Job title: Festival Operations Officer Reporting to: Events & Festival Operations Manager Responsible for: Temporary Festival Assistants Based: Our Head Office is based in London, but we have an agile working policy enabling people to work at another UK location up to 4 days/week. Requests for permanent remote working will be considered and we welcome applications from people based in other parts of the UK. Terms: Full-time (35 hours per week). Requests for secondments will be considered. Contract: Fixed-term contract terminating on 19 September 2025. Preferred start date: 26 March 2025. Salary: £28,600 - £34,424 per annum (pro-rata) Travel to Liverpool will be required in the lead-up and during the British Science Festival 2025. About the role The British Science Association is looking to recruit a talented and organised Festival Operations Officer to help us plan and deliver the British Science Festival 2025. The British Science Festival is Europe’s longest standing science festival which connects people with researchers from across the scientific spectrum. It offers an inspiring programme of free events to the public over five days, with talks, workshops and drop-in events which span a diverse range of subjects that encompass science in the broadest sense. It is hosted by a different university in the United Kingdom each year. The 2025 Festival will take place in Liverpool from 10-14 September 2025 and will be co-hosted by Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and the University of Liverpool (UoL). The Festival Operations Officer will manage logistics-related communications with Festival event organisers, working in close collaboration with all staff and partners involved in the Festival. This role is a great opportunity for anyone looking to build their event and/or project management experience by working on a fast-moving and high-profile project. You should be willing to develop and coordinate key administrative tasks, as well as lead on principal areas within the Festival (such as accommodation arrangements and managing the temporary Festival Assistants). The role will involve travel to Liverpool in the months leading up to the Festival. The Festival Operations Officer will be required to attend the Festival and remain on-site in Liverpool for 2 weeks, from 3 - 16 September. During the event and in the days immediately before it, longer working hours can be expected (which will be reimbursed under the BSA’s TOIL policy) and you will need to undertake essential manual handling activities (such as lifting and moving items) to ensure that venues and equipment are set up as required for the Festival. Key responsibilities The main responsibilities will be to: Act as the main logistical point of contact for Festival event organisers/speakers; Support the Events & Festival Operations Manager in building and managing the Festival Masterplan; Recruit, train, and oversee the temporary Festival Assistants; Lead on Festival accommodation administration; Oversee the integrity of Festival-related data; Coordinate the administration of the events’ Risk Assessment forms; Collate information on speaker, audience, staff, and goods transport (including parking facilities, supplier delivery details etc.); Monitor the Festival Inbox along with members of the Engagement Team; Attend meetings and site visits in Exeter in the run-up to the Festival; Support the Festival on-site event management and delivery as required; Other duties as reasonably required by the line manager. The successful candidate will be expected to work independently, efficiently and accurately. Key working relationships The post holder will be expected to liaise with colleagues across the organisation and its partners, but is likely to develop significant working relationships with the following people: Events & Festival Operations Manager; Engagement Manager; Engagement Officer; Head of Festivals; Communications Manager. Benefits: Agile working policy enabling you to work at home or in another UK location up to 4 days per week, if office-based, and to vary your working hours outside our 10am – 12pm and 2pm – 4pm core hours, subject to the needs of the BSA; 27 days holiday per annum plus bank holidays (pro-rata for part-time employees) Up to two days paid leave per year for significant voluntary commitments in support of professional and personal development, such as being a trustee of a charity or a school governor Auto-enrolment pension scheme (4% paid by employer) Up to five days’ unpaid leave per year (this is down to the Manager’s decision and ensuring it does not affect work) Life assurance from your first day, subject to scheme rules Occupational sick pay: up to six weeks’ full pay per year (pro-rata for part-time employees) Confidential telephone counselling service, offered by our legal insurance Interest-free loan for season ticket, bike to work, and assisted study Discounts may be offered on Science Museum tickets and in the shop. The closing date for applications is 23.59 on Monday 3 March 2025. Interviews are due to take place on Monday 10 March 2025. You will be informed as soon as possible after the application deadline whether you have been selected for interview. Interested? If you would like to find out more, please click the apply button. You will be directed to our website to complete your application for this position. As part of the British Science Association’s commitment to being a Disability Confident employer, all disabled applicants who meet the ‘essential criteria’ for this vacancy will be offered an interview under our guaranteed interview scheme. If you wish to apply under the guaranteed interview scheme, you will be asked to indicate this when you submit your application by selecting ‘yes’ in the relevant box when asked during the application process. Applicants do not need to state any further information or declare their disability at the application stage. The BSA follows government advice in that it is important to note that there may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled people that meet the minimum criteria for the job. For example, in certain recruitment situations (such as a high number of applications), we may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. In these circumstances, we could select the disabled candidates who best meet the minimum criteria for the job rather than all of those that meet the minimum criteria, as we would do for non-disabled applicants. Whether you are applying under the scheme or not, if you are successful in being shortlisted, we will ask candidates with disabilities or long-term health conditions to let us know if they need any adjustments during the recruitment process. No agencies please.