US:
Ministry of Sound opened in 1991 in a disused bus garage in a forgotten corner of South London. It was the first nightclub in the UK to have a 24-hour licence, didn’t serve alcohol and featured an earth-shaking sound system in a specially constructed dance box.
We went on to become the world’s largest independent record company, now with Sony, and stage giant dance events, including one for over 50,000 people at the O2 during the millennium.
We were pioneers in electronic music and have a history of taking risks, innovation, and colourful and creative marketing.
Thirty years later we opened The Ministry, a workspace run as a member’s club, in a 50,000 sq. ft Victorian warehouse in SE1.
The design is relaxed but functional with a bar, opening windows, an outside courtyard and plenty of space to sit, relax, work and socialise – everything you wouldn’t expect to find in a standard office.
There’s great home cooked F&B, a state-of-the-art gym and fitness studio with daily classes, together with a cultural and business events programme.
As a business we don’t take ourselves too seriously, like to laugh and have fun, but we have high standards, a relentless attention to detail and the continuous improvement of our product, and we work hard as a team.
We hate cliché, doing things the way others do and continuously seek to differentiate our brands and products almost as a point of pride.
YOU:
We are seeking a Managing Director, ideally from a nightlife or live events background, combining knowledge with a genuine passion for the sector.
First and foremost, you will treat the entire business as your own, balancing creativity, strategy and operational excellence.
Reporting to the Group Managing Director, you must understand, lead, and deliver the marketing, promotions and talent strategy and be able to command the complexities and nuances of working with a creative team.
You will oversee the nitty gritty of day-to-day operations to an extremely high standard, have stamina and be willing and able to work late nights, sometimes consecutively. There is a General and an Assistant General Manager, we do not expect the Managing Director to be omnipresent, but at times you will need to be.
You must own the P&L, managing all elements of forecasting and reporting. Constantly monitoring the operation to ensure all activity is delivered, utilising the resource available, identifying cost savings where needed and negotiating with suppliers and brokering multiyear deals.
You will play a pivotal role in driving future growth by achieving ambitious revenue targets and identifying new opportunities.
You should have a network of industry contacts across agencies and brands with the ability to develop new partnerships to drive overall growth, enhance the club experience and expand the business outside of our traditional activities.
You must have taste, by which we mean able to tell a great idea from something you would expect from a high street pub chain and stay abreast of emerging trends.
You must also be able to deal tactfully with promoters, agents and DJs.
Ideally you will also have creative flair and contribute to ways of improving the venue and customer experience.
You should be able to generate ideas and lead projects to continually improve the venue, managing designers, production teams and contractors.
Ministry of Sound has a very successful private hire and events business which rents out the venue for parties, conferences, film shoots and other uses.
You must be able to work closely with the sales and operations team to ensure exceptional delivery of these events, a different skill set to running club nights.
You must be comfortable working in a constantly iterating environment and be able to manage cross functional teams to deliver the overall business objectives.
This is a unique and exciting opportunity to lead a world renowned venue and business into its next thirty years.
This is an onsite role and you must be flexible with working hours, including evenings and weekends, to accommodate nightclub events when needed.