Executive Producer

The Revel Puck Circus; Shoreditch; Hybrid; GBP 42,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Free show tickets

Pension 3% employer contribution

TOIL for evenings and weekends in‑季

Job summary

Revel Puck Circus in London is seeking a dynamic senior operations lead to run day-to-day affairs alongside the senior management team. You will build systems to improve efficiency and the experience for our teams, audiences and participants, while overseeing production and operational decisions.

You will manage the core big top tour, winter projects, and international presentations, with a hybrid work model and occasional travel.

Qualifications

• Big live work experience, outdoors, on tour, or on site.
• Experience holding project budgets of £200k+.
• Contracting artists, venues and landowners with Equity, UK Theatre or ITC terms.
• Led teams across multiple sites and made operational decisions.
• Stays decisive in changing conditions and plans.
• Builds systems to run a multi-site operation smoothly.
• Owns decisions and delivery independently.

Responsibilities

• Lead planning and delivery for the big top tour, winter festivals, and 2028–2030 seasons.
• Build and run production schedules from creation through derig.
• Contract sites, landowners and venues with the Technical Production Manager leading on licences and safety groups.
• Approve fees and contracts for touring and festivals; manage on-site touring leads.
• Lead the on-site team (Company Manager and Technical Production Manager) and report to leadership.
• Build, hold and report budgets for each project and stand; review actuals monthly with finance.
• Ensure each stand is financially viable before contracting; approve spend within delegation.
• Collaborate on artist and crew contracts, insurance and compliance with the Company Administrator.
• Maintain production cost records to support Theatre Tax Relief claims.
• Be the day-to-day lead for councils, landowners, arts orgs, universities, and partners.
• Produce delivery reports for Arts Council England and funders; feed evidence into funding bids.
• Set sales targets and schedule earned-income activities (tent hire and events).
• Manage recruitment and development of freelance teams; conduct regular 1-2-1s.
• Work with CEO/Artistic Director to drive the organisation's vision and growth.

Skills

Big live work

Budget management

Contracting artists & venues

Team leadership

Calm under pressure

Systems thinking

Independent decision making

Job description

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.

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

Job description

• 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
• 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

• 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 spec

• 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

Desirable

• 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

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
• Probation: 6 months

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

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