Venue Sales & Events Manager

Purpose of the role

The Board of Trustees has adopted an ambitious three-year Business Plan (2027–2030) for Grand Junction. It commits the venue to moving from roughly one commercial hire a month to a sustainable rhythm of one revenue-generating event a week by 2030, with pricing that reflects the venue's true position among London's Grade I heritage venues, growing hire revenue across the period.

The Venue Sales & Events Manager is the engine of that plan. The postholder will own the venue's various commercial revenue streams, including weddings, corporate events, film, TV and photography locations, private hire, plus cultural events and concerts. All while safeguarding the character of Grand Junction as both a cultural and community hub and a place of worship.

This is a rare role: part sales and business development, part event management – in one of the most distinctive venues in central London, with every booking directly funding charitable work in the surrounding community.

Key responsibilities

1. Sales, enquiries and pipeline management

• Own the full enquiry-to-booking journey across all revenue streams.
• Manage site visits including promoting the offer and converting interest into bookings. Be the named contact with continuity from first enquiry to event day.
• Build, maintain and report against a weekly KPI tracker covering enquiries, conversion rates, booking pace, average hire values and pipeline by stream.
• Build and manage our Recommended Suppliers offer, including caterers, photographers, florists, entertainment and production.
• Develop high quality brochures to promote tiered packages and seasonal offers.
• Build target lists of potential corporate buyers with a particular focus on the local business districts across Paddington and Marylebone.
• Responsibility for the planning and hosting of annual showcase events to attract corporate and individual hires.
• Develop event-agency relationships and partnerships with events professionals, such as wedding planners.
• Work with the Creative and Community Director on building long-term partnerships with repeat commercial cultural events organisations and support the resulting programming.
• In partnership with the Creative and Community Director, manage the relationship with London’s top concert promoters and promoter-led hires on the cultural tariff.
• Grow the film, TV and photography stream keeping the location library, crew fact sheet, floor plans and rate card current; and meet the 48-hour quote standard that wins location work.
• Develop private hires through direct outreach to event production companies for events such as launches, galas, awards nights and London Fashion Week shows.

2. Event delivery, compliance and relationship with community team and church

• Deliver events to a high standard, coordinating with clients, technical staff, security, caterers, suppliers and casual event staff to ensure everything runs smoothly.
• As numbers of events grow, recruit an able and professional team of freelance event managers who can support event delivery. Manage the performance of this team through feedback and regular reviews.
• Maintain the shared calendar with the communities’ team and Church ensuring double bookings are avoided, and space is allocated strategically to Grand Junction’s different activities and hires.
• Prepare and enforce a Risk Assessment and Method Statement (RAMS) for all commercial bookings and manage the venue's operating constraints as defined by the Terms and Conditions and Grade I heritage sensitivities.
• In partnership with the Building Manager, ensure appropriate insurance, licensing, health and safety and safeguarding requirements are met for all commercial activity, escalating risks to the Creative and Community Director.

3. Marketing and brand

• Identify media opportunities including shoots, features and other social media content opportunities to increase the awareness and profile of the venue.
• Own the venue's listings estate: audit, rewrite and maintain every listing (Hitched, Bridebook, Coco Wedding Venues, HeadBox, Hire Space, Square Meal Venues and others). Lead on the venue's positioning and tone of voice, ensuring photography and pricing are regularly refreshed.
• Work with the Marketing Manager on campaigns and press opportunities and act as guardian of the positioning – 'London's most beautiful working church-venue, where every booking funds local good'.
• Contribute to owned channels: newsletters, Instagram and LinkedIn content showing the space dressed for events
• Coordinate freelance photography as required to ensure a location library that sells the venue to its full potential.

4. Finance, reporting and governance

• Arrange for the raising of invoices through PDT's finance processes. Track deposits and settlements.
• Manage event-level budgets, including in-house ticketed programming, bar and ancillary income.
• Produce the quarterly KPI dashboard for the Grand Junction Creative and Community Director and PDT’s Chief Executive and Trustees, covering volume, revenue, conversion, channel performance and repeat-booking rates.
• Contribute to the annual pricing and channel reviews, and to reporting alongside PDT's Three-Year Fundraising and Income Strategy.