Street Events Assistant Manager (fixed term)

Closing date: 10:00 Monday 02 June 2025

Interview date: Tuesday 10 June 2025

Start date: Monday 30 June 2025

End date: Friday 29 August 2025

Location: Based in our central Edinburgh office

Background

The idea at the heart of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is simple: anyone with a desire to perform and a venue willing to host them is welcome. No individual or committee determines who can or cannot perform at the Fringe.

It all began in 1947 with eight companies – six of them from Scotland – taking a risk, turning up uninvited and performing on the ‘fringe’ of the inaugural Edinburgh International Festival. Over 75 years later, the Fringe has grown to become one of the greatest platforms for creative freedom in the world, second only to the Olympics in terms of global ticketed events. In 2024, 3,745 shows took place in 296 venues across Edinburgh.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society was founded by artists to nurture and uphold the Fringe's values of inclusivity, experimentation and imagination. We exist to support, advise and encourage everyone who wants to participate in the Fringe, provide information and assistance to audiences, and celebrate the Fringe and what it stands for all over the world.

We are seeking to appoint a proactive and well-organised individual to the role of Assistant Event Manager, playing an integral role in coordinating the Street Events.

During the Fringe, the Street Events team manages vibrant street performance areas in the heart of the city: These spaces become the focus of the carnival atmosphere that takes over Edinburgh in August, with thousands of locals and tourists mingling to see the spectacular acts that travel from all over the world to entertain the crowds.

Reporting to the Street Events Manager, the Assistant Event Manager will take a lead on planning and organising the event production schedule, liaising with third parties including the Council, security contractors and our preferred fabrication partners. They will also manage and provide on the ground support to a team of coordinators and stewards across sites.

The Street Events team consists of the Street Events Manager, Assistant Manager, Administrator, a small team of coordinators and a team of stewards , along with a contracted security and First Aid team. The management team works closely with City of Edinburgh Council, Police Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service to manage the event safely.

Role and responsibilities

You will perform a wide range of duties, including but not limited to:

• Planning and organising the production schedule for the Street Events.

• Being an onsite manager during the event, looking after a small stewarding team and working closely with the wider production team during the install and get out of the event.

• Working with external contractors to ensure the smooth running of street events throughout, including the installation of site, agreeing timelines and budgets, including sourcing and contracting appropriate third-party suppliers.

• Procuring relevant permits, liaising with Council and public services, and producing other related paperwork such as risk assessments and technical specs.

• Maintaining good relationships with all stakeholders and consistently delivering a first-class service.

• Managing production budgets effectively, as allocated by the Finance Manager, and ensuring that internal resources and services are appropriately managed to facilitate recharging and invoicing.

• Ensuring compliance with Health & Safety and licensing requirements, including the creation and distribution of risk assessments and method statements.

• Ensuring that all stakeholders, including staff, contractors, third party companies and performers are informed of and comply with relevant Health and Safety policies and procedures, to ensure public safety of the Street Events areas.

• Working with the Street Events Manager to ensure all relevant insurance is in place for the event.

• Carrying out other general administrative duties including staff recruitment, answering correspondence and performer scheduling.

• Deputising for the Street Events Manager on all matters when requested, and carrying out other duties as reasonably expected of the post.

Person specification

Essential

• Demonstrable experience in a managerial role in festival / event management
• Experience in event production, site management working with contractors to deliver event infrastructure.
• Excellent computer literacy and good knowledge of Microsoft packages including Excel and Access.
• Knowledge and understanding of Health and Safety regulations for events.
• Proven track record of managing teams, training and day-today management of staff.
•  Excellent organisational and time management skills and ability to prioritise conflicting demands across a very busy workload.
• Creative and flexible in response to problem solving.
•  Experience and enjoyment of working in extremely busy, dynamic, creative environments
•  Ability to communicate effectively and professionally with a wide range of interested parties.

Desirable

•  Knowledge of Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
•  A recognised first aid qualification.
•  Experience of working on large outdoor events.
•  Experience working with street performers or buskers.

Rate of pay and benefits 

The rate of pay for this post is £15 per hour, payable at weekly intervals.  

Normal working hours are 35 hours a week, worked Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 18:00, with a 1-hour unpaid break. From 28 July 2024, your hours will increase to 48 hours worked in 9-hour shifts (with a 1-hour unpaid break) from 09.00 to 19.00 over six days between Monday and Sunday. Your working hours will be organised according to a rota system which the Society will notify you of in advance of the Fringe.  

We use positive action under section 159 of the Equality Act in relation to disability or race. This means that if we have two candidates of equal merit in our process, we will seek to take forward the D/deaf, disabled, Black, Asian or ethnically diverse candidate in order to diversify our staff team. 

The Fringe have identified six pillars of commitment around the sustainable delivery of their work, are active members of the Festivals Edinburgh Sustainability Working group and include climate action as one of the headline targets in the Fringe development goals. As part of the commitments of this work, all Fringe staff members are expected to assist with the Fringe Society’s environmental goals and consider these in all elements of your work.

We are also committed to maintaining the open-access policy of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from all sectors of the community. We are also proud to be a Disability Confident Employer and aim to successfully employ and retain disabled people and those with health conditions. We expect employees to support these commitments and to assist in their realisation.