Senior commercial operations manager

Closing date for applications: Wednesday 25th March 2026 23:59

Salary: £56,600

Location: London

Lead the strategy and day-to-day running of Southbank Centre’s vibrant outdoor restaurants, markets and seasonal pop-ups.

Southbank Centre, the largest arts centre in Europe and the UK's 5th most visited attraction, is at the heart of London’s cultural life. Spanning 11 acres, this iconic venue offers a diverse range of great art and culture, bringing people together through unforgettable experiences. From internationally renowned artists to emerging talent, Southbank Centre provides a platform for creativity to flourish. Its impressive facilities include the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Hayward Gallery, National Poetry Library, and the Arts Council Collection.

We are currently looking for a Senior Commercial Operations Manager to join our Commercial team on a permanent full time contract. You will lead the strategic planning and operational delivery of the Southbank Centre’s vibrant outdoor commercial estate, overseeing a diverse portfolio of restaurants, a weekly food market, and seasonal pop-ups. You will be responsible for enhancing the reputation of Southbank Centre as a destination by ensuring commercial operations are delivered to consistently high standards, aligned with organisational values and visitor expectations.

Key responsibilities

• To oversee all operations for our outdoor commercial portfolio, ensuring the seamless delivery of our restaurants, food markets, and seasonal & ancillary pop-ups hitting targets.
• To provide effective, inclusive leadership and line management of the Commercial Operations team, creating a positive, high-performance and collaborative culture where accountability, capability and continuous improvement are embedded.
• To develop and drive entrepreneurial activity to the benefit of Southbank Centre, maximising operator and supplier relationships and identifying opportunities and collaborating with other departments.
• To lead the delivery of commercial change, including operator transitions, refurbishments and compliance-led improvements, ensuring business continuity and income protection.
• To ensure our outdoor estate consistently delivers a world-class visitor experience, aligning commercial operations with the Southbank Centre’s core values and reputation.

Knowledge, skills and experience

• Proven experience delivering complex commercial operations within high-footfall, multi-site environments, with accountability for income, compliance and performance.
• Experience leading teams and coordinating cross-functional stakeholders, including but not limited to commercial, property and legal colleagues, to deliver operational and contractual outcomes.
• Proven delivery of restaurant openings, refurbishments, transitions or closures within live hospitality environments, managing risk, continuity of trade and reputation.
• Strong practical understanding of food and beverage operations, including food safety, licensing, planning and front-of-house/back-of-house requirements.
• Strong financial acumen, including budget management, forecasting, financial risk assessment and tracking of project budgets and milestones.
• Ability to manage complex, fast-paced change programmes with material commercial impact, balancing competing priorities and making sound decisions under pressure.
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders, operators and partners while maintaining control in high-pressure environments.

Benefits

As well as working at one of London's most popular and exciting sites the successful candidate will also benefit from the following:​​​​​​​

• A min 5% pension contribution (going up to 9% depending on employee contribution), from day 1 of employment
• 28 days annual leave, plus bank holidays
• Hybrid working model depending on operational requirements
• Enhanced sick pay
• Enhanced family leave benefits
• Up to 30% discounts at onsite retail, food and beverage vendors
• Staff ticket offers for SC events
• Free entry to Hayward Gallery
• Free/discounted entry with other reciprocal organisations
• Free staff yoga

Please download the attached Job Description for a full overview of this role's responsibilities.
If you are viewing on a job board, please paste the following URL into your browser to find the original advert: careers.southbankcentre.co.uk

The annual salary stated is based on the Full-Time Equivalent (40 hours per week). If the job is part-time, the weekly hours will be stated within the advert.

The deadline for applications is 23:59 on the closing date for the job posting.

Please note, applications sent via Email or 3rd party agencies will not be considered.


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We welcome applications from all backgrounds. By attracting people with diverse attitudes, opinions and beliefs we can continue to look at the world with fresh eyes and find new ways of doing things. The Southbank Centre is a warm and welcoming place to work, with great aspirations and ambitions to create great and accessible work for all. We pride ourselves in building a supportive environment to enable the development of our colleagues.

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.