative and ambitious yearly strategy for partnerships and sponsorship deals.
● Proactively identify appropriate new opportunities for income generation across both businesses.
● Recommend and implement competitive, market–appropriate pricing strategies across the venue hire and programme offer.
● Develop a creative and ambitious sponsorship and commercial partnership strategy.
● With the Private and Branded Events Manager, develop and update a preferred suppliers list for both venues.
● Explore and make recommendations for appropriate sponsorship relationships for specific projects (e.g EartH’s social programme) and create sponsorship packages.
● Develop long term commercial relationships with clients and suppliers for new and repeat business, as well as identifying new opportunities (including sponsorship, partnerships and new markets).
● Support the Private and Branded Events Manager with marketing for Commercial use, by creating and utilising effective sales tools including marketing plans, CRM systems, newsletters, showreels, case studies, event image bank, PR, venue listings and more.
● Develop close working relationships between commercial clients and VU & EartH by communicating news, developments, artistic programme and complimentary tickets.

Venue Sales and Event Management – VU and EartH 

● With the Private and Branded Events Manager, achieve or exceed the agreed venue sales targets for the year.
● With the Private and Branded Events Manager, handle the events sales process; enquiries, data capture, CRM, show rounds, problem solving, upselling, negotiation, costings etc.
● Conduct effective and efficient site visits and handle Commercial enquiries (phone, email, website) with speed, efficiency and professionalism. This will include travelling between both venues, sometimes multiple times a day.
● Maintain relationships and good communication with clients, suppliers and internal staff to ensure the smooth running of events and to provide client solutions to meet their aspirations – being the point of contact for the client.
● Liaise with our experienced production and venue team to deliver an excellent standard of service that exceeds client expectations.
● Be responsible for the timely completion and communication of event production information (get in/out, technical staffing, etc) and other legislative requirements related to commercial events.
● With the Commercial Events Producer, oversee the management by clients of specific events ensuring that health and safety regulations are adhered to at all times.
● With the Commercial Events Producer, handle Commercial Events administration including cost sheets, contracts, event budget and actual figures.
● To upsell our other services and spaces (e.g. bar, catering, AV, The Gallery & The Gallery Wall) to exceed the targeted profit per event.
● To oversee the collection of photos, video and interesting information about VU events for use on the website and social media platforms and a comprehensive image bank of previous VU events.
● To be responsible for securing client feedback about their event and experience of working at VU/EartH, incorporating that information into improving our offer.
● When necessary, attending evening events booked at VU/EartH

Financial Strategy and Administration – VU and EartH

● In collaboration with the Financial Controller and the Private and Branded Events Manager, to produce a monthly sales report of past and future activities, including event budget and actual figures, event P&L and to produce any other reports as required.
● With the Private and Branded Events Manager, to contribute to the setting of those budgets through analysis, recommendations and scoped proposals.
● With the Private and Branded Events Manager, to analyse venue hire figures, interpret trends and forecast future hire volumes in order to achieve increased income targets.
● With the Private and Branded Events Manager, to ensure databases are managed, including enquiries log, sales records and pipeline development, and new information processed in an effective manner.
● With the Private and Branded Events Manager, meeting with the Financial Controller to develop new ideas on how to improve VU and EartH’s potential for profitability.

Required Experience, Abilities and Personal Characteristics

● Experience encompassing event management, venue sales, commercial partnerships, sponsorship and administration.
● Experience of starting up a new venue or commercial events arm, including the strategic and practical on-the-ground sides, as well as financial, technical, legal etc.
● A consistent track record of actively generating new business leads with a strong conversion rate on bookings.
● An ability to shape the events calendar to ensure the optimal balance of commercial gain and artistic programming, handling varied partner’s interests.
● A strong commercial appreciation with effective selling and negotiation skills, including an ability to upsell.
● Knowledge of and experience in dealing with corporate social responsibility contacts.
● Experience of creating and successfully maintaining budgets, with excellent organisational and administrative skills.
● Ability to make continuous improvements to administrative processes.
● Understanding of the many and varied needs of clients and production teams as they work on complicated large scale events.
● Excited about the possibilities of an independent arts organisation and the vital role that the commercial arm plays in delivering high quality arts.
● A creative thinker, able to find solutions to complex problems.
● Willing to work in an unstructured, at times chaotic environment while maintaining a supportive approach.
● A flexible and open communication style with excellent interpersonal skills.
● Dedication to fostering diversity and representation, with a shown ability to work with people from a wide variety of backgrounds.
● IT Literacy – MS Office, inc Excel, Word etc.
● Ability to work some evenings and weekends where necessary.
● DESIRABLE: Knowledge of and experience in fundraising from private/philanthropic foundations.
● DESIRABLE: Experience working with Photoshop/InDesign.

Apply by 17:00 Friday 7 December by sending your CV and a short cover letter to amelie@villageunderground.co.uk