Executive Producer

Revel Puck Circus; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 42,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Free tickets

Pension 3%

28 days holiday

Job summary

Revel Puck Circus seeks a senior manager to run day‑to‑day operations alongside the artistic director, building systems to improve efficiency, team experience, and audience impact.

You will oversee producing and delivery, budgeting, contracts, and partner relations across touring and festivals, with hybrid London presence and regular travel.

This permanent role requires experience with large-scale live shows, budget ownership, and leadership across multi-site teams; probation after 6 months.

Qualifications

• Experience producing live work at scale (outdoor/tour)
• Budget ownership for large projects (£200k+).
• Contracting artists, crew, venues; knowledge of industry terms (Equity/UK Theatre/ITC).
• Leadership of multi-site teams and freelance staff.
• Calm decisiveness in changing plans or bad weather.
• Ability to build and maintain complex systems for operations.

Responsibilities

• Lead planning and delivery for the big top tour, winter festivals and seasons.
• Build and run production schedules from creation through derig.
• Contract sites, landowners and venues; lead on licences and safety groups.
• Approve fees and contracts for touring/festivals; manage on-site leads.
• Lead the on-site team (Company Manager, Technical Production Manager).
• Budget planning, reporting and monthly actuals with finance.
• Produce delivery reports for Arts Council England and funders.
• Develop relationships with councils, landowners, arts organisations and partners.
• Recruit and develop freelance teams; ensure clear production schedules.

Skills

Live production

Budget management

Contracting

People leadership

Calm under pressure

Systems thinking

Independent decision making

Touring experience

Job description

5 days a week, or 4 pro rata for the right person

London

Shoreditch office, hybrid working

The basics

• Responsible to: Artistic Director & CEO
• Line manages: Company Administrator, Technical Production Manager, Company Manager and freelance project teams
• Key relationships: Artists and touring teams, Senior Marketing & Communications Manager, our external bookkeepers, the Board, councils, landowners, funders and partner organisations
• Salary: £42,000 to £48,000 a year, depending on experience
• Contract: Permanent, with a 6-month probation
• Hours: Full time, 5 days a week (we'll consider 4 days a week, pro rata, for the right person). Evenings and weekends in season, taken back as TOIL
• Location: London (Shoreditch office), with hybrid working. Regular visits to our tour, plus networking and industry events, with some international travel
• Start: December 2026 or January 2027 if possible. For the right person we can potentially wait
• Deadline for applications: 10am, Monday 16 November 2026

About Revel Puck Circus

Revel Puck Circus exists to redefine circus's place in public perception and to revolutionise our sector. We tour world-class, original work in our own venues to audiences and communities who are often underserved. For us, temporary structures and site‑specific work are a political act: they democratise cultural experiences and remove gatekeepers and access barriers to the arts. The company is led by founder and artistic director Luke Hallgarten, and was launched in 2019 through Waltham Forest, London Borough of Culture. In 2026 we're projected to sell more than 90,000 tickets across our seasons, from the big top tour to Edinburgh, private events and our winter festivals.

Our 2026 big top tour ran 211 shows and sold 50,757 tickets, and Theatre Weekly named us Best Circus at the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe. Alongside the tour we run winter festivals across London, take our shows to venues at home and abroad, and hire out our big tops through Studio Puck.

In 2027 we take a new big top show on a 220‑performance UK tour, with local skills development built into every stand, and in the winter we'll produce and deliver three festive circus venues in London. Revel Puck Circus is a not‑for‑profit social enterprise and a member of the Association of Circus Proprietors, and we're currently preparing our application to Arts Council England's 2028 to 2033 National Portfolio round.

The role

We're looking for a brilliant individual to run Revel Puck Circus day to day alongside the rest of the senior management team. You'll be the person who makes it happen, and you'll know how to build systems that keep improving how efficiently we work and the experience our teams, audiences and participants have as a result.

The job is half producing and half running the company. You'll set up the systems we use, manage the people who deliver the work, and make the operational calls, working closely with our Artistic Director & CEO, who leads on artistic vision, strategy and new projects.

Alongside our core big top tour and winter projects, a mix of work comes in through the year, from private events and tent hires to regional touring and international presentations, which you'll help us schedule and deliver.

We're a small core team that grows to 30 to 60 freelancers in season, and everyone mucks in.

This is not a touring role. You'll be based between the office, home and our show locations, and dip into our sites a fair amount for key moments in each run. Show days and site work mean some evenings and weekends in season, which you take back as TOIL.

Producing and delivery

• Lead planning and delivery for the big top tour, the winter festivals and the 2028 to 2030 seasons
• Build and run production schedules from creation through to derig, including the Stratford creation period
• Contract sites, landowners and venues, with the Technical Production Manager leading on licences, event management plans and Safety Advisory Groups
• Approve fees and contracts for touring and festival companies (around 30 people on tour, around 60 across winter), which our Company Administrator issues and tracks
• Lead our on‑site team: the Company Manager and Technical Production Manager are our touring leads on the ground, and report directly to you

Money, contracts and compliance

• Build, hold and report on the budget for every project and stand, delegating production budget lines to the Technical Production Manager and checking actuals monthly with our finance team
• Make sure every stand is set up to succeed financially before it's contracted
• Approve spend within agreed project budgets, up to the limit in our scheme of delegation
• Work with the Company Administrator on artist and crew contracts (Equity and UK Theatre terms), insurance and compliance
• Keep the production cost records that support our Theatre Tax Relief claims

Partners, funders and venues

• Be the day‑to‑day lead for councils, landowners, arts organisations, universities and community partners on each stand
• Hold the relationship with partners and funders for the tour's skills programme, which the Company Manager and our Front of House & Community Engagement Manager deliver on site
• Produce delivery reports for Arts Council England and other funders, and feed evidence into funding bids
• Agree sales targets and pricing for each stand with our Senior Marketing & Communications Manager, and schedule earned‑income work (tent hire and events) into the year

People

• Line manage the Company Administrator, Technical Production Manager and Company Manager, including approving leave, TOIL and absence
• Recruit, develop and look after our freelance teams, with regular 1-2-1s
• Make sure every stand has a clear production schedule and site plan before the company arrives, with the Technical Production Manager

Company

• Work closely with the Artistic Director & CEO to continue the success of the company's vision and growth
• If our NPO application is successful, play a key role in delivering the agreed outputs and reporting, and in the continued success of the organisation

General

• Be an advocate for Revel Puck Circus and its work, and play an active part in the life of the company
• Follow company policies at all times, including equal opportunities, safeguarding and health and safety
• Undertake other duties that fit the role, as reasonably required by the Artistic Director & CEO

Person specification

• Big live work. You've produced live work at scale, outdoors, on tour or on site: circus, festivals, outdoor arts, events or immersive work
• Budgets. You're comfortable as the main holder of project budgets of £200k or more. You build budgets, track them, and say no to spend that breaks them
• Contracts. You're confident contracting artists, crew, venues and landowners, and you know Equity, UK Theatre or ITC terms (or can learn them fast)
• Leading people. You've led teams and owned operational decisions, including for teams working across several sites
• Calm in a storm. You stay decisive when the weather turns or the plan changes
• Systems thinker. You build the systems that keep a complex, multi‑site operation running smoothly
• Independent and solution focused. You don't wait for someone else to lead or to solve the problem: you own the decisions and the delivery
• Arts Council England funding and reporting
• Outdoor event licensing and Safety Advisory Groups
• Community or participation projects, including safeguarding young people
• Touring experience: you know what life is like on the road and understand what the team needs

Employment terms

• £42,000 to £48,000 a year depending on experience, permanent
• A pay review at the end of your 6‑month probation
• 28 days' holiday including bank holidays
• Workplace pension with a 3% employer contribution
• Hybrid working, with TOIL for evenings and weekends in season
• Regular time with our Board, and a real say in shaping our 2028 to 2030 seasons
• Free tickets to our shows for you, your friends and family

Notes to applicants

This is a guide to the nature of the work. It is not exhaustive, and may be reviewed with the post holder from time to time.

This role needs the right to work in the UK and an enhanced DBS check, because it oversees placements that may include young people.

If you can do this job but don't meet every point in the person specification, we'd still like to hear from you. We value lived experience and non-traditional routes into the industry as much as formal training.

We don't ask about current or past pay. We only take up references after an offer, and never without your permission.

All applicants must be eligible to work in the UK. If you need an adjustment at any stage, or would like to apply in another format, email [e-mail] with "Access" in the subject line.