Commercial Director - #1738199

The Vacancy

The Royal Academy of Arts is looking to appoint a commercially and astute and strategic leader to join us as Commercial Director.

This newly established position will be responsible for spearheading the Royal Academy’s ambitious revenue growth agenda.

The Commercial Director will oversee a diverse portfolio including retail, artists collaborations, publishing, venue hire, philanthropy, and corporate giving within a newly integrated commercial team. Leading a team of highly skilled heads of department, this role will shape and deliver a comprehensive five-year commercial strategy and ensure the delivery of annual revenue targets and the alignment of commercial and philanthropic objectives.

About You

The successful candidate will be a commercially astute leader with an excellent track record of driving growth and innovation and customer value within a complex organisation. With extensive experience leading commercial ventures, you will possess an entrepreneurial mindset and a strategic approach to income generation, partnership development and business growth.

A natural leader, you will have successfully built and led high performing teams, inspiring change and delivering results and will thrive in a collaborative environment.

We are committed to being a truly inclusive place and welcome applicants from all backgrounds, regardless of age, disability, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, marital and civil partnership, or pregnancy.

The Company

The RA dates way back to 1768 when a group of artists and architects persuaded King George lll to help them to ‘establish a society for promoting the Art of Design'. The original academy, in Pall Mall, was less than 10 meters long. Since then, there have been many changes, though the RA’s core purpose of bringing art and design to a broad audience and championing art and artists still holds true.

Today we are a contemporary art organisation hosting internationally acclaimed exhibitions and through investment in employee training and development, with courses such as Unconscious Bias, LGBTQ+ Awareness, Bystander, and Mental Health First Aid training, we are striving to foster a safe space for everyone through positive action. We also have Employee Network Groups, Ways In Groups, and an Employee Council so every employee has a voice and a way to feel heard by colleagues through the CEO.

The RA is truly a unique place, both as an attraction to our visitors, but also as a workplace. Our people are at the heart of all we do, and we support a broad and inspiring mix of departments; from exhibitions, curators, art handlers, researchers, publishers, and digital to schools and education, visitor welcome, fundraisers, and corporate support.

The Benefits

Exhibitions

Reciprocal Agreements with galleries across the UK

Enhanced Pension

Generous employer contributions

Enhanced Holiday

25 days annual leave, plus bank holidays

Wellbeing

Access to a virtual GP Service and Mental Health First Aiders

Agile Working

The opportunity to work flexibly

RA Staff Council

Where your views are heard and listened to

Employee Clubs

Football, Staff Choir and more