Role summary

The Head of Production Management is responsible for working closely with our production customers to ensure we deliver on their space and operational needs, maximising our commercial potential and ensuring that they have a great experience.

The role reports to the General Manager and collaborates closely with their colleagues, Head of Studios Services (overseeing front-of-house services), Head of Cleaning and Grounds, Head of Group Facility Services, Head of Projects and Minor Works, and Head of Health, Safety, and Compliance.

The role and their team (of c. 10 people) are responsible for the management of Master Lease Agreements and their productions alongside 3^rd Party production customers occupying spaces within the Studio (and off-site spaces if under the management of Pinewood Group). This includes providing operational advice, guidance and support to the studio unit/production/locations teams and HODs, set-up and reconfiguration of production spaces, coordinating and facilitating access for internal and contractors works, solving customer challenges and requests, communicating customer needs & intel internally and tracking local sales activity. To the customer, the role (and team) are the face of Pinewood Group; internally, the role is the voice of the customer and owner of the customer relationship.

The role holder will prioritise and triage these responsibilities, taking responsibility for, or delegating and tracking their completion, ensuring that the day-to-day, activities are executed efficiently and effectively by their teams, focusing the majority of their time on building and maintaining strong working relationships with production and internal stakeholders, solving complex customer challenges, driving continuous improvement and seeking out and capitalising on commercial opportunities for re-sale.

Due to the nature of film and HETV production, the Head of Production Management, alongside their direct reports, may be required, from time to time, to support production customers with out-of-hours operations, so a level of flexibility in their working hours and/or ability to be on-call will be required.

Principle accountabilities

• Establish and maintain strong working relationships with Master Lease Agreement and 3rd Party stakeholders/managers, Line Producers and production office teams. Lead regular dialogue/meetings to understand plans and requirements, communicate things which impacts their production and offer solutions to complex needs. Communicate and coordinate with customers things which impact their production. Be capable and proactive at having tough customer conversations when required.
• Support all the production’s wider operational requirements, developing solutions, coordinating and cascading these needs to the Head of Studio Services, Head of Cleaning and Grounds, and other peers in FS, HSSC and Projects and other departments as needed, taking ownership of the communication to the customers, commercial re-charges, and overall delivery on these needs . Be the voice and gateway to productions for internal departments, internally owning the customer relationship.
• Lead and provide direction to the Studio Operations Managers and Site Assistants in their operational support of productions via the customer’s Studio Management team (for example: carry out on- and off-hire checks (inclusive of identification and follow though of re-charges for damage mis-use and abuse and losses); plan unit base, cabin and marquee placements, moves and methods; help with operational requests from productions; Manage the Alterations Request Process, problem solving and communicating with customers as required to expedite responses; be responsible for the planning and management of backlot shoots, location shoots, night shoots, other special operations (e.g. aircraft movements, drone operations, live animals etc.) and out of hours vehicle moves / working. The role will be responsible for ensuring that regular facility inspections are completed, highlighting Health and Safety Concerns via SHOUT and Facility concerns via Loc8.
• Lead the onboarding and exiting of new productions, ensuring that early engagement with incoming productions is undertaken in a manner that delivers an outstanding experience, and that they are suitably briefed on local operating procedures, H&S arrangements and process and the asset alteration process. Through the Studio Operations Manager and Site Assistant team, ensure that facilities are setup for their needs prior to their arrival at the Studio and that the furniture stock is tracked and managed, including lifecycle replacement and the development of Group/Studio standards.
• Lead and provide direction to the Production Manager and Assistant in their spaces planning and sales support for productions (for example: booking in the Disney, Netflix and Amazon productions on SBS; booking in and contracting 3rd party productions; communicating in/out dates internally; ground rents; car parking allocations; etc.) overseeing the production of tracking reports and commercial budgeting for resale/3rd party sales.
• Lead the sales of available production facilities (U Stage, gym, other non-lease spaces, resale production space) to UK line producer community, including outreach sales activity by yourself and through the team. Maintain clear visibility on future availability and forward plan actions to create a pipeline of leads.
• Collaborate closely with the Head of Global Sales and Head of Production Management at opposing studio to ensure there is a clear shared plan on availability, leads, sales strategy and outreach actions.
• Lead and provide direction to the Operations Coordinator and Assistant in their administration of the asset alterations process, financial tracking and PR administration and administration of studio communications to customers, and operational reporting.
• Prioritise and triage these responsibilities, ensuring that the day-to-day, activities are executed efficiently and effectively by their teams, focusing the majority of their time on building and maintaining strong working relationships with production, solving the complex customer challenges, driving continuous improvement and seeking out and capitalising on commercial opportunities for re-sale.
• Collaborate with the Head of Group Operational Improvement and Head of Production Management at opposing studio to share learnings, best practice, client intel and instigate ongoing improvements

Skills and experience

Essential criteria

• Previous commercial or operational experience in the film, television and media sectors, or other relevant operational environment.
• Experience working with or for large budget film/TV productions
• Knowledge of commercial contracts
• Knowledge of production organisation and processes
• Knowledge of Incident Management
• Highly organised, strong leader and commercially aware.
• Excellent communication skills and customer focused.
• Sales skills.
• Adept at dealing with demanding clients and challenging conversations.
• Capable of working to strict targets and timescales with an ability to set deadlines.
• Ability to find practical solutions, think creatively and overcome obstacles.
• Values driven personally & professionally.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Desire and ability to engage in continued professional development.
• Team player.
• Ability to be on-call as may be required to ensure that customer are provided with support whenever they are operating at the Studio.

Desirable criteria

• Degree-level education.
• NEBOSH General Certificate in Health and Safety
• IWFM Level 4 in Facilities Management
• Sales experience
• Facilities Management experience
• Knowledge of production logistics
• Knowledge of key systems e.g. SBS, Loc8, Site Audit Pro, and SHOUT.
• Knowledge of the Health and Safety at Work Regulations, and the Regulatory Reform Order

Other information

• Role location: Shepperton Studios
• Competitive starting salary and discretionary annual bonus of up to 15% of salary.
• 25 days’ holiday as standard with the option to buy 3 additional days, plus English public holidays.
• Pension scheme 5% employer contribution and 3% minimum employee contribution.
• Comprehensive private medical healthcare from Bupa, including cover for pre-existing conditions, dental and optical cover.
• Income Protection for yourself, up to 75% of salary.
• Life assurance of 4 x annual salary.
• £3.20 per day Pinewood canteen subsidy.
• Two days per year volunteering allowance for our local communities.
• Invest@Work Saving Account with Fidelity.
• Various other staff perks including but not limited to, gym and retail discounts, free film screenings and staff events.

Closing date for applications is 25th March 2025

Pinewood Group is an equal opportunities employer. We are highly committed to building a diverse and inclusive culture for our people and actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds.

As such we would invite you to please complete our Diversity Monitoring Survey. We collect this information for equality monitoring purposes, as permitted by law, but you do not have to complete this form. If you choose to provide this information, you will help us to develop our equal opportunities policies and to monitor each stage of recruitment. All the information you provide will be anonymous and is not considered with your application.

Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments to be made to any stage of the recruitment process in your cover letter.