Resident director - New Work

Closing date for applications: The closing date for the receipt of a completed application is Friday 25th September 2026 at 9:00am

Salary: £32,250 per annum pro rata (£16,125 for the 6-month contract duration)

Location: London

Build your experience as a director while working closely with actors, creatives, agents and the National Theatre’s Casting Department.

The National Theatre’s mission is to make world-class theatre, for everyone.

We are looking for  a Resident Director to join the National Theatre's New Work team on a 6 Month Fixed Term Contract.  This role is part of the NT’s development opportunities for early to mid-career directors and offers the opportunity to deepen and broaden the director’s knowledge of actors working in the UK today. The role is embedded within the New Work department and casts all workshops and play readings, dealing directly with actors, creatives and agents, and liaising closely with NT’s Casting Department. The position offers directors a direct insight into how leading creatives develop their projects, particularly through the casting lens.

What you'll be doing

This is primarily an administrative role where the Resident Director supports the activity of the New Work Department, printing scripts, creating contact sheets and making general preparations for incoming work, but there is creative engagement through reading, attending sharings and connecting with the projects that we are developing for our stages and taking part in the artistic conversations within the department.

The successful candidates will have the following:

• Demonstrable experience casting artists from all different backgrounds, and a commitment to keeping performers from historically underrepresented backgrounds visible and valued in the casting process.
• A good working knowledge of actors from different disciplines and with different abilities, including those with established theatre careers who may be working in leading roles around the country.
• Excellent organisational skills including the ability to work calmly under pressure. Knowledge of how to prioritise, multitask and to deliver work accurately and with attention to detail while respecting confidentiality and acting with discretion.
• A commitment to being a theatre director, with experience of having directed professional productions in studio and fringe venues over a number of years accruing a demonstrable body of work. (By professional we mean having had a 2-3 week public run with a paid creative team and company).
• Broad experience of working professionally as an Assistant and/or Associate Director on a range of scales of productions.

If that sounds like you, then we would love to hear from you!

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

Please make sure that you state in your application that you found this role via Creative Access.