Company Description
Liverpool Philharmonic enhances and transforms lives through music.
At the heart of our work is the critically-acclaimed Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (the UK’s oldest) and Choir; an extensive programme of participatory work with young people and others across our community; and presentation of almost 400 concerts and events each year at our home, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.
Liverpool Philharmonic is rooted in our city.
We are central to Liverpool’s cultural offering, being the largest music organisation and one of the largest cultural organisations in the city, employing over 240 people. As well as our work in Liverpool our Orchestra represents the city with performances and broadcasts across the UK and around the world.
The city’s young people are a central focus of our work. Our In Harmony programme provides an intensive, daily music-making programme for over 1750 children in Everton and Anfield, North Liverpool, and we run more than 5,000 workshops and events in community settings for all ages across the City. The Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Company provides a range of opportunities for music making for young people, including the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Choir, Children’s Choirs, and Rushworth Young Composers programme. We work in partnership with several Liverpool NHS Trusts delivering programmes which support people in the Liverpool city region living with a range of mental and physical health needs.
Liverpool Philharmonic is committed to diversity and inclusion.
We work hard to reach right across our community through our learning work, and concert programme.
We attract world class artists to perform at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and our small venue, Music Room, with a diverse programme of performances ranging from classical, contemporary, rock, pop, folk, roots, and jazz to comedy, film and spoken word. We work with many organisations and cultural partners in the City to ensure that the artists and performances we put on stage, and the audiences we attract truly represent our community.
And we are working hard to ensure that our workforce is a diverse as possible.
Position
What is the role?
- Title:Â Event Manager
- Department:Â Performance and Learning
- Location:Â Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Music Room and external where required
- Responsible to:Â Head of Visitor Experience
- Responsible for:Â Stewards
- Contract:Â Full time, permanent
Principal Role
Liverpool Philharmonic’s Event Management team are responsible for the operational delivery of our events and other activities, along with holding Incident Control of our buildings, leading our initial response to any incident or emergency situation that may arise. You will lead our Stewarding and Security teams at events, ensuring that high standards of visitor experience, customer care and safety are maintained at all times. You will work closely with visiting artists, hirers, event promoters / organisers and with our own musicians, ensembles and departments to ensure that events are delivered in line with company standards.
You’ll be highly confident in working with members of the public, including responding to queries, complaints and managing incidents where people’s behaviour may be challenging. You’ll be proficient in your understanding of health and safety legislation, specifically in relation to live events and also passionate about ensuring that everybody has a safe experience.
You will have experience of managing a team of staff, including recruitment, staff development, motivation and performance management.
Key Responsibilities
- To act as an Event Manager across the events and activities programme at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Music Room and at external venues. This includes working with our own orchestra and ensembles, external hirers, concert promoters / tours and artists to ensure that their requirements are met, and events are delivered to a high standard following company procedures.
- Management of Stewarding and SIA security teams at events and liaison with internal teams, holding ultimate decision-making responsibility on the ground at events.
- To lead by example when on duty and to present an immaculate face of the organisation to our visitors – both off and on stage.
- Delivery of comprehensive briefings at events, ensuring that all relevant pertinent to the efficient running of the event is agreed and communicated effectively to relevant parties.
- To take responsibility for artist liaison when delivering events ensuring key front of house details and operations are agreed and delivered – including artist riders, room set ups, running times, audience behaviour policy, meet and greet events and visiting company briefings on emergency procedures.
- To respond to queries, complaints, or incidents when on duty, ensuring that these are managed in line with company policy. This may include people engaging in disruptive behaviour, under the influence of alcohol or whose views or opinions differ from your own. You will be required to directly respond to and lead in such situations.
- To work with the Head of Visitor Experience in the implementation of emergency training plans and departmental risk assessments, including major incident and crowd management – and to proactively encourage a safety-first culture within the team when on duty.
- To act as Incident Controller on a rota basis, holding operational control for the site, leading in the event of an incident taking place.
- To act as one of our first aiders, responding to incidents where required.
- To maintain a working knowledge of building layout, services and facilities systems to a level commensurate with your responsibility as Incident Controller and Duty Manager (such as heating, air handling, lifts, CCTV, emergency alarm panels etc).
- To ensure that our space set up standards are maintained in both front and back of house areas. This will involve setting up spaces and moving of furniture, equipment and chairs prior to and after events.
- To be a key holder for Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and the Friary, with responsibility for opening and securely closing the buildings when required.
- To maintain a working knowledge of our ticketing system, rota system and event planning system. This will include the processing of ticket sales.
- To ensure that departmental financial documentation is completed accurately, and procedures are followed. This will include coordinating confectionary / merchandise sales at events and completing provisional event cost reconciliations for event organisers and promoters.
Stewarding Team
- Line management of the Stewarding team, ensuring that standard operating procedures are implemented, reviewed, and updated where required. This will include undertaking staff appraisals and other HR processes. This is a shared responsibility with other Event Managers.
- To devise and implement performance management systems for Stewards to ensure they work to the highest standards.
- To support the Head of Visitor Experience in the induction of new Stewards and in the ongoing training and development of existing staff.
- With fellow Event Managers, to complete Stewarding rota, ensuring that operational staffing requirements are met within agreed budgets / working time directives for casual staff and to complete weekly payroll submissions where required.
- To support the Head of Visitor Experience in continual professional development of the team, including coaching of staff and delivering training.
Other Responsibilities
- To work the Head of Visitor Experience to promote a safety culture in the department.
- To ensure company health and safety policy and procedures in your area of responsibility are effectively implemented and that all departmental safety documentation is completed accurately.
- To complete the processing of weekly payroll for Stewards and Stage Door Receptionists when required.
- To supervise the Stage Door Reception team when acting as duty Event Manager, ensuring cover is maintained the staff perform to required standards and to hold an understanding of Stage Door operations.
- To be proactive in identifying to the Head of Visitor Experience areas of our operations for review or improvement, such as safety or income generation opportunities and to support in the ongoing implementation and delivery of company policy and procedure.
- In addition, the post-holder may be required to undertake other reasonable duties commensurate with their status and abilities and depending upon the requirement of Liverpool Philharmonic.
Requirements
The successful candidate is likely to be able to demonstrate the following:
Knowledge and Experience
Essential
- Demonstrable experience of working in a managerial capacity leading a customer-facing team – ideally in a live performance venue.
- Demonstrable experience working in a live performance or events venue, ideally within the live music / concerts industry.
- Able to successfully manage multiple priorities and meeting varying deadlines.
- Pro active about health and safety in the workplace, with a sound working knowledge of fire safety, risk assessments / safety management systems, crowd management and dynamics, incident response and management and event security.
- An understanding of licensing regulations for entertainment venues, their implementation and implication on operations.
- Experience of cash handling and reconciliation, especially card payment systems.
- Experience of first line management, including performance management, leading training and development/
- The ability to physically move items of furniture, including chairs, tables and other event equipment to ensure that spaces are set up / struck correctly.
Desirable
- Experience of building / facilities management, including site control responsibilities, opening / closing of buildings and emergency procedures.
- An awareness of current and future legislation affecting the live events industry, including the Protect Duty, ACT awareness and general awareness of how we can keep staff and visitors safe.
- Qualifications such as IOSH Managing Safely, NEBOSH General Certificate, or other evidence of professional development.
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- A confident communicator and negotiator, able to successfully take the lead in responding to challenging situations to achieve a positive outcome. This will include scenarios where people’s behaviour may be disruptive, they may be under the influence of alcohol or have views / opinions which differ to your own.
- Passionate about providing the best possible experience for artists and audiences.
- Pride in personal presentation, with a drive to ensure our events run to consistently high standards and that the team work collaboratively to achieve this.
- Competent in the use of MS Office suite, including Word, Excel and Outlook.
- Able to communicate effectively to both individuals and large groups and to influence / negotiate situations for the best possible outcomes.
- The ability to work with a high degree of flexibility, to include weekends and long hours where necessary and to travel to work at times when public transport is not available.
Desirable
- Experience of staff rota and management software and an understanding of payroll, HR systems and working time directives.
Other information
Key Information
- Salary: £30,388 per annum
- Employment type:Â Full time / permanent
- Hours of work:Â 42.5 hours per week, including break agreement. These hours are annualised over a rolling 17-week period and will be allocated on a rota. The postholder will be required to work regular evenings and weekends according to business need. Shifts will regularly start or end during hours where public transport is not in operation. Shifts vary and there is not a set weekly pattern. It is essential that the postholder can commute to and from work for such shifts without a reliance on public transport.
- Holidays:Â 26 days (pro-rated) plus bank holidays
- Place of Work:Â Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Music Room and external venues where required.
Applications are due 12 noon on Tuesday 10 September 2024. No applications will be accepted after this time.
Short-listed candidates will be invited to attend an interview at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on Tuesday 17th September 2024.
What benefits are offered?
Pensions
Access to a Group Personal Pension Scheme whereby employees are auto enrolled and can enjoy employer contributions.
Training and Development
We offer a dedicated training and development fund to support the growth and progression of our employees.
Service Awards
Employees are provided with additional time off and cash incentives at various long service milestones.
Complimentary staff tickets
Complimentary staff tickets are available, and employees are encouraged to attend events.
Health Cash Plan
Following two years’ service you will have access to a health cash plan with an external supplier. This provides cash back towards everyday healthcare bills and a range of other wellbeing benefits.
Discounted Staff Parking
Access to reduced price parking (subject to availability) in car park operated by Liverpool Philharmonic for employees who choose to drive in to work.
Rail services
Access to the Mersey travel Season Ticket enabling the cost of annual season ticket to be spread over a period of 12 months.
Cycle to work
Cycle to Work Scheme that offers discounts on a bike and accessories, with the cost spread over a period of 12 months.