Operations & Sales Manager — Art Play

About Art Play London

Art Play London is a creative, community-led space that blends art, workshops, and events. We're fast-moving, hands-on, and customer-obsessed. You'll be the engine room for daily operations and sales performance—turning ideas into smooth, profitable execution on the ground.

The Role

You'll own day-to-day operations and revenue delivery: lead the team with confidence, set and maintain smart systems, track performance data, and ensure our space runs safely, efficiently, and beautifully—every day.

Key Responsibilities

Sales & Commercial

• Hit weekly and monthly sales targets across tickets, retail, F&B/merch, and private hires.
• Build and track dashboards for conversion, average transaction value, dwell time, and repeat visits.
• Execute promos and partnerships; brief the team on daily targets and upsell focus.
• Forecast demand (seasonality, holidays, weather, local events) and plan resources accordingly.

People Leadership

• Confidently brief, coach, and motivate the team on shift; lead standout pre-shift huddles.
• Run regular 1:1s and on-the-job coaching; identify training needs and close skill gaps.
• Create and maintain up-to-date training manuals/SOPs for all roles and activities.
• Build a positive, accountable culture that reflects Art Play London's creative spirit.

Operations & Systems

• Design and embed simple, scalable systems that improve guest flow and staff workflow.
• Maintain and continuously improve SOPs for opening/closing, cash handling, event turnarounds, guest communications, and incident management.
• Rota ownership: produce accurate, compliant schedules on time; balance labour % to sales; arrange cover; approve timesheets.

Safety & Compliance

• Keep fire protocol fully in check: drills, training, signage, weekly/monthly checks, logbooks, and corrective actions.
• Ensure H&S checks, risk assessments, and incident reporting are completed and filed.

Stock & Cost Control

• Full cycle stock management: ordering, deliveries, storage, counts, variance analysis, wastage reduction.
• Maintain par levels; align orders to forecasts and programming.
• Own stock investigations and implement loss-prevention measures.

Guest Experience & Space Upkeep

• Ensure the venue is immaculate and on-brand at all times—presentation, signage, music, lighting, and cleanliness.
• Step in on the floor during peak times to support service standards and flow.
• Respond to guest feedback in real time; close the loop with learning for the team.

Data, Reporting & Continuous Improvement

• Produce concise daily/weekly reports: sales vs. target, labour %, footfall, conversion, NPS/feedback themes, stock variances.
• Identify root causes; implement fixes fast and track impact.
• Collaborate with the Director on programming, pricing tweaks, and capacity optimisation.

What Success Looks Like (KPIs)

• Sales: Weekly/monthly revenue vs. target; conversion rate; average transaction value.
• Labour: Labour % within target; on-time rota and accurate timesheets.
• Stock: ≤1% variance on core lines; wastage trending down month-on-month.
• Compliance: 100% completion of fire/H&S checks and staff training refreshers.
• Experience: NPS/CSAT uptrend; complaints resolved within 24 hours with documented actions.
• Operations: SOP adherence, smooth event turnarounds, zero repeat incidents.

Skills & Experience

• Proven experience in a studio/arts, hospitality, events, or retail venue leading teams to targets.
• Confident communicator who can brief a team clearly and hold standards on the floor.
• Highly organised planner with rota ownership and demand forecasting experience.
• Strong with data: comfortable building simple trackers/dashboards and making decisions from them.
• Hands-on stock control (ordering, counts, variance analysis) and loss prevention.
• Solid grasp of H&S and fire safety protocols in a public venue.
• Calm under pressure; solutions-first; reliable and accountable.

Nice to Have

• Experience in creative studios, children's/family programming, classes or workshops.
• First Aid/Fire Marshal or willingness to certify quickly.
• Basic Excel/Sheets skills (lookups/pivots) or POS/stock system experience.

Working Pattern

• Full-time, including some evenings/weekends to cover events and peak periods.
• Rota set in advance with flexibility for special programming.

Benefits (tailor to your offer)

• Competitive salary + performance bonus tied to KPIs
• Training & development budget and clear progression pathway
• Staff perks (classes/events) and friends & family discounts
• Holiday allowance and pension

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: £38,000.00-£42,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Employee discount
• Store discount

Experience:

• Operations management: 3 years (preferred)

Work Location: In person