Commercial Development Consultant

The Music Works; Gloucester; Hybrid; GBP 18,000 - 22,000; Part time

Job summary

The Music Works is seeking an experienced commercial development consultant to scope and test viable income streams for a Gloucestershire charity. You will assess assets, market opportunities, and craft a clear strategic plan to inform potential future employment in commercial leadership.

The engagement is primarily remote, with visits to Gloucester and Forest of Dean hubs as needed, a fixed-term 3-5 month contract, and a £20,000 fee inclusive of expenses.

Job description

The Music Works is a Gloucestershire charity that transforms young lives through music. We’re specialists in working with young people in challenging circumstances to help them reach their full potential in music, in learning and in life. We work with over 3,000 young people a year in schools and our four community studios in Gloucester, and the Forest of Dean. Our approach is youth-led, with young people involved at every stage of planning and delivery.

Here is an introduction to our work:

About the role

Despite holding significant commercially viable assets, The Music Works currently generates a very small proportion of its income through traded commercial activity. For the purposes of this engagement, commercial income means earned income from trading only, covering areas such as facility and Music Bus hire, training and consultancy, and similar fee-based services.

We are looking for someone to do the essential scoping work, to rigorously assess what we have, what the market will bear, and what a realistic commercial development strategy looks like for an organisation of our size, mission and sector context. The output will directly inform our longer-term commercial development activity and provide the foundation for a potential future employed commercial role.

We are asking someone with deep commercial development expertise to help us understand what is genuinely viable, set out a clear strategic plan, and leave us with the tools and confidence to execute it.

The engagement will be considered successful when the final report gives the Board and Leadership Team sufficient evidence and clarity to decide which income streams to invest in, at what pace, and whether and when to create an employed commercial role to lead that work.

Location Primarily remote, with visits to Gloucester Hub and Forest of Dean Hub as required.

Duration Fixed-term 3-5 months agreement (deliverables based) to the scope of work.

Fee £20,000 (fixed, inclusive of all expenses and travel, and inclusive of VAT where the appointed consultant or consultancy is VAT registered.)

Reports to CEO & Artistic Director

Closing Date Sunday 18 October 2026

Open to individual consultants or consultancy firms.