Folk Festival Marketing & Strategic Lead Manager

Cambridge City Council is seeking a dynamic and experienced individual to lead the Folk Festival Marketing and Strategic Lead Manager role.

In this pivotal position, you will drive the commercial success, audience growth, and brand visibility of the world-renowned Cambridge Folk Festival including new programme initiatives, while ensuring its alignment with the festival’s unique identity.

You will develop and execute long-term marketing strategies, spearhead innovative campaigns to boost ticket sales and audience engagement. A strong understanding of the festival environment and experience of outdoor event management (5000+ attendees), procurement, contractor negotiation will be required. You will also manage and inspire a team while building relationships with key stakeholders, including artists, sponsors, and media partners.

Key responsibilities include increasing visibility and revenue, managing marketing campaigns, identifying new partnership opportunities, and overseeing budget management. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure the festival meets its financial and operational goals, while also working to secure additional funding through grants and sponsorships. As part of the leadership team, you will play a central role in maintaining the festival’s reputation and relevance, contributing to a clear three-year strategic plan.

About You:

You should have a track record of managing budgets, building successful partnerships, and driving audience growth. A degree in business, marketing, or a related field is desirable, along with project management qualifications. If you’re ready to help shape the future of one of Cambridge’s most prestigious festivals, we’d love to hear from you.

In this role you will: 

1. develop and execute long-term marketing and business strategies aligned with the festival’s goals, enhancing its reputation, audience base, and commercial revenue;

2. create and embed a new targeted and effective Marketing Strategy; Lead and liaise on all marketing efforts, including digital, postcode analysis, social media, content creation, print, and PR campaigns, ensuring cohesive and impactful messaging;

3. maintain and grow the festival’s brand identity, ensuring its relevance, appeal, and consistency across all platforms;

4. increase ticket sales and attendee numbers by creating compelling campaigns and developing innovative engagement strategies to attract diverse audiences;

5. identify, negotiate, additional partnerships, and collaborations with external businesses, media, and cultural organizations to expand the festival’s reach and revenue;

6. lead the adoption of cutting-edge digital marketing tools, data analytics, and social media trends to optimize audience targeting and engagement;

7. collaborate closely with the programming, production, and operations teams to ensure financial targets and key objectives align with event goals and timelines;

8. ensure cost-effective festival execution, while also identifying opportunities for new revenue streams; Effective budget management and cost centre anagement responsibility to ensure successful and safe delivery of the festival and ancillary elements meeting agreed target outcomes and maximising financial yield from the event; Support the process of securing project funds for the festival’s artistic and creative programming activities eg; grant funders, sponsors etc;

9. build and maintain relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including festival staff, artists, media partners, and local government;

10. lead, and mentor, a small team of marketing and event management professionals, freelancers, and external agencies working for the Folk Festival;

11. regularly report on financial and operational performance to senior management, festival boards, and other stakeholders; Use data-driven insights to improve festival strategies year-on-year;

12. ensure effective communication to maximise opportunities with the national and international music industry; Build professional networks with internal and external stakeholders including other teams, artists, other festival event management teams, traders etc;

13. carry out risk assessments – including financial, reputational, and safety risks

14. directly manage responsibility and development for the festival and ancillary elements, while also secure new audiences and challenging audience expectations;

15. be responsible for the license obligations of the event (including license holder where appropriate);

16. act as Bronze (operational) command as part of onsite management structure;

17. programme satellite events and activities throughout the year to regularly reinforce the festival brand and ensure effective communication and consultation with stakeholders of all events including local residents, schools, community groups, politicians and local businesses; and

18. carry out any other duties as required by your line manager from time to time in accordance with the grading of the post.

What we can offer:

• Family friendly policies
• Agile and Flexible working
• Generous annual leave allowance 25 days’ per annum, rising to 30 days’ after five years continuous service; plus 8 days public holidays (pro rata for part time).
• Annual leave purchasing scheme
• Access to the highly valued Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• Additional Voluntary Contribution (Shared AVC) Scheme
• A variety of learning and development opportunities via a range of sources and methods
• Confidential advice and support via the Employee Assistance Programme
• Health and well-being programme
• Professional Membership Fees paid for, dependent on the role
• Subsidy for public transport
• Relocation Assistance may be payable in approved cases
• Staff reward and recognition framework

Hours: This is a full-time role, for 37 hours per week.

Although the role is advertised as full time, if you believe you have the skills and experience to join us and would like to discuss different working patterns, please do get in touch.

Working Pattern: Monday-Friday (including occasional evenings and weekends)

Contract: Permanent

Salary: £40,476 – £45,718 per annum (City Pay Band 6), pro rata for part time.

Location: This is flexible – working in Cambridge on site or at one of our offices or working from home.  You will be able to balance your work location accordingly.

More Information:

You can click on the links here to find out more information about Staff Pay and Benefits, Working for the Council, our Values & Behaviours or Equality & Diversity in Recruitment

Application Process:

To be considered for this role, please ‘Apply Online HERE’ and complete an application.

Recruitment Timetable:

If you would like to be considered for this role, you will need to apply by 16 March 2025 

Interviews will take place on a time and date to be confirmed.