General Manager - Job Description
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.
You can view the full job description here.
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 are also a member of the overall Leadership Team - actively helping The Castle to improve and grow by participating in regular strategy meetings to identify goals, and working towards them.
Together with two Assistant GMs, they focus on five Key Responsibilities:
1. Nurture the team
● Recruit, train and retain a great team, ensuring that all employment legislation is adhered to.
● Effectively manage the team and their development, recognising and rewarding great performance, and proactively delivering feedback with the appropriate balance of support and challenge.
● 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 - track annual leave, approve timesheets and prepare payroll info. Maintain staff contracts & records, and update the Cinema Handbook.
● Undertake regular shifts (inc. evenings and weekends) to maintain a working understanding of the cinema and spend time with everyone, 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 consistent standards of cleaning and housekeeping, and ensure waste is tidy and collected.
● Oversee all aspects of stock management - including ordering, deliveries, wastage & stock takes.
● Strive for the perfect cinema experience and oversee projection tasks, training & maintenance.
● Be the first line of technical & maintenance support, and maintain a solid working knowledge.
● 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 PPM and reactive repairs to the cinema & equipment, and manage contractors.
3. Deliver an outstanding guest experience
● Ensure sure staff are happy & supported, and everything is working well and looking great.
● Work with the programming team to deliver an exciting range of screenings and events.
● Participate in the development of our F&B menu to give guests the best choices in food and drink.
● Implement a programme of ongoing staff training to maintain outstanding customer service.
● 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.
4. Engage our audience & community
● Work with Marketing to maximise audiences for films and other events via in-cinema materials, weekly newsletter and regular social media posts, and encouraging the team to grow memberships.
● Familiarise yourself with the tools which provide us with customer insights, and suggest actions.
● Be up to date with any films currently on release as well as any upcoming events, promotions etc.
● Have a thorough working knowledge of all our products and find opportunities to promote them, including membership, F&B, and private hire.
● Work with the Leadership Team to maintain the cinema as a community asset, and collaborate with groups across Hackney’s community to ensure we’re serving everyone most effectively.
5. Take pride in the numbers
● Have a sound understanding of the business numbers and reporting tools available
● Drive initiatives to increase revenue across admits, F&B sales, memberships, vouchers, and hires.
● Ensure costs are controlled - check prices, keep solid records, and report on performance.
● Ensure staffing levels are proportional to levels of business, through effective rota planning
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 £38k pro rata (depending on experience), salaried
Working pattern: 4.5 - 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: permanent, subject to a three month probationary period
Location: Homerton, East London.
Start Date: Ideally Mar-Apr 2023, flexible for the right candidate. There will be training & orientation as part of the on-boarding process.
Deadline for applications: Sun 12th Feb 2023 at 23:59.
1. Download and answer the interview questions here: bit.ly/castle-cinema-GM-application-questions (if the link doesn’t work, copy and paste it into your browser rather than clicking on it)
2. Once you’ve done this, send your answers and your CV to jobs@thecastlecinema.com, with “General Manager” in the subject line.
3. Complete our diversity Monitoring Survey: forms.gle/4uAP4Z8mqpk9j6Ns9
We’re planning to interview on 14-15th Feb (day & eve) - please let us know asap if these dates won’t work for you
Please note: as a small team we may not be able to respond to every application, if you haven’t heard back from us by 17th Feb this means your application has been unsuccessful. Thank you in advance for your interest.
Last updated: 24th Jan 2023