VACANCY – OPERATIONS TEAM LEADER

About Bath Abbey

Bath Abbey is a major centre for Christian worship, a leading venue for tourism and cultural events, and a treasured part of Britain’s heritage. It lies at the centre of this unique and elegant World Heritage city.

There has been a centre for Christian pilgrimage and worship on the present site of the Abbey for over 1,000 years. During that time it has undergone many transformations and changes, surviving a number of major conflicts, architectural and religious reforms, and two World Wars. Despite this, it still stands as an essential place for both worshippers and visitors.

Today the Abbey welcomes over 420,000 pilgrims and visitors each year and is one of the most visited places in the south west region. Providing a warm welcome and excellent hospitality lies at the heart of everything we do and the Abbey Welcome team play an important role in this ministry. As one of the most spectacular large event venues in the region, Bath Abbey hosts a yearlong programme of musical events and concerts. We also have a thriving congregation drawn from the city and the surrounding area. The Abbey is the city of Bath’s main church and we work closely with the local authority and city churches to host civic and city-wide events. As well as regular services through each week, special services take place through the Church year. Our Christmas services are extremely popular and there is rarely a seat in the Abbey for Advent Sunday and Christmas Eve.

Bath Abbey’s Mission – People and Place Fully Alive

With such a wide programme of worship, over 60 cultural events a year and many thousands of pilgrims and visitors coming through our doors every day of the year, this is one of the busiest Parish Churches in the country. During 2014, we welcomed over 700,000 people through our doors. It is important to us that we provide the space and the structure for meaningful engagement, warm hospitality and opportunities for quality worship. These are the key strands of our mission and underpin everything we do. Being people and a place fully alive is what we strive to be every day.

The Abbey is, however, challenged by a lack of space and poor facilities which limits our activities and restricts what we can offer in the way of hospitality. Over the next few years, we will be developing and delivering our ‘Footprint’ project – a major capital project that will extend our facilities in new and exciting ways, update our seating and lighting, and save our Abbey floor. The project will develop new areas in the subterranean vaults and capture the natural hot spring water for which the city is famous to heat the Abbey itself. It is the single largest church project currently underway in the UK and, because of the uniqueness of Bath, hugely important not only for the Abbey but also for the City. More information about the Footprint Project can be found on our website.

Job Description

Job TitleOperations Team Leader and Abbey Floor Manager

DepartmentOperations

Responsible toAbbey Vicar

LocationAbbey

Hours of work40 hours per week

Salary£30,000

Purpose of job

To be responsible for the day to day management of the Operations team (including Vergers), who are responsible for the delivery of Abbey services and the presentation and maintenance of the Abbey. This includes preparation and set up for all services, concerts and other events, liturgical duties, health and safety matters, general housekeeping and presentation of the building, management of the Abbey floor during events. Management of the Cleaners and assistance to the volunteer Abbey Stewards, and direction of Stewards as required by events. It is envisaged that the post holder will in practice devote 50% of their time to active hands-on participation as an Operations Team member/ Verger, with the remainder of their time spent on more general operational and management responsibilities.

Responsible for:Vergers

Custodians

Cleaners

Volunteers (e.g. Stewards) as required

Contacts:Close liaison with the Clergy team, all Abbey Departments, Volunteers and external organisations

Skills

  • Understanding of the distinctive Christian ethos of the Abbey as a church, a concert venue and a tourist attraction
  • Highly sympathetic to the liturgical life of the Abbey
  • Capable of being inspired by the music and worship of the Abbey
  • Ability to work effectively and efficiently in a collaborative context
  • Ability to be patient, assertive and diplomatic as appropriate
  • Ability to cope with a varied and demanding workload
  • Ability to liaise effectively with orchestras, performers and other users of the Abbey
  • Excellent administrative skills
  • Excellent interpersonal skills
  • Working with honesty and integrity in dealing with the public and managing cash
  • First Aid Trained
  • Knowledge of health & safety and fire regulations
  • Physically fit for the work involved in configuring the Abbey for different services, concerts and other events.

Work experience

  • Previous experience of dealing with the public.
  • Previous experience in a supervisory role.
  • Previous experience as a Head Verger or Deputy Head Verger is desirable, or a supervisory role in a service oriented public sector organisation.
  • Experience of Anglican liturgy.
  • Previous experience of managing the logistics of events in a public building.

Membership of Professional Bodies

  • The post would suit a Member of the Church of England Guild of Vergers.Costs of membership and participation are a legitimate expense. Applications from other suitably qualified candidates are also encouraged.

Duties and responsibilities

  • To manage and supervise staff and volunteers to ensure that the Abbey is appropriately staffed for services, concerts and events and at all times whilst open to the public.
  • To act as Duty Manager for concerts and events on a rota basis with others.
  • To be available for major events and services.
  • Proactively manage health and safety and risk assessments.
  • To be prepared to apply first aid as may be required.
  • To ensure all staff, members of the Friends & other volunteers, contractors and visitors comply with health & safety guidelines.
  • Manage the cleaning and general housekeeping of the Abbey.
  • Understand and be able to operate the Abbey electronic systems for lighting, sound, security, etc. – this includes the implementation of the emergency systems.
  • Make sure that the building is secure and that the fabric is maintained.
  • To play a hands-on role to ensure that the Operations Team manage all the needs of the sacristy, vestments, silver, fabric, furniture and other precious objects.
  • To maintain the statutory records for the services.
  • To be responsible for stock control and operating an agreed expenditure budget.
  • To arrange for the safekeeping and transfer to the accounts department of money from the donations boxes, the admissions desk and from the collections at services.
  • To be responsible for the issue of keys, maintain records and storage of key stocks
  • To compile and issue the Duty Manager’s and Vergers’ rotas.
  • To undertake Verging duties at services on a rota basis with the rest of the Vergers.
  • All Operations Team members are required to share in covering for all Services throughout the year, including Festivals etc., whether within or outside normal working hours and the regular rota will include work at the weekends (Saturday/Sunday). All Vergers are expected to be available for Major Services such as Easter and Christmas.
  • To be responsible for and play a hands-on role in the set up/preparations of furniture, etc. for services, concerts and events and re-ordering after events in collaboration with Stage Manager, Stage Crew and Abbey Workforce.
  • To liaise with the Visitors Officer to assist and, where appropriate, supervise the Abbey’s team of Volunteer Stewards and draw up stewards’ rubrics for services and events as required.
  • Liaise directly with individual Members of Clergy as appropriate regarding their requirements for specific services and events.
  • Manage key relationships with other departments that work within the Abbey, the Events Administration, Music department, Income Development, Communications, Visitor Services and Interpretation.
  • To attend Abbey staff meetings and any senior staff meetings as required.
  • To actively encourage and support staff in completion of NVQ and other training
  • Other duties as may be necessary.

To apply, please complete the application form, with a current CV and a covering letter explaining why you think you are suited for this role, and send it to the attention of:

Mrs Deborah Coleman BA (Hons)
HR Officer
Bath Abbey
12 Kingston Buildings
Bath
BA1 1LT

Or email to

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Friday 4th March 2016, with interviews being held on Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th March 2016.