Operations & Venue Manager

The Operations & Venue Manager is an exciting new senior leadership role at Circus Centre Melbourne, our vibrant circus precinct in Collingwood.

Welcome to your new role! 

Circus Centre Melbourne (CCM) is a creative circus hub located in Melbourne on Wurundjeri Country, led by the Flying Fruit Fly Circus, Australia’s National Youth Circus and the country’s only full-time circus school for young people aged 8–19. CCM is a home for world-class circus training and creative exploration, building opportunities for community engagement, artist development and industry growth. We are now entering an exciting next phase, developing CCM as a place where circus is not only trained and created, but presented and performed. 

We are seeking a Operations & Venue Manager to join our Melbourne team. This is a senior role at an exciting time in CCM’s development, leading the operational development of our performance venue alongside day-to-day facilities management. 

This is a role for someone who likes people, planning and making things work. Someone who can take ownership, solve problems, contribute ideas and work collaboratively. Most importantly, we’re looking for someone who is genuinely excited by our vision at CCM and can be integral to its smooth running, creating an industry leading experience for artists, audiences, hirers and the wider CCM community. 

Location:  Circus Centre Melbourne, 35 Johnston St, Collingwood VIC 3066 

Reports To:  Director of Circus Centre Melbourne 

Direct Reports:  Casual Operations Staff including Riggers, Duty Mangers, & Production Crew. 

Days / Hours:  Full-time, with regular working hours generally Monday to Friday. Some evening and weekend work will be required from time to time to support CCM’s performance, event and venue operations. 

Remuneration:  $85,000 – $90,000 per annum, commensurate with experience, plus Superannuation and all entitlements  

Term:  2 years with the possibility to become ongoing, preferred start date October 2026.  

In this role, you will: 

• Keep CCM running smoothly: Take overall operational responsibility for the day-to-day running of the building, access, security, equipment and operational systems. 

• Lead the next phase of CCM’s development: Play a key role in establishing CCM as a performance venue, leading the production, operational and technical requirements with support from the wider CCM and FFFC teams. 

• Deliver great venue hire and residency experiences: Lead the operational delivery of venue hires and residencies, ensuring they run smoothly, and hirers and residents have what they need to work safely at CCM. 

• Create a safe and compliant environment: Lead the implementation of workplace health and safety, emergency management, incident response and compliance systems across the centre. 

• Coordinate people and resources: Oversee casual operational and venue staff, including rostering, induction, training and day-to-day support, ensuring the right people are in the right place when they are needed. 

• Look after the building and its assets: Coordinate maintenance, contractors, suppliers, equipment servicing and repairs, ensuring CCM’s facilities and equipment are safe, functional and well maintained. 

What we’d love to see from you: 

• Strong venue and operations experience: Demonstrated experience managing the day-to-day operations of a busy, multi-use venue or facility, including facilities, contractors, suppliers, access and maintenance. 

• Production and event experience: Experience coordinating the operational and production requirements of performances or events including staffing, access, bump-in/bump-out and event delivery. 

• Safety and risk management: Strong understanding of workplace health and safety, risk management and incident response, with the confidence to implement and maintain effective safety systems. 

• Highly organised and practical: Strong organisational skills, attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple priorities, solve problems and make things happen. 

• A collaborative team player: Someone who contributes generously to the wider team, is willing to pitch in where needed, and values sharing ideas, knowledge and responsibility. 

• Confident, curious and open: Able to step into a role with initiative and take ownership, while taking the time to listen, understand what is already working and build on it. 

• People-focused: Genuine commitment to creating a positive experience for artists, hirers, participants, members and visitors, with the communication and interpersonal skills to work effectively with a wide range of people. 

Find the full position description here

Don’t meet every single requirement? That’s okay – we’d still love to hear from you. 

What you’ll get in return from us: 

You’ll be joining a passionate team at an exciting time for CCM, with the opportunity to play a key role in shaping what comes next. We want our people to thrive, grow and enjoy the work they do, and offer a supportive workplace alongside a range of benefits including: 

• Be part of an exciting period of growth as we develop CCM as a dedicated home for circus, artists and performance in Melbourne. 

• Holistic wellbeing support, including access to free and confidential EAP. 

• Annual flu shots. 

• In addition to 4 weeks annual leave, you’ll also get your birthday day off (to celebrate you!). 

The Flying Fruit Fly Circus is proud to be an inclusive and accessible workplace that celebrates diversity. We warmly welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, including those with disability, culturally and linguistically diverse individuals, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 

How to Apply   

Applications close: Monday 21st of September at 9:00am   

To apply, email your CV and a cover letter to Donna Baldwin (Executive Officer) -    

[email protected]    

  Your cover letter should include:   

• A short introduction about yourself   

• A response to how you can fulfill the role as detailed in the Position Description with specific examples of your skills and experience or any transferable skills and knowledge where applicable.   

• A response to this question: What excites you about this role?   

 You can choose the format of your cover letter that works best for you:   

• Written (1 – 2 pages)   

• Video (up to 10 minutes)   

• Audio (up to 10 minutes)   

• Auslan video (if you need interpretation, let us know and we’ll arrange it)   

Interviews:   Interviews will take place between 30 September – 1 October. Please let us know in your application if you have any times, you’re unavailable.   

 Need support or adjustments?   If you need any assistance with your application or would like adjustments to the process, contact Steph Cox (Director of Circus Centre Melbourne) at [email protected] for a chat.   

Deadline flexibility:   If something unexpected happens and you can’t meet the deadline, please get in touch to discuss a short extension. You don’t need to tell us why – just let us know.