Assistant Venue Manager

Comic Enterprises Ltd; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 30,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus after 1 year

28 days annual leave

Job summary

The Glee Club in Birmingham is seeking an Assistant Venue Manager to lead on event days, supervise bar, floor, kitchen and technical teams, and ensure safe, high-quality guest experiences. You will act as the face of the venue, drive revenue, and uphold standards across all departments.

The role requires a background in live entertainment or hospitality management, strong people skills, and the ability to manage rotas, costs and supplier relations while maintaining excellent customer service.

Qualifications

• Personal Licence holder.
• Education to degree level.
• History of people management.
• Good verbal communicator.
• Attention to detail.
• Experience in dealing with the general public.
• Sound decision making / problem solving / information processing ability.
• Ability and enthusiasm to drive sales.

Responsibilities

• Duty Management of events, coordinating stakeholders and ensuring legal compliance.
• Plan and schedule staff across multiple-show nights and maintain operational efficiency.
• Line manage heads of department (bar, floor, kitchen, tech, security & box office).
• Write rotas in line with budgets and expenditures.
• Forecast weekly sales revenue and contribute to budget planning.
• Complete and submit accurate wage and payroll entries.
• Purchase and stock control to meet GP targets.
• Recruit and train casual staff and handle customer feedback.
• Act as DPS to ensure legal venue operations.
• Adhere to OH&S procedures and support marketing collaboration.
• Work with management to continually improve systems and processes.

Skills

People management

Staff scheduling

Budgeting

Customer service

Attention to detail

Public interaction

Decision making

Sales drive

Education

Degree level education

Job description

Established in 1994, our award-winning venues have been hosting events for over 30 years, including comedy, music, drag, podcasts, talks/Q&As & spoken word. Described by The Guardian as "enormously well-regarded", we pride ourselves on a commitment to excellence & innovation in live events.

We are committed to diversity and inclusion, and are keen to attract people of different backgrounds, perspectives and experiences. We particularly encourage applications from historically underrepresented communities for all roles. Just like our venues are designed for everyone, so is our workplace, and we work hard to create an inclusive culture for everyone.

Position Information

Salary £28k-30k pa - dependent on experience and suitability for role.
Bonus scheme available after 1 years' service - dependant on performance.
This role is on a full‑time contract of up to 48 hours per week, subject to successful completion of a 6 month probationary period (please note weekly hours will fluctuate seasonally with demand).
28 days annual leave per year - none to be taken in November or December.

About The Glee Clubs

Originally the first purpose‑built comedy venue outside London, Glee Birmingham was the original venue in the group and is one of the most respected venues of its type in the world, setting new standards in entertainment and hospitality. Glee Clubs are the market leader in comedy clubs and are building a notable reputation in music, cabaret and other special events. A slowly growing business, The Glee Club aims to gradually expand into the leading mid‑sized entertainment venue business in the UK.

Glee Birmingham is a multi‑venue, multi‑bar operation with 3 distinct spaces. Our main room has a capacity of 400 seated/600 standing, and is open every Thursday, Friday and Saturday for our weekly comedy nights, as well as being available to hire to some of biggest names in comedy, music, drag, cabaret and spoken word. The studio is a smaller space for 150 seated, and is regularly hired for shows by upcoming musicians and comedians, often for their first solo toured shows. The

downstairs Lounge Bar is our third space and is a room with potential for growth in the coming years, as well as continuing to provide a meeting space for our customers before they attend our shows.

Summary of position and key attributes

The Assistant Venue Manager is a broad and varied role that shapes and supports all aspects of our live event operation. As a keyholder, and the line manager to the Heads of our bar, floor, kitchen, box office and technical departments you will be managing everything on an event day, and meeting the needs where necessary of the touring party & promoter, as well as venue staff and contractors. When the doors open you are the Duty Manager, and face of the venue to our customers, all while ensuring revenue targets are met and the experience is the safest it can possibly be.

The ideal candidate would have previous experience in a supervisor or management position in a live entertainment venue, or a bar and restaurant environment, with a history of driving revenues and improving the customer experience. They would be a strong problem solver who can think clearly and calmly on their feet and under pressure, as well as being a people manager who can assess our staff, talk to them with understanding and motivate them effectively. A passion for live comedy and prior knowledge of the UK comedy industry would also be beneficial, but not essential.

Main objectives of the role

• As the Duty Manager you will always have one eye on the operation of our event nights, ensuring standards of customer service, bar and food spends are as high as possible, without compromising on safety or the quality of the event we are hosting.
• Similarly, working alongside the Heads of Department, you will collaborate with them and research ways to improve our operations, our revenue streams and our safety record.
• One of the most important functions is to write the weekly rota for all our casual staff, which is a careful balancing act of different types of shows, audience profiles, opening and close times, staff availability that requires attention to detail.
• As the Assistant Manager, cost control across the business is a vital function of your role. Through control of the rotas you will especially manage our expenditure on wages, but you are encouraged to seek opportunities to make savings in any and every area you feel possible, including purchasing.
• Once established in the role, you will be a trusted and respected manager to all our staff, who can correctly identify the right time to intervene and when to let the staff work under their initiative. You will also be an early point of contact for any ideas or concerns they may have.
• Create a welcoming environment for all acts, promoters, staff & customers, to ensure their experience is a positive one and that events are run to a high standard.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Duty Management of events, including working alongside all stakeholders, to deliver each event to the satisfaction of the promoter, our customers, police, licencing and the venue owner.
• Being responsible for planning and scheduling staff on multiple‑show nights and ensuring the venue operation is efficient and effective in such circumstances.
• Line management of heads of departments - bar / floor / kitchen / tech / security & box office.
• Writing rotas and deployment of staff for event shifts, in line with agreed budgets and expenditures.
• Helping to forecast sales revenue on a weekly basis.
• Completing and submitting accurate wage and payroll entries.
• Purchasing and ordering stock, and working with external stock takers to ensure GP's are met.
• Checking deliveries into the club and inputting onto relevant systems.
• Recruitment and training of casual staff.
• Responding to customer feedback and complaints.
• To act as 'DPS' for the Venue and on these occasions to ensure that the venue operates in accordance with its legal responsibilities.
• Working to agreed operational and H&S procedures and being responsible for our operation meeting these standards during event hours.
• To co‑ordinate and implement with the Marketing Department all internal / external marketing of all events to include the planning and placement of local advertising if required.
• Working with the Venue Manager, Operations Manager and the SMT to continually improve and develop systems.

Desired Skills and Qualifications

• Personal Licence holder
• Education to degree level
• History of people management
• Good verbal communicator
• Attention to detail
• Experience in dealing with the general public
• Sound decision making / problem solving / information processing ability
• Ability & enthusiasm to drive sales

The above is not an exhaustive list of duties and you will be expected to perform different tasks as necessitated by your changing role within the organisation and the overall business objectives of the organisation.

Life at The Glee

Just like our venues are designed for everyone, so is our workplace. We know that we can't possibly serve our diverse audiences without first nurturing and celebrating it in our people and that's why we work hard to create an inclusive culture for everyone. We want the different perspectives, increased creativity and higher innovation that comes from diversity.