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Cross-Studio Manager
London
Summary
This role is a leadership position working across 3 pioneering creative studios in central London; 59 Studio (Highbury), Squint/Opera (Hackney) & VMI (Oval). We are looking for an experienced studio/office manager with a track record of running buildings or locations that are welcoming spaces, infrastructurally fit for purpose and foster a strong creative culture. You will ensure each Studio’s individual facilities requirements are met to a high standard as well as connecting our 3 Studios across suppliers, contractors, hospitality and socialising. The role will oversee a team in each Studio to support the delivery of this remit.
Overall you will be responsible for the studio experience across all sites for both employees and visitors, making sure there is an excellent functionality, access and hospitality based approach and a seamless, comfortable experience for everyone, from arrival to departure.
Main Responsibilities
Facilities, Site Management & Studio Operations
- Responsible for the overall studio experience for both employees and visiting clients; making sure there is an excellent hospitality based approach and a seamless, comfortable experience from arrival to departure
- Responsible for maintaining a welcoming, comfortable, clean and tidy working environment in all locations
- Managing and overseeing operations across the studio including maintenance, insurance, health & safety, supplies, security, utilities, cleaning and liaison with the landlord and respective building managers
- Responsible for streamlining and integrating multiple processes across the studio, whilst maintaining the unique strengths of each studio culture and approach
- Responsible for promoting and maintaining a positive and unique studio culture through contributing to P&C initiatives
- Managing and overseeing studio refurbishments, moves, capital works and project management of any works and maintenance across the studios
- Responsible for studio seating plans and managing any flexible working arrangements in close partnership with IT
- Ensuring the studios are assessed and compliant with current Health and Safety regulations including fire risk audits, drills and tests and H&S inductions for new starters
- Acting as primary Fire Warden and First Aider and ensuring members of the team are sufficiently trained on each site
- Ensuring compliant emergency protocols across all sites
- Work closely with IT to ensure smooth running of the studio communications infrastructure and meeting room connectivity, troubleshooting where required
- Responsible for ensuring compliance with insurance requirements, including location security and managing claims made
- Contributing to the development of new sites globally as required
- Contributing to the sustainability initiative at Journey as it relates to studio and facility supplies and processes
- Host a bi-monthly operations meeting reporting on studio matters
Finance
- Managing studio budget taking decisions to control costs whilst providing a high level of service
- Responsible for renewing and managing the commercial and travel insurances partnering with finance and the MDs
- Overseeing financial arrangements associated with each site including but not limited to commercial business rates
Travel Management
- Managing the travel provider and travel spend across the EMEA region as required, liaising globally where necessary and implementing new processes or providers
- Ensuring an easy and timely booking process for staff and collaborators
Team
- Line management of individuals in each Studio/site to ensure excellent delivery of this remit and continuity across the studios
- Overseeing operational IT contractors and/or members of staff to deliver sufficient IT infrastructure across all sites
- Responsible for cultivating and ensuring seamless staff communication across the studios
- Managing and overseeing the organisation of studio social events and cultural initiatives in collaboration with our People & Culture teams
- Liaising with the studio reception teams to ensure the smooth running of day to day studio life
- Contributing to our on-boarding process to ensure a positive and seamless start for all new joiners
- Contributing to the wider decision making of each Studio to ensure facilities are considered in strategic decision making where appropriate
Character Traits
- Strong interpersonal and relationship management skills dealing with all levels, managing multiple stakeholders internally and with external contractors
- Responsible, resourceful, proactive, diligent, methodical and super organised
- A practical, positive and flexible attitude to problem solving
- Very strong organisational and project management skills
- Discretion and diplomacy
Qualification/Experience
Required
- Experience managing in a creative studio studio environment or similar
- Experience managing across multiple teams in different locations
- Proven experience in cultivating workplace culture
- Up to date knowledge of H&S Standards
- Budget management and cost control experience
- Experience with G-Docs
- Advanced Microsoft Office
- Experience negotiating and managing service contracts and maintaining relationships with contractors
Desirable
- Experience project managing office fit outs/ capital works
- Hospitality and customer service experience
- Experience implementing and improving process, policy and best practice
- Minute taking skills
Hours
Full-time | 09.30 - 18.00 Mon - Friday
Occasional weekend work to support office maintenance will be required and time given back as additional holiday
Application Deadline: Friday 28th February at 10:00am
Salary Pay Range
£45,000 - £63,000 GBP
About Squint/Opera:
Squint/Opera is Journey’s immersive design studio, bridging the digital and physical worlds through groundbreaking storytelling and emerging technologies such as Unreal Engine and virtual twins.
We’re the innovators behind the Empire State Building Observatory’s digital reinvention, creating over 40 unique exhibits that transform 10,000 square feet into an interactive journey through history and architecture. At Battersea Power Station, we designed Lift 109, an immersive ascent experience that melds cutting-edge animations, interactive elements, and spatial soundscapes to breathe new life into London’s iconic landmark. For Qiddiya City, we pushed the boundaries of virtual production, crafting a revolutionary campaign that ignited global excitement for Saudi Arabia’s visionary sports and entertainment mega-development.
We’re at the forefront of a new era in experiential multidimensional design (MDX) and an integral part of Journey’s Experience Stack. Inspired by the concept of a tech stack, our Experience Stack draws on decades of cumulative expertise from our physical, lighting, live & immersive, and emerging technology studios to produce magical, meaningful, original work. This integration propels our partners into new realms of growth and delivers multidimensional experiences that are not just consumed but that are lived and felt through every dimension of human interaction.
About Journey:
Journey is a global design and innovation studio pioneering multidimensional experiences (MDX) that transform how people perceive, engage, and interact with the world. With studios in New York, London, Miami, and Dubai, we blend strategy, design, technology, and narrative to create sensory-rich journeys that ignite emotion and deepen connections between people, brands, and culture.
Journey was formed in 2022 by visionary leaders who refuse to accept limits. United through the acquisitions of award-winning studios ICRAVE, Squint/Opera, 59, and VMI Studio, together, we form something new: a multidimensional design practice with unparalleled expertise across the physical, immersive, and digital realms.
But we're so much more than a combination of acquisitions; we're a revolutionary framework of layered design capabilities akin to the layers of a technology stack for software companies. Like the best technology stacks, our framework continuously evolves to embrace new capabilities and creative possibilities with the future of the human experience at the forefront. This game-changing framework, the Journey Experience Stack, allows us to design for every touchpoint and create uncommonly cohesive brand universes, drawing on our collective expertise in interior design, lighting design, media design, interactive design, and content creation to deliver industry-first solutions for entertainment, healthcare, retail, hospitality, real estate, and cultural institutions.
No other full-service studio practices multidimensional design or vertically integrates its experience capabilities with this level of sophistication. Whether we’re reimagining the hospital-patient relationship, creating the world’s most immersive entertainment venue, revolutionizing live theater, or crafting virtual twins that accelerate ideas’ passage from vision to reality, Journey’s work is pioneering the shift of how people perceive, engage, and interact with the world.
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