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Duty ManagerCandidate Pack

The Place at Night, photograph by Benedict Johnson

About The Place

The Place is the UK’s premier contemporary dance centre, based in central London. Since its inception in 1969, The Place has been a driving force for contemporary dance in the UK and Europe and one of the world's key resources for dance development. It has pursued a global vision for a world with more dance and is a world-leading centre of artistic excellence, creating an ecosystem for dance unlike any in the world. 

The Place offers conservatoire education and training through London Contemporary Dance School; a busy programme of boundary-pushing performances in our theatre supported by innovative audience development activities; an extensive professional artist development programme; a growing producing and touring house; and learning and participation opportunities for all ages and skill levels. The commitment to artistic development underpins a portfolio of residency, workshop, training and commissioning projects for professional artists from the UK and the rest of the world. Our reputation in the field of contemporary dance reaches beyond the borders of the UK. 

As an organisation, The Place is involved in the entire lifecycle of dance – from education and training to the creative process that leads to new ideas and conception of new work, through to its creation, production and performance. 

Our mission...Powering imagination through dance 

We do this by fostering a learning culture which promotes innovation, deep human connections and critical thinking; by developing dance opportunities which span a lifetime and by creating experiences through dance that make us more alive. 

The Place receives funding as an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. Annually, it commissions over 45 professional artists and supports over 100 artists. In addition, the theatre and artist development team present over 120 performances to audiences in excess of 25,000 in London with 77,000 audiences reached nationally and internationally through the touring programme. There are over 2,000 learning and participation sessions with engagement from 6,000 pupils from local schools, whilst there are over 30,000 participation sessions primarily for adults, via the highly popular evening and weekend programme of classes and courses.  

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Visitor Services TeamCasual Front of House Roles

The Place is London’s boldest dance theatre and studio space. We have a regular programme of dance theatre, classes, courses and external hires.

We present a year-round theatre and participatory programme of the best in contemporary dance from Britain and around the world, from emerging companies to internationally acclaimed and established artists.

Our Visitor Services department is comprised of a variety of different roles and many of our casual staff perform multiple roles. The roles are Building Duty Manager, Theatre Duty Manager, Reception staff, Box Office Staff, Bar Supervisor and Front of House Assistant.

Our team is the first point of contact for all visitors to The Place. We provide a welcoming and efficient environment and are responsible for visitor satisfaction, answering any enquiries and dealing with all box office and front of house sales. We also keep our visitors safe during their visits and each role takes on specific responsibilities during evacuations, invacuations and first aid incidents.

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Duty Manager

Job Description

The Duty Manager leads the Front of House, Box Office and Reception team members on duty in delivering exceptionally high customer service standards to the public, internal departments and visiting companies. They manage and oversee the operation of The Place Theatre and other areas of the building for performances, events, functions and other activity.

Duty Managers are responsible for ensuring that all licensing and health and safety requirements are met during their shifts and should be able to work independently to ensure the smooth running of activity across the building.

Reporting to: Visitor Services Manager and Assistant Front of House Manager

Responsibilities of the Duty Manager:

Health & Safety and Licensing: Ensure that the Front of House areas (Theatre Bar, auditorium, main foyer etc)

always adhere to the venue’s premises licence and comply with statutory guidance in Health and Safety, food hygiene and emergency procedures

Ensure the auditorium is safe for the admission of the public, undertaking regular patrols of the premises and ensuring that evacuation routes are clear

Lead on and be fully aware of evacuation procedure for the Theatre, Duke’s Road and Flaxman Terrace sides of the building

In the event of a fire, act as Senior Fire Marshall on-site, liaising with the security team (if present) and other members of the Visitor Services Team on duty, giving instructions and regular briefings, and monitoring the safety and security of the building.

Administer First Aid as required, ensuring that all accident and incident reports are completed

With the Security Officer, ensure the building is locked up and that all members of the public and performance staff have left.

Support the Receptionist with alarm operation and investigate potential issues (Panic/Fire/Intruder Alarms)

Report maintenance concerns/requests to the Facilities Manager or in their absence to the Technical Department

Complete Front of House reports Supervise/direct the use of evacuation chairs Provide support for any Safeguarding or Prevent issues Act as first point of call for any operational issues, for example, lift operation issues

Customer Service: Manage the Visitor Services team members on duty during shift, effectively

delegating responsibilities to them to ensuring a welcoming environment across the building at all times

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Encourage healthy levels of communication, offering information and assistance about the organisation’s facilities and features where necessary to customers, staff and visiting companies

Take an active role in welcoming those with access needs to the building ensuring any specific needs they have are met

Ensure the presentation of the public facing areas is of an exceptional standard, ensuring all Front of House, dining and service areas are clean and well presented for evening activities and public performances

Be knowledgeable in the operation of the till system, PDQ machines and the ticketing (Spektrix) and bookings systems (Artifax), troubleshooting issues and taking payments as required.

Ensure that studios are correctly set up for specific external hire requirements Monitor studio usage- i.e use of shoes, photo/video, cleanliness, maximum

capacity, sound levels and back-to-back bookings Deal with complaints/issues and forward to the correct Programme

Manager/Director

Stock-keeping: Ensure stock records are accurate; informing the Visitor Services Team of any line

items running, wastage or complimentary drinks and snacks.

Sales/Income Generation: Report sales activity back to the Theatre Management Team highlighting popular

items and suggestions from customers and team members. Be able to advise customers and team members on Theatre Bar’s stock, including

wines and spirits. Promote and maximise sales via upselling and cross-selling, offering interval and

post-show drinks when appropriate. Be responsible for taking a headcount, and tracking attendance, of attendees on

our Classes and Courses Programmes

Financial Procedures: Be responsible for the reconciliation, monitoring and control of all monies within the

Theatre Bar, Box Office and Reception. Maintain our cash handling procedures, ensuring the security of staff whilst cashing

up and the safe transport and storage of floats and takings Monitor staff performance in regard to our cash handling procedures taking

necessary steps to investigate and resolve any inconsistencies.

Staffing Support: Facilitate breaks for the Visitor Services teams where required Support the Visitor Services teams in finding staff cover where necessary. Provide advice and training to casual staff Ensure that employee time sheets are correctly completed at the end of each shift

and signed off.

Other: Attend training sessions as required by the Visitor Services Manager

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Remain familiar with the organisation’s theatre programme and other facilities, in order to converse with customers in an informed and confident manner.

Assist in the promotion and advocacy of The Place at all times. Any other duties which may reasonably be requested from time to time, as specified

by the Theatre or Senior Management Teams.

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Person Specification

Essential Desirable

Experience of supervising within a theatre or arts venue Front of House environment

Previous experience of Duty Management

Experience of evacuation procedures within a customer focused environment

Knowledge of Spektrix Ticketing System and Artifax Event Booking system

A combination of experience of working in a licensed bar, box office and/or Reception environment

Valid Personal License

Cash handling, excellent numeracy skills and till working

Experience of stock taking

Ability to work under pressure Understanding of Health and Safety

Ability to lead and work as part of a team Experience with meeting sales targets

Good communication & problem-solving skills

Experience managing large-scale events

Knowledge & enthusiasm for the arts Ability to prioritise and delegate

Aged 18 years or older in order to be able to serve alcohol without supervision

Knowledge & enthusiasm for contemporary dance

Able to commit to working regularly on evenings and weekends

First Aid Qualification

Friendly and approachable individual

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Salary, Hours of Work and Benefits

SalaryThe salary is £10.00 per hour plus holiday entitlement of £1.21 per hour. Holiday entitlement is accrued and paid out 4 times per year in non-working weeks.

Contract Terms and HoursThe Visitor Services team work across the building 7 days per week, working hours normally fall between Monday-Saturday with occasional Sunday work required.

Duty Managers must be prepared to work evenings and weekends and should be able to commit to a minimum of one weekend shift per month. During shifts, Duty Managers are expected to remain on-site and contactable at all times.

Shifts are assigned on a monthly rota and we operate a minimum shift call time of 3-hours. We endeavour to confirm the rota one month in advance, although additional shifts may be negotiated within this period.

Shift frequency varies from month to month and there may be times with far fewer shifts available across the team, for example during the summer. Extended time away from the role can also be negotiated.

The notice period for the position will be one month.

BenefitsThe Place operates an auto enrolment pension scheme, this has a variety of contribution levels for both employee and employer. Staff receive subsidised café and bar prices, and we run a weekly subsidised staff yoga class and a staff choir.

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Applications and Interviews

How to ApplyCompleted applications should be returned to jobs@theplace.org.uk by 12 noon Mon 25 Nov 2019.

Equal OpportunitiesThe Place is committed to equality and diversity and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

In accordance with our Equal Opportunities Policy, we ask that each applicant complete our Equal Opportunities Monitoring form, this can be accessed here. Monitoring information is collected and processed separately to applications, if you do not wish to disclose this information please return a blank monitoring form.

InterviewsInterviews will be held w/c 2 Dec at The Place.

The Place is an equal opportunities employer and we are keen to ensure everyone applying for employment has an equal experience when attending an interview. Should you have any queries about, or wish to make us aware of, any support required to attend an interview or to work at The Place or would like this pack in alternative format please contact Laura Naldrett, HR and Administration Manager who will be happy to discuss this with you in confidence on 020 7121 1002 or email: laura.naldrett@theplace.org.uk

We apologise that we are unable to respond to every application individually. If you have not heard from us by one month after the closing date, please assume that your application has been unsuccessful.

Thank you for your interest in The Place.

Nov 19

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