Location: St Pancras
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time (36 hours)
Grade: SB2
About the role
The Director of Commercial will play a pivotal leadership role within the organisation, supporting the Library to build on and further grow our portfolio of commercial services. The postholder will take a strategic approach to our commercial partnerships across all our income generating services and champion sustainable growth on sales of British Library products and services while increasing and leveraging brand awareness.
Working closely with the senior leadership team, the successful candidate will oversee all commercial operations and identify new revenue opportunities. You will provide inspirational leadership for the teams - including Brand Licensing, on/off-site Retail, E-Commerce, Publishing, Image sales, International Brand licensing, Box Office, [Commercial] events, ticketing, tours, Membership, Catering and Customer Services.
You will have a track record of delivering commercial success within the cultural sector together with financial expertise supporting achievement of ambitious sales and margin targets. In addition, the candidate will demonstrate experience in leadership and delivering cultural change within a culture that is open, honest and responsive.
You will be at the heart of celebrating the Library’s Vision and developing a strong ‘One BL’ brand and identity, which galvanises communities, attracts people to the library and makes us an influential voice with the cultural sector.
About us
We are the national library of the UK and we are here for everyone. Our shelves hold over 170 million items – a living collection that gets bigger every day. Although our roots extend back centuries, we aim to collect everything published in the UK today, tomorrow and far into the future. Our trusted experts care for this collection and open it up for everyone to spark new discoveries, ideas and to help people do incredible things.
What we can offer you
-
25 days’ holiday plus 2.5 privilege days.
- Access to a defined benefit Civil Service pension scheme.
- Flexible working arrangements, including flexi-time.
- Full details of employee benefits can be found on our Careers: Benefits
Things you need to know
We are unable to provide sponsorship under the UK Skilled Worker visa for this role.- Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check (DBS check).
- Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn.
- We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse candidates and disabled candidates. Creating an inclusive workplace is the core of our business and a way to engage the diversity of thought that is essential to achieve our aims.
Closing at 23:59 on Sunday 21 June 2026
