Head of Marketing

As a member of the senior leadership team, the Head of Marketing will have management and creative responsibility for marketing communications and promotion, including the mission and worship of the Abbey, installations, events and hospitality, proactively managing the Marketing and Commercial teams to deliver on our strategic plan.

Key responsibilities...

• To develop and deliver a strategic marketing plan for the next five years, and implement promotional activity to raise significantly the Abbey’s profile both regionally and nationally.
• To identify and market an annual programme of events and major installations which engage our town and region, driving footfall and engagement and delivering an excellent visitor experience.
• To lead an effective and motivated Marketing and Commercial Team, with the aim of doubling visitor numbers and commercial income within five years.
• To be a hands-on member of the team, working in partnership with colleagues, volunteers and members of the congregation for the flourishing of the Abbey as a spiritual, cultural and heritage resource to the town, region, nation and Church.

Message from the Vicar…

For over 900 years Tewkesbury Abbey has been at the heart of the community - as a place of gathering, worship, celebration and remembrance.  Down the centuries we have been a Benedictine Abbey, a parish church and a place of refuge in times of flood and war.

Today the Abbey is a thriving parish church with hundreds coming here to worship each week, drawn by our commitment to daily prayer and our traditional choral worship. We are a ‘Major Church’ within the Church of England, and we are larger than fourteen of our country’s cathedrals. We are also a venue for concerts, large civic events, fairs and festivals working in partnership with colleagues throughout the region, the Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury Cultural Consortium and Gloucester Cathedral.

Like many heritage assets within the UK, COVID and lockdown presented us with serious challenges to our financial sustainability. We are now responding to those challenges with ambitious plans to double our visitor income and numbers within five years. These plans have been agreed and funded by our Parochial Church Council and are being overseen by our trading arm Tewkesbury Abbey Limited.

We applied for and won a £250,000 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which will among other projects increase our marketing activity and visitor engagement, including the appointment of a marketing assistant, a volunteers officer and a project manager to oversee the scoping of future capital development plans, and testing activities such as entry by donation.  We hope that this will lead to one or more larger-scale capital bids which could lead to a longer-term funding relationship to secure the Abbey as a thriving venue, unique heritage asset and global visitor destination.

In the past year we have hosted Luke Jerram’s ‘Gaia’ installation which was visited by over 20,000 people from across the region, the Luxmuralis immersive projection ‘Space’ and ‘The Longest Yarn’, a commemorative exhibition of knitted D-Day history, followed by Peter Walker’s ‘Peace Doves’ installation.  Alongside these we also hosted environmental events, a schools programme, concerts and talks in addition to our core business of of worship and festive services.

As Head of Marketing you will play a key role in shaping and delivering the future plans and development of the Abbey.  You will be in at the start and will oversee the growth of your team as we deliver on these plans - a unique opportunity for a creative marketing professional. The successful candidate will be a flexible team player who is looking for an exciting new challenge encompassing marketing, events, hospitality and commercial services and the opportunity to shape the next chapter in the life of the Abbey.