Experience Consultant

Welcome

Thank you for your interest in Charcoalblue Experience (CBX)! We are looking for an Experience Consultant to join our growing CBX team, based in London on a 12 month Fixed Term Contract.

Company Overview

Charcoalblue is widely regarded as the most exciting and innovative specialist theatre, live performance, events, and AV consultancy in the world. We imagine, design, and deliver captivating spaces that entertain, educate. and transform individuals through collective experiences. Guided by listening, collaboration, and a passion for innovation, excellence, emotion, and theatricality, we strive to create extraordinary moments. Since our inception in the UK in 2004, Charcoalblue is now the largest organization of its kind, delivering projects to every corner of the globe. We operate as a cohesive and collaborative team with studios in London and Bristol in the UK, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco in the US, and Melbourne in Australia.

Charcoalblue Experience (CBX) is a dedicated business unit within the Charcoalblue group that applies our expertise gained from working with globally renowned cultural organisations to the workplace, sports, exhibition, and events markets. Working with world leading companies, Charcoalblue Experience works with any business looking to create spaces for collaboration and storytelling that wants to deliver an enhanced experience for staff, visitors, guests, and spectators. Projects include hybrid workplaces, one-off event spaces, sports facilities, broadcast studios, conference centres, and ecosystems across entire buildings and campuses. Our CBX team includes specialist Project Managers, Design Managers, Research & Development (R&D) Consultants, Technical Drawing and Standards Consultants, Producers, and Administrators and they often work closely with single clients and are fully embedded into their workflow and teams.

Description of Role

We are seeking an Experience Consultant to oversee projects across a range of sectors and building types. Initially the role will be focused on providing oversight and guidance for the design and delivery of event spaces, activations and collaboration space, as well as providing experience design advice across a wider portfolio. The role will provide design management, creative visioning, and project delivery services including working as an embedded vendor within a client team as a key part of our Design Management and Creative consultancy teams. It is a client facing role and you will be integral in the complex stakeholder management and accurate documentation. You will act as the subject matter expert often representing the client and being part of a wider team in a self driven and managed service environment. Some of the work we do requires us to have access to client offices, therefore we are ideally seeking someone who can regularly attend meetings in central London

You will be responsible for working with our clients to understand their vision and translate this into an actionable brief. You will support delivery of the project on time and in budget ensuring the client brief is delivered upon. You will produce clear documentation, presentation and graphics to illustrate design considerations such as user journeys, creative visioning, master planning, adjacencies, operational needs and guest experience.

You will be a key part of the Charcoalblue Experience team and will benefit from the support and training offered to and by our in-house consultant and business support teams.

The ideal individual for this role is a multi-faceted and innovative problem solver with broad knowledge of event spaces and/or guest experiences and the ability to deliver and launch projects on time, on budget, and on strategy. Additionally, you must be a clear communicator, action-oriented, self-motivated, and comfortable with ambiguity.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide subject matter expertise and design guidance for Events and Experiences spaces
• Ensure the architectural design of Visitor attractions, Venues and Support Spaces are optimized for the overall guest and user experience.
• Develop client requirements documentation for new event and experience spaces and produce briefs for the architectural design team including architectural requirements, operational considerations and cost or program constraints.
• Develop, document, analyse and present user journey studies, and wider creative visioning studies
• Deliver and maintain progress reports and presentations to key stakeholders and partners as required using written and drawn documentation to communicate stakeholder requirements, project aims and design intent.
• Take a leading role to ensure design intent of the project is delivered by Charcoalblue designers and/or external design collaborators. Communicating design ideas and project requirements clearly
• Act as a key point of contact for client stakeholder teams, project managers, and the design teams to ensure accurate communication between all parties.
• Provide ownership for projects acting as Project Manager when required, developing comprehensive project plans for the implementation and successful delivery, from initiation to closeout, focusing on understanding interdependencies between technology, operations and business needs.
• Facilitate procurement and cost control procedures/reporting including leading the vendor bidding process and contracting/onboarding selected vendors.
• Be a trusted, friendly, and robust collaborator for all client and external partners while balancing diverse team priorities.
• Develop design standards and guidance.
• Be actively involved in Design Team and other key project meetings, providing subject matter expert advice to guide the project with an understanding of schedule and cost considerations.
• Lead a team of Charcoalblue designers on events and experience projects.
• Represent and be an ambassador for Charcoalblue, interfacing with professionalism with our clients and collaborators.
• Elevate our ability to collaborate and communicate with clients , and brainstorm new and innovative ways to think about a portfolio of spaces.

This list is not intended to be exhaustive and may be subject to alteration over time.

Skills & Qualifications

We are open to receiving applications from candidates with a varied range of experience and education. If you meet most of the qualifications below, we encourage you to apply:

Essential

• Minimum 3 years of relevant design, design management or experiential design work experience and/or formal qualification/degree in architecture, interior design, venue design, or related field.
• Ability to read construction drawings and specifications and professional interest in construction projects
• A passion for storytelling through exceptional experiences

Desirable

• Professional experience in the design or construction of spaces relating to the performing arts, events, experiential, or hospitality strongly preferred.
• Skilled in the visual, written, and verbal communication of design issues with capability to think outside the box and bring creative, non-standard, and innovative solutions to the table.
• A practical understanding of the AIA design stages, and the typical level of information required at each stage.
• Competence in the presentation of imagery and drawings to convey ideas.
• Experience of experiential design, theatre, performing arts, or event space buildings either through direct experience or professional design work.
• Proven vision, leadership, and strategic skills to prioritize evolving initiatives; ability to turn ideas and capabilities into effective initiatives that engage users.
• An understanding of permitting/building control process, construction terminology and building systems, and overall project sequence/timing.
• Ability and proven record of helping to steer decision making and process.
• An imaginative approach to problem-solving will be a significant advantage.
• A collaborative and personal approach.

Interpersonal Skills

• Ability to work in a collaborative and fast-paced environment with a high degree of self-motivation and initiative.
• Outstanding verbal and written communicator
• Ability to easily manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Detail oriented with ability to think, plan, and execute on multiple projects in different phases simultaneously with little direct supervision.
• Informed design sensibility, with a curious and open approach to design
• Able to work calmly and effectively under pressure.
• Flexibility and adaptability to changing business needs.
• Ability to build relationships with colleagues, clients, vendors, stakeholders, and management.

Employment Details

The role is being offered at 40 hours per week (to be arranged flexibly between Monday-Friday) on a 12 month FTC, including a comprehensive benefits package, plus an hour per day (unpaid) for lunch, with an understanding that flexible working hours will apply to meet our clients needs and to accommodate the companys global time zones. Charcoalblue does not provide for the payment of overtime. The nature of the job and the Partnerships business could occasionally entail some work outside normal working hours.

There is a three-month probationary period for permanent roles.

Location

Charcoalblue Experience work in a hybrid distributed model, meaning you will work from your home or other place of your choosing with an option to work in our Studio in London, SE1 if you desire. We expect this roles to be within reasonable travel (e.g. drive or train) distance of central London to support regular client meetings. Travel within the UK and occasional travel internationally for projects and/or team building as required, with notice.

Salary

The salary range for this role is £40,000 - £55,000 per year depending on experience.

Please state your salary expectations in your covering letter in line with your experience.

Charcoalblue intends to offer the selected candidate base pay within this range, dependent on job-related, non-discriminatory factors such as experience. Base pay is one part of the total rewards that Charcoalblue provides to compensate and recognize employees for their work. Charcoalblue provides a robust benefits package to help support you physically, financially, and emotionally through the big milestones and in your everyday life. Please visit our careers page for more details.

Annual Leave Entitlement

Take-What-You-Need (TWYN) Leave Policy: With prior arrangement, there is an opportunity for employees to benefit from additional paid leave days over their statutory holiday/annual leave allowance. You will receive 20 days annual leave minimum per annum (pro-rated in the first year where applicable), plus statutory Bank Holidays. We traditionally close our studios between Christmas and New Years Day, resulting in an additional average 4-5 holiday days per annum.

Employee Benefits

To support you in successful hybrid/distributed working, you will receive a laptop and any other associated IT peripherals required for the role upon you joining Charcoalblue.

Following successful completion of your three-month probationary period, you will be eligible to participate in our company benefits package, including:

• • Charcoalblues annual bonus scheme, subject to the Partnerships performance year on year.
  • Charcoalblues pension auto-enrolment scheme.
  • An allocation of live event tickets per month, offered to encourage you to immerse yourself in the live events industry as far as possible.
  • A contribution to your home internet and home utilities to enable you to work from home effectively in line with our distributed working model.
  • Upon successful completion of your second year, you will be eligible to join our Private Health Insurance plan, in line with our company policy.

Other benefits are accumulative as you progress with the company.

Start Date

ASAP

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Overview

Charcoalblue is an equal opportunities employer, actively working towards becoming an inclusive organization. We work consistently to ensure elimination of unfair and discriminatory practices within the company and encourage full contribution from its diverse community.

Our mission is to manifest an inclusive ethos by creating a diverse and inclusive working environment across our practice. Recruitment opportunities are open to all, but we are particularly keen to hear from ethnically diverse and disabled candidates, as these groups are currently underrepresented within our teams.

If you require this application in a different format or need support during the application process, please contact Ashleigh via email [email protected]. Equally, please contact Ashleigh if you have any questions in relation to access, or how the role might need to respond to your personal circumstances.

Charcoalblue aims to provide a service that does not discriminate against its clients and customers and works to ensure all can access the services and goods supplied by the company. We believe that all employees and clients are entitled to be treated with respect and dignity.