Career Guidance

The Royal Ballet and Opera has over 1,100 employees and engages numerous casual workers and freelancers each year.

We are passionate about inspiring people to choose careers in the arts sector, in both the back-stage areas that they may not have previously considered or heard of and the roles that enable all our work on stage.

Three out of four of our employees work in a variety of technical, craft, administration and customer service roles - technical stage, learning and participation, fundraising, costume and scenery production, marketing, press, box office, front of house, props, retail, human resources, digital and finance to name but a few.

Getting Started

There are various routes into a career working in non-performance roles in theatre. Some jobs require qualifications; some entail training; others can be learned on the job.

The Royal Ballet and Opera is a partner in the annual TheatreCraft careers event where you can get advice from industry experts on training and employment opportunities.
The National Youth Theatre offer a number of backstage courses in Costume, Lighting and Sound, Scenic Construction or Stage Management. Upon completing the course you'll get the chance to gain experience on professional scale productions in the West End as part of their technical membership scheme.
You may like to consider applying with the Royal Ballet and Opera Apprenticeship Scheme

The Royal Ballet and Opera is a proud supporter of 'Technicians Make it Happen' a campaign that aims to inspire young people to consider a career as a technician. Technicians play a crucial role in most types of business and the UK needs thousands more technicians every year to meet the technological challenges of the coming decades.

Developing Your Career

Taking the next step in your career can often seem like a daunting challenge, whether you are looking to take on a management or leadership role for the first time or want to change the course of your career completely, you should aim to cultivate skills and relationships that will support you in the future.

Understand what your strengths are and what really excites you
Develop your communication skills
Build your network of contacts in the industry

There are a number of organisations that offer courses and programmes that can support you to develop your career. The Royal Ballet and Opera actively support the following:

The Clore Leadership programme gives people the opportunity to develop their leadership skills through masterclasses, placements and peer support.

Our Contractors

If you are looking for a job in Catering or Facilities we currently work with two external contractors Company of Cooks and DOC to provide these services. You should contact them directly about opportunities.

HR Department

HR.Recruitment@roh.org.uk

Help

Royal Opera House Covent Garden Foundation, a charitable company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales (Company number 480523) Charity Registered (Number 211775)