General Manager

Salary: Up to £45,000 pro rata (depending on experience) including bonus

The Castle Cinema is looking for a General Manager to join their team.

About The Castle Cinema

The Castle Cinema is an independent community cinema in Hackney, with two beautiful screens and a stunning bar. We’re passionate about great films, delicious refreshments and genuine service, and our values are: Honest and generous – Friendly and informal – Diverse and inclusive.

We endeavour to reach a broad range of audiences, and we’ve developed five Community Goals: Improve access for disabled guests | Develop underserved audiences | Support and enhance education locally | Nurture a diverse team | Maintain an inclusive and thought-provoking programme for all

A diverse workforce benefits both our organisation and the community it serves, and we encourage candidates who reflect the local community, and those underrepresented in the arts. This includes the Global Majority, LGBTQ+ folk, and those who are neurodiverse or disabled.

Summary

Our General Manager plays a vital role making sure our team is happy and successful and that our operations run smoothly, to ultimately ensure that guests have an outstanding experience.

They’re part of the Leadership Team – actively helping The Castle to improve and grow by participating in regular strategy meetings to identify goals and work towards them.

Together with the Assistant Managers, they focus on Three Key Responsibilities:

1. Nurture the team

• Recruit and retain a great team, recognise great performance and deliver considered feedback.
• Implement a programme of ongoing staff training to maintain outstanding customer service.
• Nurture a culture of trust, respect, shared ownership, and empowerment.
• Manage the weekly & monthly rota, and develop a management cover rota
• Upkeep all staff admin, maintain staff records, and update the Cinema Handbook.
• Undertake regular shifts (inc. evenings and weekends) and provide emergency cover when needed.

2. Maintain operational excellence

• Overall responsibility for the cinema, ensuring that all health & safety, food hygiene, security, licensing requirements and emergency procedures are complied with, and full records are kept.
• Deliver consistently high standards of housekeeping, and ensure waste is tidy and collected.
• Oversee all aspects of stock management – including ordering, deliveries, wastage & stock takes.
• Strive for cinematic excellence – oversee projection and be the first line of support
• Ensure all ticket & web issues are resolved promptly, including liaising with service suppliers.
• Oversee events and private hires to ensure they’re delivered to the highest possible standard.
• Organise & track maintenance and repairs, and manage contractors.
• Work with Finance to maintain a sound understanding of the financial and non-financial data.
• Ensure costs are controlled, including adjusting staffing levels to reflect levels of business.

3. Deliver an outstanding guest experience

• Ensure staff are working well & feeling great, and the cinema is working well & looking great!
• Actively seek feedback from guests, and engage with direct comms (emails, DMs, etc) and public
  forums (Google reviews, etc), and use all available data to make things better.
• Ensure the team is sending great email replies via regular training, checking, and quality control.
• Stay up to date on all our events & products and find opportunities to promote them, including
  films, membership, F&B, private hires, and vouchers.

This is a guide to the nature of the work. It’s not restrictive and other responsibilities may be added.

Person specification

• Minimum of two years senior management experience in cinema, arts, hospitality and/or project management & production
• Exceptional people management skills
• Meticulous attention to detail, and the ability to work accurately at pace
• Outstanding time management – prioritising a complex workload for yourself & others
• Comfortable to get hands-on and lead by example
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Highly computer literate (eg Google suite) including spreadsheets
• Solid numerical and financial abilities
• Personal Licence and First Aid qualifications – training can be provided
• Available to work at key business times i.e. evenings and weekends

Terms & conditions

Job title: General Manager
Reporting to: Directors
Pay: up to £45k pro rata (depending on experience) including bonus
Working pattern: 4 – 5 days per week, with regular evening and weekend work across all 7 days of the week
Holiday entitlement: 30 days/six weeks per year (pro rata) inc public holidays, plus one additional day for every year worked
Other benefits: complimentary tickets to screenings, 50% discount on select food and drink at the bar, Employee Assistance Programme, discretionary bonus, company sick pay.
Contract: salaried, permanent, subject to a six-month probationary period
Location: Homerton, East London.
Start Date: Ideally Oct 2023, flexible for the right candidate. There will be training & orientation as part of the on-boarding process.

Applications

1. Download and answer the interview questions here:
   bit.ly/castle-cinema-GM-application-questions
2. Send your answers and CV to jobs@thecastlecinema.com, with “General Manager” as the subject.
3. Complete our Diversity Monitoring Survey: forms.gle/4uAP4Z8mqpk9j6Ns9

If successful we may offer a skills-based test as the next stage.

Once we’ve assessed this we will arrange an initial interview, either in-person or video call.

This may be followed by a second interview for finalists.

The successful applicant will be required to provide proof they have the right to work in the UK, as well as two references from previous employers.

Please note: as a small team we may not be able to respond to every application. Thank you in advance for your interest.

The closing date for this position is 17/09/2023 at 23:59