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At the heart of Southend-on-Sea’s cultural life are the Cliffs Pavilion and the Palace Theatre - two iconic venues united by a shared passion for live entertainment.
With the Cliffs Pavilion’s refurbishment project nearing completion, this is an exciting time to join the Southend Theatres team. We are looking for a Duty Manager to play a key role in delivering exceptional customer experiences across our venues, helping to ensure every visitor receives a warm welcome and a consistently high-quality experience.
Working across both the Cliffs Pavilion and Palace Theatre, you will lead front of house operations during performances and events, supporting teams across our bars, events, coffee shop, new restaurant and wider customer-facing services. You will be responsible for ensuring the smooth day-to-day running of the venues, maintaining high standards of customer service, safety and operational excellence, while creating a positive and inclusive environment for both customers and colleagues.
We welcome applications from candidates with supervisory or management experience in customer-focused environments. You do not need to have worked in a theatre or arts venue to be successful in this role. Whether your background is in hospitality, retail, leisure, visitor attractions or another fast-paced customer-facing setting, we are looking for someone who leads by example, remains calm under pressure, makes confident decisions and is passionate about delivering outstanding customer experiences.
You are customer-focused and commercially savvy, with a strong working knowledge of theatre, events, or food and drink operations. You are comfortable operating in a highly commercial environment within a large corporate organisation.
You thrive in busy, fast-paced, and multifaceted settings, with the ability to think on your feet and positively influence the success of events and overall business performance.
You demonstrate a strong customer service ethos and a genuine commitment to delivering an excellent experience—consistently and without compromise.
Flexible, energetic, and resilient, you are results-focused and motivated by driving profitability and operational efficiency.
You communicate with professionalism and confidence, maintaining an excellent manner when engaging with the public, colleagues, stakeholders, and industry partners.
You adapt well to changing business needs and remain calm, focused, and effective under pressure.
You have proven experience in operational people management, including training and development, workforce deployment and rota management, and performance management.
Co-founded by Sir Howard Panter and Dame Rosemary Squire in 2017, Trafalgar Entertainment is a premium international live entertainment business focused on new productions, venue ownership, Performing Arts education, theatre ticketing, the distribution of live-streaming innovative content and the provision of great theatres where people can come together to share in the experience of live entertainment. TE is home to Trafalgar Theatres, The Chiswick Cinema, Trafalgar Theatre Productions, Trafalgar Releasing, Trafalgar Tickets, Stagecoach Performing Arts, Drama Kids/Helen O’Grady Drama Academy, ticketing company London Theatre Direct, Stagedoor, Jonathan Church Theatre Productions, and Imagine Theatre.
Trafalgar Theatres is the venue-operating division of Trafalgar Entertainment (TE). We currently operate 21 venues; including the Trafalgar Theatre in London’s West End and the Theatre Royal in Sydney. We’re growing fast, we’re confident in what we do, and we’re ambitious about the future. There’s never been a better time to get onboard.
We are passionate about entertainment, audiences, and the live experience and we value Creativity, Collaboration, Excellence and Respect.
- Discounted theatre tickets
- Training and development plans
- Hundreds of savings across retailers with TE&ME
- Access to mental health resources
Eligibility criteria applies
Position Title
Duty Manager
Location
Southend Theatres
Annual Leave
33 days per annum (incl public bank holidays)
Salary
£26,800 to £32,900 per annum
Job Description
Download a full Job Description (https://policies.trafalgar.global/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/JD-SOU-Duty-Manager-July-2026.pdf)
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