Senior Manager – Film Hub South East

Salary: £45,161 - £52,696 (dependent on experience)

The Independent Cinema Office is recruiting for a Senior Manager to join our Film Hub South East team.

The Independent Cinema Office (ICO) is the UK’s support organisation for independent cinema. We offer film programming services to cinemas, bring films into distribution and are the main provider of events, training and advice for the independent cinema sector. We work with the main funding bodies in film exhibition, are a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity.

The ICO is based in central London – however, we are a UK-wide organisation and our activities take place across the UK as well as in Europe.  Our turnover is just under £2 million a year and we have 22 members of staff.

Film Hub South East

Film Hub South East is part of the British Film Institute’s Film Audience Network (BFI FAN). Supported by National Lottery funding, BFI FAN is a unique collaboration made up of eight Hubs managed by leading film organisations and venues strategically placed around the UK and is the backbone of the BFI’s strategy to ensure the greatest choice of film is available for everyone.

The Independent Cinema Office is the lead organisation for Film Hub South East. We provide resources, training and funding for film exhibition – with an emphasis on growing new audiences for British independent and international film. We deliver talent development activity for aspiring filmmakers and raise awareness of film culture in the region though our BFI NETWORK activities. We work with organisations to enable 16 to 25 year olds to learn more about the film industry, watch cultural cinema, become familiar with their local venues and develop skills as independent filmmakers, film curators or film industry new entrants though our Young Film Network.

About the role

Working with colleagues in the Film Hub South East team, the Senior Manager – Film Hub South East will have overall responsibility for all Film Hub South East activity including BFI NETWORK and Film Academy Plus (supporting emerging film talent), and our Young Film Network (supporting young people across the region), as well as our strategic support for exhibitors of all kinds in the South East cinemas, arts centres and film festivals. You will be liaising with a range of partner organisations across the South East, as well as with filmmakers and young people directly.

You will have exemplary project and people management skills as well as the ability to make and nurture strategic partnerships. You will ensure our strategy is delivered to the highest professional standards, is inclusive and equitable and meets the objectives of the Film Hub and wider BFI Film Audience Network.

You will oversee our partnerships and initiatives with film exhibition organisations to ensure that audiences across the South East can access the widest range of cinema. You will work with our Talent Executives to oversee short film and early feature development funding, industry-backed professional development and networking support to producers, writers and directors through our BFI NETWORK talent programmes. You will oversee our schemes and activities to support young film talent (16 to 25 year olds) to access career opportunities through the BFI Academy Plus project.

Your knowledge and expertise will inform our strategy and build sustainability and capacity. You will be passionate about the transformative power of cultural cinema, supportive of young talent, and good at outreach. You need to be an experienced, competent, and diligent professional. You will be a self-starter with meticulous planning and administrative skills. You must be willing to work on your own initiative, meet deadlines under time pressure, be able to complete a wide variety of tasks to a high standard.

You may live or have worked extensively in the region, and you will be expected to travel around it as part of the role, in order to build and develop current and potential partnerships. You may have previously worked in the creative or charity sectors with transferable skills that can be applied to this role, or you may have supported organisations or individuals before in a different art form, in a museum or across a different kind of network.

In return, we can offer responsibility, opportunities for training and development and the chance to work with a friendly, creative team at the forefront of independent cinema exhibition in the UK. We provide access to a Health Matters Assistance Programme (HMAP) – a confidential information and counselling service for employees and to Occupational Health services; a dedicated HR consultant for staff support; access to a SMARTPensions scheme; annual train ticket loans; cycle loans; flexible working practices; flexibility around childcare hours/needs; invites to events and festivals, and other benefits.

Our offices are in London (near London Bridge) and in line with our hybrid working policy this post would require you to work in the office three days a week (one of which would be Tuesday) and two days remotely.

The post is being advertised as full-time working seven hour days (plus one hour for lunch) but we are open to flexible working requests.

Information session

We held an informal information webinar on Monday 25 March 2024 with our Senior Partnerships Manager and Director to provide more information about the position and answer any questions you may have before applying for the position. If you missed the session, you can catch up with the recording below.

How to apply

Please read the Job Description and complete the application form (both can be downloaded below). Return the completed application form to info@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk by 9am on Monday 8 April 2024. Interviews will be held the week commencing 15 April 2024 at our offices near London Bridge (travel expenses are reimbursed) and Zoom requests can be accommodated.

If you would like the documents in a different format please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate this.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

At the Independent Cinema Office, we are an equal opportunity employer, and we believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more creative, innovative and gets better results. We want our workforce to represent the diversity of the people and communities in the UK and we want to see these reflected on our screens. We also want our workforce to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop.

We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian, ethnically diverse, and disabled candidates as they are underrepresented within the ICO.

Along with application form we also request you complete our Equality and Diversity monitoring information.

Completing this form will help us in monitoring our efforts towards achieving an inclusive and diverse workforce.

How the recruitment process works

We know sometimes the process of applying for a job can feel like sending applications into a black hole and can be unnerving when you don’t know what will happen. We’ve put together a document which explains a bit more about our recruitment process, what will happen during each stage of the process and what we’d like from you. This can be downloaded below.

Document downloads

• Job Description – Word Document
• Application form – Word Document 
• How the recruitment process works – Word Document 
• ICO paybands 2024-25

If you would like the documents in a different format please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate this.  

The closing date for this position is 08/04/2024 at 09:00