General Manager, Old Brewers' Yard

• Iconic Guinness Gates as main entrance to the experience, offering huge cultural impact in the heat of London 

• Taproom/bars – world class food and beer produced and served on site 

• Central all weather historic courtyard with world class bar experience 

• Unique 5th floor glass box rooftop eating and drinking experience creating brand new rooftop view of London 

• Brewery and beer experience/tastingtours 

• Cultural events space designed and fit out with technology to enable world class meeting and conference experiences 

• Retail spaces, one of which to stock items produced through exciting short-term brand collaborations    

Purpose of Role 

You will champion innovation, creativity and social connection. You’ll be at the forefront of engaging a huge variety of people, helping us to go further than we ever imagined. You’ll do this by:  

• Making sure our guests embrace every minute with us – and rave about their experiences afterwards.   

• Overseeing everything that we’re offering at Guinness OBY, whether directly or through third party operating partners– cementing our reputation as an international leader of visitor attractions.   

• Making sure OBY delivers a very positive contribution to the Covent Garden area, through great relationships with local partners and delivering schemes and events supporting the local area, everything from coffee mornings to apprenticeships. 

• Creatively translating global brand and Brand Homes central team strategies for OBY – without taking away from our own unique personality.   

• Growing the business, placing great value on everything from tour admissions to retail to F&B – and delivering against the P&L targets that quantify that success.   

• Ensuring OBY is set up to successfully deliver the relevant aspects of Diageo’s Society 2030 goals, including promoting responsible drinking. 

Top Accountabilities 

Site and operations set up as part of Project Reality 

• Assist HR and the OBY/Project Reality team to recruit, interview, and select experienced, team-oriented, and passionate applicants for positions in the Retail, Events, and Sales, Marketing & Digital teams  

• Work with D&T project workstream leads to assess, procure, and implement the ticketing, admissions, and access control systems to provide seamless integration and operations throughout experience 

• Work closely with third party Food & Beverage operating partner to ensure their offering and service levels go above and beyondGuinness brand, Diageo GB and guestexpectations 

• Establishand deliver staff training program prior to site opening, including, but not limited to, on site systems, sales procedures and events management processes. 

• Ensure sustainable operational readiness of all OBY departments prior to grand opening 

• Support site management team to devise cross-site storage and stock management procedures 

Ongoing site operations 

• Budget management of OBY P&L, including direct and indirect staff costs, maintenance, marketing, events, brand collaborations and local sponsorship. 

• Ownership of operational OBY critical metrics, including reaching sales targets for tours, events and retail. 

• Actively seek and implement cost saving programs to provide positive financial results. 

• Formulating business cases and strategy for any improvements to OBY. 

• Manage F&B Operating Partner and Facilities Management provider contracts while maintaining a constructive and collaborative working relationship. 

• Ensure seamless, consistent, and safe consumer experiences on-site to deliver high levels of customer satisfaction, measured through online and offline feedback. 

• Understand, follow, and enforce all established Diageo Operating Procedures to exceed operational requirements and ensure employees and guests receive the highest standards of quality, safety, and service at all times. 

• Establish, evaluate, and direct short- and long-term experience operation strategies, policies, and procedures. 

• Ongoing recruitment, onboarding, training and development of staff. 

• Work to create close links with the local community (residents, businesses and other organisations) to generate positive PR and increase local visitor numbers. 

• Create plans that attract visitors from overseas markets while also drawing in visitors when in-market, resulting in YOY increases in visitor numbers across all operational elements of OBY. 

• Maintain a close working relationship with our landlord, the Mercers Company. 

• Work with the Learning for Life program team and collaborators to implement and execute Diageo’s mission and commitment to this program, and to other agreed on site training and/or apprenticeship schemes. 

• Execute Guinness brand events, host VIP experiences, and internal and external visits. 

• Work with Diageo GB Beer Marketing and Commercial teams on strategy for site advertising, events and sponsorship. 

• Liaise with external contractors to deliver any maintenance work as required. 

• Keep an up-to-date knowledge with external best practice to develop the OBY experience and stay ahead of the competition. 

What you’ll bring to the role 

• Be a true leader, acting as a role model for the team 

• Ability to oversee all operational processes throughout various experience areas, including but not limited to: staffing, experience marketing, and event management 

• Ability to build strong relationships with VIP customers 

• Possess a friendly, helpful, confident, and engaging personality 

• Be familiar with sales protocols and customer service procedures 

• Experience in a project start-up environment would be an added bonus