Chief Electrician - Reading Arts
| Posting date: | 09 July 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £37,552 to £43,628 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 23 July 2025 |
| Location: | Reading, Berkshire |
| Remote working: | On-site only |
| Company: | Reading Borough Council |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: |
Summary
Are you a skilled theatre technician with a passion for lighting, sound and AV, and ready to lead a dynamic team across some of Reading’s most exciting performance venues?
We’re looking for a Chief Electrician to join our Arts & Venues team. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone with strong technical theatre experience and supervisory skills to help deliver outstanding performances, events and conferences at the Hexagon, Concert Hall, and South Street Arts Centre.
We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity and inclusion is the key to our success. Reading Borough Council is a Disability Confident Employer and is committed to the recruitment and continued employment of people with disabilities.
About the role:
As Chief Electrician, you’ll be responsible for overseeing all lighting, sound, and AV operations across our venues. Working closely with the Technical Manager, you’ll lead a team of technicians to ensure all events run smoothly, safely and to the highest technical standards.
To find out more about the arts and theatre venues within Reading visit: https://whatsonreading.com
Your main duties will include:
Managing the technical delivery of performances and events (lighting, sound, AV)
Liaising with visiting companies and clients to meet their technical needs
Supervising and rota’ing technical staff and casuals
Maintaining all technical equipment and ensuring safe working practices
Deputising for the Technical Manager when required
About you:
You’ll bring extensive experience in a busy technical theatre environment, including at least two years in a supervisory role. You’ll be confident in all aspects of lighting design and rigging (including intelligent fixtures), live sound mixing, and the set-up and operation of AV systems. A strong understanding of health and safety practices, including risk assessments and working at height, is essential. You’ll also have a good working knowledge of current electrical regulations as they apply to the theatre industry.
In addition, you’ll be an effective team leader and communicator, capable of supervising staff, liaising with visiting companies, and ensuring smooth technical operations across multiple venues. You’ll be IT literate and able to use systems like MS Office, Artifax and Oracle. A full, clean driving licence is required, and you’ll need to be comfortable with working unsocial hours, including evenings, weekends and bank holidays.
You’ll be part of a team that relies on each individual to play their part to the best of their ability. As well as the colleagues that you work closely with every day, you’ll also be part of Team Reading, playing your personal part in making Reading a successful and vibrant place.
Our vision is to ensure that Reading realises its potential as a great place to live, work and play, and that everyone shares the benefits of this success. Our values and behaviours guide how we will achieve this:
Work Together as one team - work collaboratively, with each other and with our partners, and demonstrate the Team Reading values in everything we do.
Drive Efficiency - show initiative, be adaptable to change and put forward ideas to help improve delivery and efficiency. Take responsibility for our own learning and development and for reaching our potential.
Be Ambitious - be demanding of our own performance – striving to be even better – and be prepared to engage with and challenge leaders in a constructive and positive way.
Make a Difference to Reading - maintain the highest levels of customer service and be flexible and willing to provide the services needed at the time they are needed.
Our offer
We offer a supportive environment to grow and develop your career with the opportunity to put your ideas across. Innovation and ambition is strongly encouraged, and you’ll get a great feel for that working in our friendly and collaborative environment.
A competitive salary alongside a range of benefits including:
Generous holiday entitlement - 25 days holiday each year plus bank holidays - rising to 33 days after 10 years' service, with the option to buy additional leave.
A wide range of flexible working opportunities
Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
Life Assurance - three times your annual salary (for members of the LGPS)
A nursery in our Civic Offices (Kennet Day nursery) rated outstanding by Ofsted
Season Ticket Loan - a loan to help with the cost of your rail or bus journey, to and from work.
Lease car salary sacrifice scheme allowing you to lease a brand new, greener car for three years. The monthly fee includes insurance, servicing and road tax.
To arrange a confidential discussion on this position please contact Rick Bull (Technical Manager) - rick.bull@reading.gov.uk
Closing Date: Wednesday 23rd July 2025
Interview Date: TBC
Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and return your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
We’re looking for a Chief Electrician to join our Arts & Venues team. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone with strong technical theatre experience and supervisory skills to help deliver outstanding performances, events and conferences at the Hexagon, Concert Hall, and South Street Arts Centre.
We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity and inclusion is the key to our success. Reading Borough Council is a Disability Confident Employer and is committed to the recruitment and continued employment of people with disabilities.
About the role:
As Chief Electrician, you’ll be responsible for overseeing all lighting, sound, and AV operations across our venues. Working closely with the Technical Manager, you’ll lead a team of technicians to ensure all events run smoothly, safely and to the highest technical standards.
To find out more about the arts and theatre venues within Reading visit: https://whatsonreading.com
Your main duties will include:
Managing the technical delivery of performances and events (lighting, sound, AV)
Liaising with visiting companies and clients to meet their technical needs
Supervising and rota’ing technical staff and casuals
Maintaining all technical equipment and ensuring safe working practices
Deputising for the Technical Manager when required
About you:
You’ll bring extensive experience in a busy technical theatre environment, including at least two years in a supervisory role. You’ll be confident in all aspects of lighting design and rigging (including intelligent fixtures), live sound mixing, and the set-up and operation of AV systems. A strong understanding of health and safety practices, including risk assessments and working at height, is essential. You’ll also have a good working knowledge of current electrical regulations as they apply to the theatre industry.
In addition, you’ll be an effective team leader and communicator, capable of supervising staff, liaising with visiting companies, and ensuring smooth technical operations across multiple venues. You’ll be IT literate and able to use systems like MS Office, Artifax and Oracle. A full, clean driving licence is required, and you’ll need to be comfortable with working unsocial hours, including evenings, weekends and bank holidays.
You’ll be part of a team that relies on each individual to play their part to the best of their ability. As well as the colleagues that you work closely with every day, you’ll also be part of Team Reading, playing your personal part in making Reading a successful and vibrant place.
Our vision is to ensure that Reading realises its potential as a great place to live, work and play, and that everyone shares the benefits of this success. Our values and behaviours guide how we will achieve this:
Work Together as one team - work collaboratively, with each other and with our partners, and demonstrate the Team Reading values in everything we do.
Drive Efficiency - show initiative, be adaptable to change and put forward ideas to help improve delivery and efficiency. Take responsibility for our own learning and development and for reaching our potential.
Be Ambitious - be demanding of our own performance – striving to be even better – and be prepared to engage with and challenge leaders in a constructive and positive way.
Make a Difference to Reading - maintain the highest levels of customer service and be flexible and willing to provide the services needed at the time they are needed.
Our offer
We offer a supportive environment to grow and develop your career with the opportunity to put your ideas across. Innovation and ambition is strongly encouraged, and you’ll get a great feel for that working in our friendly and collaborative environment.
A competitive salary alongside a range of benefits including:
Generous holiday entitlement - 25 days holiday each year plus bank holidays - rising to 33 days after 10 years' service, with the option to buy additional leave.
A wide range of flexible working opportunities
Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
Life Assurance - three times your annual salary (for members of the LGPS)
A nursery in our Civic Offices (Kennet Day nursery) rated outstanding by Ofsted
Season Ticket Loan - a loan to help with the cost of your rail or bus journey, to and from work.
Lease car salary sacrifice scheme allowing you to lease a brand new, greener car for three years. The monthly fee includes insurance, servicing and road tax.
To arrange a confidential discussion on this position please contact Rick Bull (Technical Manager) - rick.bull@reading.gov.uk
Closing Date: Wednesday 23rd July 2025
Interview Date: TBC
Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and return your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.