Tour & Retail Operations Manager

It’s everyone’s stadium

We are excited to be searching for a Tour & Retail Operations Manager, who will primarily be responsible for managing the Stadium Tour Operation and coordinating the day-to-day running of the stadium tour visitor experience.

You will oversee all aspects of delivery including front-of-house, routing, and ticketing sales. You will also ensure that tour guides and support staff are in place and are working together to deliver a best-in-class tour experience to visitors at all times.

In addition, the post holder will support the Senior Commercial Manager as required with the day-to-day management of the Stadium’s onsite retail operation around event days when the Tour is closed (role split broadly 70% Tours / 30% Retail)

Although the FA is working within a hybrid model, due to the operational element involved in this role, the successful candidate will be based at Wembley Stadium full-time when the tour is in operation (circa 65% of the working year) therefore it is essential the successful candidate can commute to Wembley Stadium.

What will you be doing?

Tours

Responsible for the operational delivery of the Wembley Stadium Tour to include:

• Managing the day-to-day operations of the Wembley Stadium Tour carrying out all delivery aspects including visitor experience, routing, ticketing, admission, and signage.
• Manage the casual Tour Hosts ensuring they are motivated and retained, overseeing all aspects of rotas and scheduling, ensuring enough coverage for the daily operation and working within budget.
• Maintain and manage day-to-day front-of-house systems including the ticketing system and photography equipment liaising with 3rd party suppliers where required regarding any operational issues.
• Coordinating administration changes and updates to the online ticketing platform as required ie. price changes, new offers and promotions, and calendar updates.
• Before opening, ensure that the entire tour route (including all locations and thoroughfares) is clear of trips, slips and hazards in keeping with PEAPS standards, in readiness for opening.
• Responsible for processing monthly casual payroll and tour billing
• Authorising and checking the final banking and cashing up at the close of business as required.
• Manage internal stakeholder relationships with the Stadium Operations, Security and Health & Safety teams.
• Manage third-party relationships including e-ticketing, on-site photography and call centre.
• Organise and hold regular team meetings to share department information, and updates and to maintain a high level of communication at all times.
• Provide support on the recruitment and training of all Tour Hosts making sure duties are carried out in accordance with department and stadium policies at all times.
• Executing any additional tasks required in order to meet department and FA Group changing priorities.

Retail:

Provide support with the event day retail operation by working directly with Wembley Stadium operations and 3rd party vendors:

• Provide support with the planning, logistics and delivery of event day retail and matchday programme operations including coordinating Ops Plans fromsuppliers.
• Attend Event Day Pre-Briefings on behalf of Retail team.
• Oversee retail accreditation and wristband requests and internal orders for retail products.
• Work with 3rd party vendors to provide timely post-event reports to Finance Dept. that detail sales performance and revenues vs pre-set event forecasts.
• Provide administrative support in terms of raising purchase orders and invoices as well as tracking spend vs budget.
• Provide support on wider retail projects where required including OTR games that suppliers may choose to attend.
• Help identify and exploit new revenue opportunities for The FA.

Other:

• Executes additional tasks as required in order to meet FA Group’s changing priorities.
• Comply with all company policies and procedures to ensure the highest standards of health, safety and well-being can be maintained.
• As part of The FA’s commitment to ensuring a safe environment for everyone in football, every employee will be required to complete a DBS check. The level of the check required will be based on the activity of the specific job role and in line with legislation and government guidance.

What are we looking for?

Essential for the role:

• Tourism and leisure experience.
• Proven experience in a relevant level operations role within a large footfall visitor attraction.
• Familiar with safety and operational guidelines.
• Experience in leading a small team and/or a casual pool continuously improving the customer experience.
• Highly organised.
• Strong problem-solving and dealing with live customer issues.
• Ability to lead change and process improvement in order to find efficiencies.
• Experience managing relationships with 3rd party suppliers.
• Ability to build lasting working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

Beneficial to have:

• Knowledge of a stadium/tour environment.
• Retail experience.
• A good understanding of the sports market place particularly football.
• Familiar with e-ticketing systems.

What’s in it for you?

We are committed to ensuring everyone can flourish in their roles, to achieve this we have unique office spaces under the arch of the iconic Wembley National Stadium, which is the home of English Football. We are also delighted to offer a world-class, Elite Performance Centre, St. George’s Park in Staffordshire which is an exceptional setting to develop and inspire high-performing England teams and leaders.

We pride ourselves in offering a competitive salary as well as great opportunities to develop and grow in your role. But that is not all; we also have a range of exciting benefits, some of which can be found below:

• Access to event day tickets at Wembley Stadium, alongside a host of regular internal events throughout the season encouraging you to connect and learn with your colleagues and look after your mental health and wellbeing.
• Free, nutritious lunches, at Wembley Stadium and St. George’s Park.
• Free private medical cover.
• A contributory pension scheme.
• An additional Thank You days leave, volunteering days as well as 25 days annual leave.

For more information on what it is like to work at The FA, please visit our FA Careers page,

Our Organisation

The Football Association The FA is the not-for-profit governing body of football in England. It is responsible for promoting and developing every level of the game, from grassroots through to the professional game, and generates significant revenue to support investment into English football each year.

The FA oversees England international teams across men’s, women’s, youth and disability football, as well as running the National League System and FA Competitions including the Emirates FA Cup and Women’s Adobe FA Cup, and the world-class facilities of Wembley Stadium and St. George’s Park, all with a purpose to Unite the Game and Inspire the Nation.

We currently work within a hybrid working model whereby the expectation is to work from your contractual location for part of the week, and as and when required by the team. The remaining days can be worked remotely. We will continue to monitor this model and it may be adjusted in future if deemed necessary.

Your contract with The FA will specify a fixed location of Wembley Stadium or St. George’s Park unless the role is advertised as a home-based contract. The contractual location of this role can be found at the top of this advert on our FA vacancy page.

The FA, For All, For You

Our equality, diversity and inclusion strategy forms an integral part of our long-term commitment to using our influence across English football to create a game free from discrimination.

A Game For All outlines three key strategic commitments – Lead the Change, Be the Change, and Inspire the Change – which will ensure tackling discrimination remains a core priority for English football for years to come.

We are a diverse workplace, aspiring to represent football across the country. The Football Association actively promotes inclusion and diversity, encouraging you to be the best version of yourself at work.

We welcome applications from everyone and are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. If you have any particular requirements in respect of the recruitment or interview process, please mention this during your application.

As part of The FA’s commitment to ensuring a safe environment for everyone in football, every employee will be required to complete a DBS check. The level of the check required will be based on the activity of the specific job role and in line with legislation and government guidance.