Corporate development officer

Closing date for applications: 4th August 2025

Salary: £29,000 - £31,000 per annum

Department: Development

Responsible to: Corporate development manager

Contract: Full-time – permanent, 40 hours per week from 10am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, although additional hours may be necessary in order to fulfil the requirements of the post.

Location: The Old Vic, 103 The Cut, London, SE1 8NB

Do you enjoy crafting partnerships and love theatre? Join The Old Vic and help grow the meaningful relationships behind this renowned independent cultural institution.

The corporate development officer is part of the development team, which fundraises for The Old Vic Theatre Company and The Old Vic Theatre Trust, which is a registered charity. Its aim is to raise voluntary funds for the theatre from individuals, companies, charitable trusts and foundations, and fundraising event activity. 

The corporate development officer will aid the corporate development team in maintaining and enhancing member and sponsor relationships through outstanding customer service and stewardship and to offer administrative support on the day-to-day running of the team. Additionally, to play a key role in meeting corporate revenue targets for The Old Vic by managing a portfolio of corporate membership accounts and seeking new business.


Responsibilities

Stewardship & account management

• To act as account manager on a portfolio of corporate members and other agreed relationships; to draft agreements; to provide, track and administrate all the agreed benefits to these clients and deliver outstanding stewardship to secure renewal
• To manage and track the day-to-day delivery of all The Old Vic’s corporate sponsors and members. This includes ticket requests, client events, table reservations, drinks tabs, tours, and site visits
• Build strong professional relationships with all partners and day-to-day contacts, ensuring supporters and their staff are kept up to date with regular news from the theatre
• Lead on seeking approvals on supporter artwork, ensuring branding is in line with the contractual agreements and membership benefits, liaising with the marketing team
• Ensure corporate supporter crediting is correct on the Old Vic’s website, donor wall, programmes and production assets
• Coordinate employee volunteering opportunities and content creation for Take the Lead, liaising with the education and community team
• Work with the corporate development team and wider organisation to collate evaluation reports for corporate supporters, including top tier partners’ quarterly meeting reports

New business

• To work with the head of corporate development and corporate development manager on cultivating new business by identifying new prospects, presenting a strategic commercial offer, making independent approaches, and tracking new business outreach
• Identify and deliver mid- and long-term partnership plans for our supporters to retain them over multiple years. You will also look to identify and deliver opportunities for income growth for supporters across other areas of corporate partnerships (sponsorship, ESG, training)
• Keep abreast of skills and information across all the fundraising sector to contribute to overarching departmental aims and financial targets
• Create proposals, decks, and associated budgets for new business opportunities
• Lead new business approaches through networking at events, meetings, phone calls, and pitches to secure support
• Keep abreast of skills and information across all the fundraising sector to contribute to overarching departmental aims and financial targets

Research, database & communications

• Undertake research on current and prospective corporate sponsors and members, writing prospect profiles and updating supporter/prospect details on Tessitura, The Old Vic’s database
• Carry out benchmarking research of corporate giving within other venues and keep up-to-date research on The Old Vic corporate supporters’ giving elsewhere
• Manage all corporate ticket requests on Tessitura, making bookings and processing payments
• Draft supporter communications, including event invitations, season announcements, and priority booking periods
• Manage corporate sponsor marketing and content plans and lead on communications related to partnership activations
• Design feedback surveys for corporate training days, compiling and sharing feedback to facilitators and clients, ensuring positive feedback is tracked to be used on future proposals
• Ensure corporate supporter crediting is correct on the Old Vic’s website, donor wall, programmes and production assets

Internal and external events

• To liaise with the head of events, events manager and clients to deliver client, cultivation, and internal events for the corporate team at the highest standard
• To support the corporate development manager in arranging corporate training events through contracting and facilitator communications
• Represent The Old Vic at corporate training events and ensure participants have a great experience on the day, in collaboration with the events manager
• To oversee all catering arrangements, ticketing, seating plans, and sourcing of training materials for all corporate member/sponsor/training events, working closely with the events manager
• To design, draft and send all invites, manage and respond to RSVPs, sending joining instructions to appropriate guests in advance of each internal event and recording attendance on Tessitura
• To create event guest lists and compile briefing notes for guests attending internal events
• To oversee the design and timely delivery of programme wraps for sponsor events, liaising with The Old Vic’s design team, external printers, and the client
• To attend and assist at regular supporter events, taking an active role in event delivery and networking with guests, with additional hours as necessary

Corporate development administration

• To support the corporate development manager and head of corporate development in implementing departmental strategy and diversifying of income streams for The Old Vic
• To contribute to the compiling of projections, budgets and business plans in relation to the corporate team
• To offer administrative support on the day to day running of the corporate team including some diary management, meeting set up, arranging couriers, and taking minutes at meetings as required
• To conduct diligent financial administration for the corporate team, including: tracking and coding corporate development expenditure, tracking income, raising invoices and ensuring they are paid in a timely manner, and processing recharges
• To draft facilitator agreements for corporate training activity
• To carry out any other duties as reasonably requested by the head of corporate development and corporate development manager

General

• To work closely with the wider team to ensure that the best possible systems and processes are in place
• To maintain an electronic and physical filing system with meticulous upkeep and organisation of corporate records and correspondence
• To represent The Old Vic appropriately – taking a professional approach to presentation and communication with corporate partners, the wider business community, peer organisations, and internal team
• To comply with The Old Vic’s equal opportunities, sustainability and health & safety and staff handbook policies at all times

This is not an exhaustive list of duties and the theatre's management may, at any time, allocate other tasks which are of a similar nature or level.


Knowledge, skills and experience

• Administration and events experience
• Good knowledge of the principles of fundraising and stewardship
• Prospecting and research experience
• Outstanding organisational skills
• Excellent written and verbal skills and ability to network confidently
• Fully computer literate: word processing, spreadsheets, database, internet, and email
• Adept at adapting to new environments and prioritising tasks to meet deadlines
• Ability to build and maintain strong relationships with clients and internal stakeholders at all levels of seniority
• Ability to work effectively within a small team and on own initiative
• Resilient, flexible, and discreet
• Well-motivated and proactive

We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the creative industries.

Please state in your application that you found this role through Creative Access.