Community Hires and Events Manager

Description

As the home of cultural innovators, Somerset House connects creativity and the arts with wider society. By merging worlds, minds and talent, it intensifies creativity and multiplies opportunity, driving artistic and social innovation at once. Our creative community is at the heart of our mission, with over 600 organisations based in the building (known as Residents).

The Residents Team manage part of this dynamic, expansive creative network. We foster a mutually supportive community through resident collaboration, digital engagement and facilitated opportunities within our ecosystem and wider networks, our charitable mission, and the wider cultural programme. This ongoing cycle of collaboration and innovation takes young businesses and developing creatives in ever new directions.

The Community Hires and Events Manager will lead on events and venue hires for residents of Somerset House, responsible for delivering a sustainable and high-quality service for our community of over 600 creative businesses. This role will provide artists, freelancers, and creative organisations flexible access to spaces across our busy site. From photo shoots to cultural sector conferences, creative workshops to tech hackathons, you’ll be unlocking opportunities for resident projects and cultural innovation activities that help enable business engagement and development.

As a manager, you’ll be expected to take a lead on the service, setting business development objectives, demonstrating leadership and strategic thinking, measuring impact, recommending budgets, developing marketing plans, making operational improvements, delivering on targets, and ensuring an overall high-quality resident experience.

We’re seeking an experienced event sales and management professional to join our dynamic and creative team. You’ll have a proven track record of selling venue spaces and coordinating events. You’ll be passionate about supporting small to medium-sized creative and purpose-driven businesses.

Experience in the arts and culture sector would be an advantage but is not essential. The Community Hires and Events Manager will be excited by the potential of our spaces and passionate about the contribution your success will make to Somerset House’s charitable and commercial objectives.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy and Business Development

• Lead on the strategic development of the resident community hires and events service, ensuring alignment with Somerset House’s organisational goals and maintaining competitiveness in the creative workspace market
• Cultivate and maintain relationships with resident organisations to foster engagement
• Collaborate with Somerset House departments and onsite operators, ensuring a consistent and joined-up approach to promotion, pricing and delivery of space hires and related services
• Oversee the creation of marketing and promotional assets to enhance visibility and uptake of the resident community hire offer
• Maximise use of the resident community platform and digital channels to promote, manage and streamline hires and events
• Identify and pursue new business opportunities, including partnerships, products, and packages—that deliver added value to residents and Somerset House
• Work closely with the Senior Community Manager to develop and deliver the Community Strategy, taking a lead on relevant areas

Sales and Bookings

• Manage the full sales and booking lifecycle, acting as the main point of contact for incoming resident hire enquiries, converting leads into bookings.
• Conduct and coordinate site visits, space hire tours, sales calls, and planning meetings
• Manage the contractual process from initial quote to final agreement
• Develop and execute targeted sales strategies to increase revenue and optimise space utilisation, including offers and promotions
• Track sales data, maintain accurate financial records, and produce regular status updates and reports
• Review and improve existing sales and booking processes, automating and streamlining processes to ensure a user-friendly customer experience

Event Planning and Delivery

• Oversee all aspects of resident community events planning, delivery and on-site operations
• Supervising events staff, ensuring the team is supported to offer a consistent and high-quality resident experience
• Coordinate with other departments and subcontractors to ensure residents' needs are met, including onsite bars, security, and cleaning teams
• Ensure all events comply with health and safety, licensing, heritage requirements, and GDPR
• Manage all resident queries and resolve any logistical issues

Operations and Finance

• Budget management, including forecasting, analysis, and reporting
• Financial administration including raising sales and purchase orders, debt chasing, and reconciling accounts
• Lead the implementation and optimisation of the event management system (DIESE), driving process improvements and operational efficiency
• Identify potential cost savings and efficiencies, working across departments to create proposals, ensuring a joined-up approach

Evaluation and Impact

• Evaluate the service, setting objectives, creating regular reports, and actionable insights
• Identify and produce case studies demonstrating the broader value and impact of the events and cultural projects supported
• Identify and develop opportunities for added community value or benefit

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

Experience

• Venue hire management, ideally within a workspace and/or creative community
• Sales experience, including making and exceeding financial targets
• Demonstrable events management experience with clients and/or subcontractors to a superior level
• Building and managing strong relationships with clients and meeting customer needs
• Budgetary responsibilities including forecasting, managing P&Ls, reconciling accounts and financial administration
• Management experience either as a line manager or working with project teams
• Experience with Event Management Systems (EMS) or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems

Skills

• Commercial awareness and business negotiation skills
• Marketing and communications skills
• Ability to lead and motivate a team
• Problem-solving skills, with ability to identify and address issues before they arise
• Ability to meet deadlines and take personal ownership to achieve team goals
• IT literate with ability to learn new systems and software quickly
• Evaluation and reporting skills

Benefits

Mental Health & Wellbeing

• Access to our external Employee Assistance Programme (CiC) for free 24/7 confidential advice and support, including up to 6 free counselling sessions per year where needed
• Mental health support and guidance from our in-house trained Mental Health First Aiders
• Hybrid working based on having 3 days in the office per week (pro rata if part-time)*
• Contribution towards eye tests and glasses
• Trust life insurance scheme
• We offer winter flu vaccination vouchers
• dependent on the needs of the role

Holiday

• Enhanced annual leave – 25 days plus bank holidays (pro rata)
• Birthday leave - additional day leave
• Celebration day - to celebrate anything of your choice

Other Leave

• Sick leave – 20 days full pay, followed by 20 days half pay (pro rata & following 3 months service)
• Emergency dependent care – option to use 25% of paid sick leave for emergency care of a dependent (pro rata & following 3 months of service)

Enhanced maternity pay

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Benefits

• 8% employer pension contributions, no employee contribution required* After 3 months
• Option for salary sacrifice
• Season ticket loan
• Cycle to Work scheme

Discounts, offers and free stuff

• The list is endless and includes tickets to Somerset House events and entrance to other London Heritage sites
• Discounts in Somerset House cafes and restaurants
• Discounts with various high street retailers and restaurants
• Discounts to local leisure centres

About Somerset House Trust

Somerset House hosts the UK’s largest and most exciting creative community right in the heart of London, and are always looking for new talent to join our team. We welcome 3 million annual visitors to share our unique combination of cultural events, the creative industries and history. This mix informs and powers our programme and organisational culture, making us a singular, compelling and inclusive place to visit and work.

Somerset House is actively anti-racist and you can read about our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging here. We are working hard to ensure our people, our onsite community and our sector reflect, represent and include all of society.

Our Commitment to Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging:

Where candidates are equally qualified, we will seek to prioritise diversity to help us increase representation across the creative economy and the Trust.

We anonymise all job applications to help avoid discrimination in the initial screening stage of our recruitment process. This reinforces our commitment to focusing on the skills and qualifications of all applications from the start.

We're committed to creating an inclusive recruitment process. Please let us know if there's anything we can do to help you perform at your best. We're open to adjusting our process to accommodate your needs please email people.team@somersethouse.org.uk.

The Trust reserves the right to close a job before its application deadline.

Please only apply if you have the right to work in the UK; the Trust cannot currently offer sponsorships.

And finally.... the use of AI in your application

In your application, we want to hear from you in your own voice about your skills, experience, and how you align with the job expectations and desire to work at Somerset House Trust. All applications are reviewed by members of our team.

While we recognise that AI tools can be helpful for tasks such as research, structuring, or formatting, applications that rely heavily on AI‑generated content can sometimes lack the depth, authenticity, and the individuality we are looking for, and may not be progressed. We therefore encourage you to use any tools thoughtfully and to ensure your application clearly reflects your personal experience, perspective, and voice.