Event Sales Manager - Illuminate

Your role at Moving Venue is vital, overseeing the catering for events at Illuminate, a venue where Moving Venue is the dedicated catering partner.

Moving Venue is one of the original event caterers in London, celebrating its 40th anniversary last year and this year, twice awards Event Caterer of the Year. With accreditation at over 30 venues in London, Moving Venue caters for over 350 events annually. The scale and variety of these events showcase our talent for handling challenging projects while continually pushing the boundaries of what is achievable.

Illuminate is a dynamic venue that opened in 2019, serving as the exclusive event space in the Science Museum. With a capacity of 400 for dinners and conferences and 450 for receptions, the venue has hosted numerous fantastic events over the last four years. With the Science Museum’s event hire capacity continuously growing, the venue is thriving.

Your role involves working alongside the venue teams on-site, selling all catering elements of an event. While the role is primarily sales-focused however, in particularly busy times, you will also be required to act as the client’s point of contact for events post contract and manage the planning process until the event’s conclusion. The number of events for which you will be responsible depends on the level of business and workload. Therefore, the ideal candidate will not only have an understanding of how to sell event catering but also possess experience in managing planning logistics.

As the ‘Event Sales Manager,’ you are expected to be instantly likable, with an outgoing personality, enduring enthusiasm, and a can-do attitude. You should be an excellent team player, able to communicate at all levels, and committed to sharing your knowledge and skills.

A passion for organisation, providing outstanding service to clients, and the ability to cope with the pressure of a fast-paced role while maintaining professionalism at all times are essential. This role will be split between Moving Venue’s base in Deptford and Illuminate at the Science Museum in South Kensington. The split will depend on the business’s needs; however, we anticipate that 40% of the time will be spent on-site at the venues, making a flexible approach key.

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

The purpose of the ‘Event Sales Manager – Illuminate’ role is to sell and plan catering for events from inception to completion. The candidate is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with clients and the venue, ensuring high-quality, profitable events, and achieving set targets.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Establishing clients’ needs (end user, agent, or venue) and presenting effective event solutions.
• Producing proposals for all bespoke event inquiries to meet a client’s brief.
• Conducting tastings and site visits with clients.
• Employing appropriate resources to elevate the company above competitors (site visits, menu tastings, event out-mess, etc.).
• Identifying areas where Moving Venue can create new product ideas and foster creativity.
• Maintaining up-to-date knowledge of Moving Venue’s products and communicating this to clients and the venue.
• Demonstrating knowledge in selling the catering of large-scale events in comparable venues across London.
• Experience in event planning
  • Liaising with suppliers and producing event sheets for the kitchen and operation teams to work from.
  • Managing clients onsite at events and liaising with Operations and Kitchen team to ensure successful event delivery.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Representing Moving Venue positively both internally and externally.
• Maintaining up-to-date knowledge of venues, clients, competitors, markets, and the industry, with awareness of the impact of any developments in these areas.
• Complying with MV’s Health & Safety/Food Safety policy and procedures and observing safe working practices both at the base and during events.
• Performing any other reasonable duties required to efficiently and profitably manage the company.

• Methodology and organisation.
• Great attention to detail and a dynamic approach.
• Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills.
• Keen appreciation of the commercial aspect of the role, where margin, value, and ongoing strengthening of the bottom line are paramount.
• Strong sense of ownership and appropriation.
• Excellent computer and CRM skills.
• Excellent communication skills, including writing, proofreading, and speaking.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines.
• Ability to complete event projects with little supervision.
• Fantastic customer service ethic and high expectations for quality.
• Experience in designing events and generating creative ideas.
• Ability to commit to a flexible work pattern, occasionally undertaking weekend work

At Moving Venue, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We’re committed to fostering a positive, supportive, and rewarding work environment and that includes offering a fantastic range of benefits:

• Cycle-to-work scheme
• Performance-related bonus
• Daily shuttle bus to/from Head Office and Canada Water station
• Free parking at our Head Office
• Holiday allowance starts at 25 days plus bank holidays, increasing with length of service
• Access to Medicash health plan
• Access to fantastic restaurant and bar discounts via the CODE app
• Enhanced parental-leave pay – subject to length of service
• Travel loan
• Delicious, healthy snacks and lunch available daily
• Fabulous regular social events
• Fun and vibrant company culture
• Generous refer-a-friend bonus

We believe in celebrating success, supporting wellbeing, and creating a place where everyone can thrive.

D.O.E

To apply, please forward your CV to our Head of People and HR at Francesca@smartgroupltd.co.uk