Coworking Community Manager

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Job Description

Coworking Community Manager

Business Growth Service - Project Officer (Fraser House Community Manager)

Salary: £33,945- £38,223 Per annum

Location: Fraser House, Lancaster

Hours: 37 hours, flexible or part time hours can be discussed

Pay Award Pending

International Sponsorship - this role is not open to international sponsorship

Closing date: 13th August 2024

Who we are:

At Lancashire County Council we are growing our Innovation team within the Business Growth service who play a key part in the delivery of the Lancashire Innovation Plan 2023-2028. We have big ambitions for the plan, our team, and our county, to create better connections throughout our innovation ecosystem, catalyse great ideas, products and services and ensure that businesses have access to the support that they need to accelerate innovation.

A key innovation project, Fraser House Hub, owned by Lancashire County Council, was opened in 2021 and now has over 100 members. It acts primarily as an office, coworking and events space for digital and technology businesses from Lancaster and across the North West, and is seen across the region as a thriving hub of innovation and collaboration.

We are a passionate and proactive team - We're looking for people to join us who love this county, have transferable skills you can put to work helping businesses feel more confident about their potential, and want to be recognised for the quality of what you deliver, not how late you stay at your computer.

Lancashire County Council is the fourth largest local authority in England and covers a huge geographic area and a wide range of communities both urban and rural. As a county council our remit is substantial, varied and complex - but our purpose is simple - we exist to serve the people of Lancashire by working as efficiently and innovatively as possible to prioritise the services they need and want.

The Job Role:

Based at Fraser House Hub on Lancaster's White Cross Business Park we are seeking a Project Officer to be our Coworking Community Manager for our community of technology and digital businesses.

As Coworking Community Manager at Fraser House Hub, your role is to cultivate a vibrant, collaborative, and productive environment for our members. You will serve as the bridge between the coworking space and its members, providing an effective workspace, nurturing our community and facilitating a culture of collaboration. Working in collaboration with the community coordinator and other key members of the team, you will implement ways to best support and engage with our members.

At Fraser House, our ultimate goal is to create community, culture and opportunities for our members and wider network.

Due to the nature of the role, you will be required to work in person at Fraser House Hub 37 hours a week, though there can be some slight flexibility in the exact timing of these hours.

Key responsibilities:

Community Management

• Culture: Cultivate a vibrant, collaborative, and productive environment for our members.
• Events: Planning, co-ordinating and delivering event series to meet the needs of the community.
• Building relationships: Getting to know members, understanding their needs, and fostering collaborations among them.
• Signposting: Facilitating introductions to and collaboration with other members, partners and business support services to support member needs.
• Feedback & satisfaction: Instituting regular feedback mechanisms to enhance services and offers.

Membership Management

• Outreach and marketing: Actively promote the coworking space and attract new members through various channels including website, LinkedIn and email.
• Tours and onboarding: Providing tours for prospective members as well as ensuring new members are completing the onboarding process and are introduced to the community and Fraser House Hub amenities.
• Retention and expansion: Implement strategies to keep existing members engaged and satisfied and support businesses to plan their next space needs as the business grows (including referring into other parts of White Cross/wider ecosystem where relevant).
• Business development: Generate new memberships and ensure revenue goals are met through additional services such as room bookings and podcast studio hire.
• Conflict resolution: Addressing and resolving any issues or disputes within the community.

General Management

• Finance management: Ensuring that the space is managed within budget including supplier management, reporting, monitoring and ensuring member payment accounts are up to date.
• Team approach: Line management of and collaboration with the Community Coordinator (22hrs p/w) to ensure that the space and members are supported effectively.
• Membership system management: Management of online membership and booking system (Nexudus) including, but not limited to, meeting room bookings, new memberships and access control and ensuring we are maximising the tool's capabilities.
• General space management: Tasks associated with the smooth running of the space including supplier management, management of facilities e.g. printers and kitchen facilities and mail management.
• External relationships: Maintaining a strong relationship with the wider Lancashire ecosystem, business park and providing feedback from members and tenants to feed into ongoing development of Fraser House and White Cross.

Ideal experience and skillset:

• You are passionate about customer and member success with a commitment to driving community, culture and opportunities.
• You will have experience in sales, customer service and/or demand generation.
• You will have experience of managing and achieving customer satisfaction and issue resolution.
• You will thrive off meeting new people, building networks and connecting people and businesses to the support they need to make an impact.
• You will have some experience in events organisation and social outreach and/or a willingness to learn these skills.
• You will be adaptable and dynamic in your approach - no two days will be the same!
• You will be proactive and independent in coming up with new ideas and bringing them to life within the resources available.
• You will have some project management and basic admin and finance experience.
• You will have some knowledge of tech and digital businesses, and / or Lancashire businesses as well as a network of connections.
• You will have an interest in and passion for Lancashire as a place, and excited to encourage more people and businesses to do great things here.

Please ensure you have uploaded and attached your supporting statement to evidence how you meet the criteria for the role. The panel may be unable to shortlist you for interview without this evidence.

You will be required to provide a car for use in connection with the duties of this post and must be insured for business use. However, we may consider you if you cannot drive because of a disability.

In return Lancashire County Council offers a range of benefits, which can be found on LCC Vacancies website.

We reserve the right to close down a vacancy early, before the closing date, if we receive sufficient applications.

Job Description and Person Specification