Estates Director

Royal Ballet and Opera; Greater London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A renowned performing arts organization is seeking an Estates Director responsible for the management and maintenance of its historic properties in London. The successful candidate will lead infrastructure improvements while ensuring compliance and safety. This role requires strong leadership in a multi-site environment, excellent communication skills, and a commitment to sustainability. The deadline for applications is March 5th, 2026, and applicants must have the right to work in the UK without agency involvement.

Qualifications

• Experience managing a large estate and understanding MEP infrastructure.
• Proven leadership skills in a multi-site organization.
• Commitment to sustainability and energy efficiency.

Responsibilities

• Ensure effective management of the estate and maintenance compliance.
• Collaborate with the Executive team on strategic development.
• Drive performance, innovation, and manage concurrent projects.

Skills

Active listening

Communication

Negotiation

Advocacy

Budgetary understanding

Education

Professional engineering or building qualifications

Job description

Prior to commencing your application, please review our application guide here.

The Royal Ballet and Opera continues to lead the way in opera, ballet, music and dance both live on stage and through multiple digital platforms, from live streaming to worldwide cinema screenings. Our Covent Garden theatre has been at the heart of London and British cultural life for three centuries. We are home to two world‑class companies: The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera.

The Estate of the Royal Ballet & Opera comprises three buildings: the main site in Covent Garden includes a 2,200+ seat theatre dating from 1858, and redeveloped stage and newly developed rehearsal rooms, dressing rooms, workshops offices and ancillary spaces dating from a large‑scale capital project completed in 1999, and a second theatre and refreshed front‑of‑house spaces delivered via the Open Up project in 2018. The RBO’s Production Workshop and Costume Centre are located in Thurrock, Essex and a 14,000m² store in Aberdare, Wales.

We are now seeking an Estates Director to provide technical expertise and insight into the organisation’s Masterplan for the next 8‑10 years – supporting the transition to new infrastructure & technology. They will also effectively lead the department responsible for ensuring our buildings are maintained, safe, compliant and safeguard RBO’s demanding operation.

As a member of the Executive team the post holder is expected to ensure day‑to‑day management of the Estate whilst contributing to the strategic development and resilience of the organisation in collaboration with other Executive team members. Therefore, the successful candidate will need to be collaborative, strategic and hold an influential approach with staff, artists, Trustees, contractors and statutory bodies.

Skills

We are seeking a candidate with excellent active listening, communication, negotiation and advocacy skills and confidence in producing reports and papers for a range of stakeholders. They will demonstrate empathy for the demands of an Estate which is both a workplace for staff and artists and a public Grade 1 listed building, juggling practical demands on the Estate with future planning and development. They will be:

• A professionally qualified engineer/building professional, or able to demonstrate proven competence through practical experience. Practical understanding of MEP infrastructure and technology.
• Able to demonstrate experience of managing and developing an estate with the ability to drive innovation and identify opportunities alongside an understanding of their practical implementation within a demanding daily operation.
• Committed to the sustainability agenda in relation to building operations and energy efficiency.
• Numerate with strong budgetary understanding and control.
• Able to demonstrate experience in a leadership role in a large or multi‑site organisation with an ability to drive performance and innovation. Confident people management skills to ensure the team has the requisite skills and knowledge and are competent and supported through training and coaching to achieve consistently high standards of performance.
• Able to manage a wide portfolio of concurrent tasks and projects with demonstrable experience of translating strategic objectives into estate operations and development.

The Royal Ballet and Opera is one of the UK’s leading arts organisations and our aim is to inspire imagination, ignite emotion and make the extraordinary for everyone. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion underpin all that we do. We want our people to be representative of the diversity in the UK. We understand the creativity and innovation that diversity can bring and strive to create an inclusive environment in which everyone can thrive.

We encourage applications from people with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences and skills to join our teams. We particularly welcome applications from those who are from a global majority background and/or those who are disabled, as they are under‑represented within our organisation.

We are a Disability Confident Employer, which means that we are actively working to ensure that candidates with disabilities and long‑term health conditions feel supported, engaged and able to fulfil their potential in the workplace. We will endeavour to offer an interview to candidates who tell us they wish to participate in the scheme and who demonstrate in their application that they meet the essential criteria for the role, though sometimes due to the volume of qualified candidates with declarations this is not possible.

The RBO is also committed to safeguarding and protecting all children, young people, and adults and we implement robust safer recruitment practices. Due to our safeguarding promise, certain roles will be subject to a DBS check before commencing employment with us, which will be indicated in the advertising.

Job Description

A full job description can be found here.

For more information about working with the Royal Ballet and Opera, please review the info pack here.

For a list of potential reasonable adjustments, please review this guidance document. If you have any access requirements for your application, please contact the RBO Recruitment Team on [e-mail].

If you are applying as an internal candidate, you might find this guidance document helpful.

Closing date for applications: 11:59pm, Thursday 5th March 2026.

To ensure a fair process, late applications will not be considered under any circumstances.

Applicants must have work authorisation for the UK. No agencies.