Customer Experience Manager

Customer Experience Manager

Reports to

Head of Operations

Woking Theatres & Cinema is one of the most exciting hospitality and live entertainment venues in the South East. Sitting under the ATG Entertainment group, the venue operates three distinct brands under one roof: Woking Theatre, the intimate Rhoda McGaw Theatre, and Nova Cinema — each with its own audience, energy and commercial ambition.

This is not a role for someone who wants to maintain the status quo. We are in active pursuit of a step-change in how customers experience this venue — from the moment they walk through the door to the last drink poured. Admissions are growing, ambitions are higher still, and the commercial infrastructure to support that growth is being built right now.

We need a Customer Experience Manager who understands that exceptional experience and exceptional margin are not opposites — they are the same thing. Someone who will own the commercial performance of everything that surrounds the show / film. If you have ever wanted to put your genuine stamp on a hospitality business, this is that job.

This is a hands-on senior leadership role with full functional accountability for the customer-facing commercial operation, its strategy, people, financial performance and continuous development.

The right candidate will have a proven track record of growing hospitality margin and will be fluent in SPH, GP% and cost of sales— and crucially, will know how to move them. You will have operated in a high-volume, fast-paced environment such as theatre, cinema, stadium, hotel or attraction.

Please note, your role may involve working with children or vulnerable people.

Key responsibilities

Leadership & Operations

Act as a core member of the Venue Senior Leadership Team, shaping hospitality strategy and taking collective accountability for commercial, operational and customer outcomes.

Lead the Customer Experience management team, setting clear accountabilities and developing managers to lead confident, consistent and commercially focused teams.

Strengthen management capability and create a high-performance culture across the department.

Set the staffing model and oversee rotas, payroll and operational planning to ensure an efficient, resilient and responsive operation.

Hold accountability for compliance with Health & Safety, licensing, food hygiene and venue policies, ensuring robust controls and timely corrective action.

Act as a key-holder, Risk Champion and senior advocate for accessibility and inclusion across the venue.

Act as the senior accountable leader for the venue when required, making timely operational, commercial and safety-critical decisions.

Direct security, hospitality, retail and customer experience operations to deliver safe, high-quality events and experiences across the three venues.

Lead cross-departmental planning to ensure seamless delivery across performances, cinema, events and wider venue activity.

Commercial Performance & Revenue Growth

Hold departmental accountability for customer-facing revenue, gross profit, spend per head, labour productivity, cost of sales and stock performance.

Deliver commercial plans, budgets and forecasts, taking decisive recovery action where performance is below target.

Use management information, customer insight and operational data to identify opportunities, make evidence-based decisions and drive sustained profitability.

Make strategic decisions on staffing models, service standards, product mix, pricing opportunities and resource deployment.

Own stock control, retail operations, sales reporting, purchasing and supplier performance, ensuring strong controls and commercial discipline.

Develop, test and scale hospitality propositions, premium experiences and new revenue streams that increase spend per head and audience engagement.

Customer Experience

Lead the end-to-end customer journey across theatre, cinema, hospitality and events.

Create a coherent customer and commercial strategy across three distinct brands, adapting the operating model to their different audiences and trading patterns.

Set and assure exceptional, inclusive and customer-focused service standards across all venue activity.

Represent the customer experience and commercial operation in internal and external forums, influencing visiting companies, suppliers, partners and central teams.

Translate customer, team and commercial insight into prioritised improvement plans with clear measures of success.

Your skills, qualities, and experience

Essential

Proven ownership of a sizeable, high-volume customer-facing operation and departmental budget.

A demonstrable track record of delivering revenue growth, margin improvement, labour productivity and effective cost control.

Substantial experience leading managers and large, varied teams, with evidence of developing capability, succession and high performance.

Strong commercial literacy, including budgeting, forecasting, interpreting management information and taking corrective action.

A track record of leading significant service, operational or commercial change across a complex, multi-use or multi-brand environment.

Experience developing hospitality or customer propositions from concept and business case through to implementation and evaluation.

Confidence presenting performance, risks and recommendations to senior leaders and influencing a broad range of stakeholders.

Strong organisational judgement and problem-solving skills, with the confidence to make autonomous operational and commercial decisions.

A demonstrable commitment to exceptional customer experience, accessibility, inclusion and compliance.

Desirable

Experience within live entertainment, hospitality, cinema, retail or events.

Knowledge of venue operations, Health & Safety and licensing compliance.

Experience with staffing, payroll, KPIs, stock control or hospitality operations.

Experience working across multi-use or customer-facing venues.

This role closes 13/09/2026, 23:59.