We are seeking a dynamic and knowledgeable Visitor Experience Event Lead to play a key role within the Visitor Experience Team. This is a rare and exciting opportunity for someone with strong leadership to lead the Visitor Experience, Security and Medic Teams during Summer Series and Laughterama.
Somerset House events are fully inclusive safe spaces for any person to participate and enjoy without fear of feeling marginalised, unrepresented, or unwelcome. We particularly welcome applicants from underrepresented backgrounds.
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Lead the team to ensure the highest standards of visitor engagement, crafting a warm and friendly welcome and a vibrant and responsive visitor experience.
- Confidently and efficiently manage large scale events, leading on visitor experience, operations and logistics.
- Ensure teams (e.g. Visitor Experience Assistants and Security) are briefed and have the information they require to deliver a consistent, high-quality service across site.
- Ensure that all areas of the site are always well presented and maintained.
- Deal with customer complaints and feedback and effectively manage challenging conversations to ensure a mutually beneficial solution.
- Support the collection and analysis of visitor feedback. From this, in conjunction with the Senior Visitor Experience Manager and Head of Visitor Experience, make recommendations for improvements.
- Be confident and capable of producing daily event reports.
- Refine operational procedures.
- Monitor and act on factors that enhance or compromise customer experience.
- Be a champion for Access and Inclusion and use this as an integral part of decision making during events.
- Undertake any other duties and responsibilities as may be necessary from time to time to fulfil the obligations of the role.
Departmental Management
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Provide clear, inclusive and consistent leadership to the front of house teams, maintaining a professional and positive team culture.
- Have experience of running Ticket Office and providing operational support of Ticket Office teams.
Operational planning and delivery
- Work closely with Somerset House and external programming teams to advise on visitor experience and operations at the planning stages. Ensure highest standards are achieved for our visitors and that positive working relationships are established with internal and external contacts.
- Operationally deliver events and activities to the highest professional standards, at times managing multiple events at once.
- Ensure effective working relationships between the Visitor Experience department and the wider Somerset House Trust teams.
- Book and manage external contractors including Security, Medics, Catering and Cleaning teams to ensure that the highest standards are maintained throughout. Deal with any issues that may arise with the contractor(s) and make recommendations for any improvement of service.
- Maintain awareness of site wide activity and competing priorities.
- Demonstrate strong judgement under pressure, particularly during live operations or incidents.
- Respond flexibly to unexpected challenges e.g. crowd management, technical issues etc.
- Implement practical, solution focused approaches to operational issues.
- Support communication and coordination across departments.
- Must have experience of working with ticketing systems, preferably Tessitura and have a strong understanding of ticketing and event requirements to advise on planning, capacities and the ticketing offer.
Health and Safety
- Ensure that Somerset House is safe and secure for all visitors, staff and residents, leading on evacuations as required.
- Conduct regular refresher evacuation sessions throughout the year to ensure the Visitor Experience team are confident and able to safely evacuate.
- Work across all Somerset House programming teams to embed emergency procedures, licencing and security knowledge.
- Work closely with our Health and Safety Advisors to ensure best practice throughout the site.
- Ensure incident reporting, disaster management and business continuity procedures are followed appropriately as required.
Experience:
- Experience of the delivery of complex projects and/or events, including leading on visitor experience, operational planning and logistics.
- Experience of managing large scale site-specific projects such as gigs or exhibitions.
- Experience managing teams in a visitor experience or customer service environment.
- Experience working with external partners in operations.
- Previously managed multiple priorities across a complex site.
- Confidently devised and delivered complex briefings to large groups.
- Knowledge of Health and Safety regulations for both the public and staff, with experience of managing onsite evacuations.
- Confidence in liaising and effectively communicating with a wide variety of people.
- A professional manner and appearance and the ability to demonstrate and promote high standards.
Skills:
- Excellent customer service and organisational skills.
- An innovative, calm and efficient approach to problem solving and ensuring strategic aims. Be able to adapt with ease to the changing demands of the operation.
- Strong leadership skills, with the ability to motivate teams to achieve excellence.
- Demonstrable line management experience including HR requirements.
- A confident administrator who is used to working in a fast-paced environment, with the ability to work under pressure and with competing priorities.
- A strong negotiator and communicator with evidence of excellent written, verbal and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to work in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment.
- IT literacy with demonstrable proficiency in MS Office and other related software packages.
- Ability to manage and diffuse difficult situations with a diplomatic approach.
- A commitment and passion for ensuring an outstanding visitor experience to a diverse audience, in line with the Somerset House Safer Space and Diversity and Inclusion policies.
- First Aid qualified (Desirable)
- IOSH (Desirable)
- Personal License Holder (Desirable)
Mental Health & Wellbeing
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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
Discounts, offers and free stuff!
- The list is endless and includes tickets to Somerset House events and entrance to other London Heritage sites
- Discount to local leisure centres
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:
Somerset House is open to all, and we value everyone's unique skills. Somerset House Trust is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to championing equality, diversity, and inclusion in our workplace. We are committed to equal opportunity and encourage applications from all qualified individuals. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, disability, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic background.
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
[email protected].
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.
