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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 Customer Experience Manager to help shape the next phase of the visitor experience, ensuring every customer receives a warm welcome and a consistently high-quality experience.
Working closely with colleagues across both the Cliffs Pavilion and Palace Theatre you will lead and support teams across our bars, events, coffee shop, new restaurant and wider front-of-house operations, creating a positive, inclusive and professional culture where excellent customer service thrives. You will play a key role in establishing the new restaurant into the venue's customer offer and ensuring a seamless experience across all front of house services.
We welcome applications from candidates with experience in food and beverage operations and from those who have built successful careers in other customer-focused sectors. 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 high-volume customer-facing environment, we are looking for someone with a proven track record of leading large teams, delivering outstanding customer experiences, motivating people to perform at their best and using customer insight to drive continuous improvement
Commercially savvy and enthusiastic, you influence others by leading from the front. You are a visible and hands-on leader with broad knowledge of theatre, events, and food and drink operations within a highly commercial environment.
You are energetic, resilient, proactive, and results-focused, bringing a creative, self-motivated, and engaging approach to leadership. As a dynamic leader, you motivate teams to perform at their best.
You have experience in other retail or hospitality sectors, with a strong understanding of how these transferable skills apply within a fast-paced, customer-driven live entertainment environment.
You are driven by improving profitability and operational efficiency, supported by strong commercial awareness and sound decision-making.
You have a strong customer service ethos and a genuine commitment to delivering an excellent experience at every opportunity.
You thrive in a large corporate organisation and demonstrate strong leadership skills, with the ability to support and manage large teams while consistently delivering results.
You communicate with professionalism and confidence, maintaining an excellent manner when dealing with the public, colleagues, stakeholders, and industry partners.
You are adaptable to changing business needs and remain calm, focused, and effective in fast-paced, high-pressure environments.
You have proven experience in people management, including recruitment, appraisals, training and development, workforce planning and deployment (rotas), 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
Customer Experience Manager
Location
Southend Theatres
Annual Leave
33 days per annum (incl public bank holidays)
Salary
£34,000 to £41,000 per annum
Job Description
Download a full Job Description (https://policies.trafalgar.global/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/JD-SOU-Customer-Experience-Manager-July-2026.pdf)
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