Customer Experience Manager

Nottingham Playhouse is looking for an exceptional Customer Experience Manager to lead our Front of House and commercial operations — ensuring every visitor receives an inclusive, welcoming and high-quality experience, while also driving strong commercial performance.

This is a key leadership role within our joint Operations and Commercial team. Reporting to the Head of Commercial & Operations, you will shape the end-to-end customer journey across all public-facing touchpoints, champion outstanding customer service, and lead our Customer Experience team to deliver excellent and consistent standards.

What you’ll do

• Lead and develop a high-performing Customer Experience team across Front of House and Food & Beverage
• Act as Duty Manager for performances and events, ensuring safe, smooth and compliant delivery
• Drive income generation and commercial growth through F&B and other customer-facing activity
• Oversee operational systems, processes and performance management
• Champion inclusion, access and environmental sustainability across customer-facing operations
• Act as Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) ensuring licensing compliance

What we’re looking for

You’ll bring strong leadership experience in a busy customer-facing environment (ideally theatre/events/venue operations), alongside a passion for delivering brilliant service.

You will have:

• Duty management and Front of House management experience
• Strong knowledge of Food & Beverage operations (ordering, stock control, driving sales)
• Confidence managing budgets, staffing and cost control
• Experience recruiting, training and motivating teams
• A proactive, calm and professional approach, especially under pressure
• Commitment to inclusion, access and sustainability
• Flexibility to work evenings, weekends and bank holidays as required

Contract details

Contract: Permanent, full-time

Location: Nottingham

Salary: £30, 000 to £32, 000 p.a. (depending on experience)

About You:

We are looking for an ambitious, proactive and people-focused leader with strong operational experience and a passion for delivering excellent customer service.

You’ll bring proven Front of House and duty management experience, ideally within a theatre, event, or similarly high-footfall venue environment. You will be confident leading teams, managing busy public-facing operations, and delivering service that is consistently inclusive, welcoming and efficient.

You will also have a strong commercial mindset — able to drive performance and income through Food & Beverage and other customer-facing trading areas — while ensuring that systems, controls and staffing remain robust and financially sustainable.

With excellent communication and organisational skills, you’ll be calm under pressure, confident in handling customer feedback and complaints, and motivated by continuous improvement. You will share Nottingham Playhouse’s commitment to inclusion, sustainability, and creating a workplace culture that supports and develops its people.

What You Will Do:

Lead the visitor experience:

• Champion and deliver outstanding customer service at every touchpoint, ensuring Nottingham Playhouse is welcoming, inclusive, safe and enjoyable for every visitor.

Manage Front of House and Duty Management:

• Oversee all Front of House and show operations, including show readiness planning, staffing, team briefings, and acting as Duty Manager for performances and events (including press nights).

Drive Food & Beverage and commercial performance:

• Optimise Food & Beverage operations, identifying opportunities to grow income, improve margins, reduce waste, and enhance the offer through seasonal and show-based initiatives.

Develop and inspire your team:

• Line manage the Assistant Customer Experience Manager, Supervisors and wider Customer Experience team — leading recruitment, inductions, training programmes, performance management and rota planning.

Champion access and inclusion:

• Support the continuous development of Nottingham Playhouse’s access and inclusion provision, working collaboratively with colleagues, access groups and internal initiatives such as the Anti-Racism Action Group.

Embed strong systems and procedures:

• Ensure effective use of venue and operational systems (including Spektrix, Yesplan and RotaCloud), maintain accurate reporting, and champion consistent operational standards.

Ensure safety, compliance and licensing standards:

• Lead Front of House risk assessments, evacuation procedures, and show-based security planning. Act as DPS ensuring compliance with relevant legislation and the premises licence.

Support sustainability goals:

• Be the FOH and F&B lead for environmental sustainability practices, contributing to Nottingham Playhouse’s action plan and wider commitments including Theatre Green Book principles.

What You Will Bring:

• Proven experience of successfully leading a team to deliver exceptional customer service (ideally within theatre/events/venue operations)
• Duty Management and Front of House management experience
• Strong knowledge and experience managing Food & Beverage operations (stock control, ordering, driving sales)
• A strong commercial mindset with experience improving income generation and performance
• Financial confidence, including budget management and cost control
• Experience in recruitment, training, rota planning, and people management processes
• Strong understanding of health & safety compliance, evacuations and security protocols

Why Join Us?

You’ll play a vital role in shaping the future of Nottingham Playhouse, supporting an organisation that champions creativity, community and inclusion. You’ll join a warm, collaborative team, with the flexibility to work both onsite and remotely.

REF-226 435