Contract: Fixed term - 1 year
Hours: 35 hours per week with hybrid working available
Location: 39 Elmbank Crescent, Glasgow, G2 4PT
Salary: £26,000 per annum
Closing date for applications: Sunday 14 September 2025
Scottish Opera is Scotland’s national opera company and the largest performing arts organisation in Scotland.
We are seeking a highly organised and detail-oriented Planning Assistant to support the Planning Manager in coordinating the Company’s busy schedule of productions, projects and events.
This varied role involves preparing and maintaining schedules, attending key meetings, liaising with colleagues and external partners, and ensuring accurate and timely communication across the organisation.
We’re looking for someone with strong administrative experience, excellent attention to detail, and confident IT skills. A collaborative, proactive approach and a passion for the arts are desirable.
Based at our Glasgow city centre headquarters, this is an exciting opportunity to play a central role at the heart of Scotland’s largest performing arts organisation.
Main purpose of job:
To assist the Planning Manager in the administration of Scottish Opera’s day-to-day activity, including planning, scheduling, coordination and communications.
This role requires working with different stakeholders across the Company and Scottish Opera’s external collaborators to ensure effective communication, with attention to detail, and ability to work to deadlines in a timely and accurate manner.
Key Areas of Responsibility:
- To coordinate and attend the Scheduling Committee and Projects Meetings.
- To take notes of meetings where required and to circulate key points and actions to colleagues.
- To deputise at the fortnightly Planning meetings in the Planning Manager’s absence. To assist the Planning Manager in preparing and updating the master week-by-week schedule.
- To assist the Planning Manager in preparing schedules for individual operas and projects, and issue to internal colleagues and external stakeholders.
- To cross-populate detail across multiple schedules with meticulous attention to detail and accuracy.
- To ensure the weekly Call Sheet is accurate and reflects activity as per the master week-by-week schedule.
- To assist the Planning Manager in producing, collating and updating specific production information for all scales of Company activity.
- To seek out, gather and interrogate project and scheduling details as requested by the Planning Manager.
- To assist with and coordinate where requested Scottish Opera’s room hire processes, in collaboration with the Planning Manager.
- To work with the Planning Manager to ensure venue holds are accurately administered across relevant documentation and carry out availability checks of venues where requested by the Planning Manager.
- To work with the Planning Manager to ensure a strict and accurate record of schedules and production information related to each project is kept for archival purposes.
- To maintain template documents, keeping them up to date as advised by the Planning Manager.
- To support company administration processes in relation to audio and audio-visual recordings as required.
- To support the administration of Co-production documentation as required.
- To assist with data input for productions as required, including but not limited to Opera Europas’s online database OperaBook, and other databases as may be required.
- To assist the Planning Manager in ongoing work towards implementing new systems and Planning Software across the Planning department and Company-wide.
- To undertake research for projects as may be required.
- To respond to the needs of the Planning Manager in relation to workload and to take on any other duties as may be required.
Person Specification:
Essential:
- Proven experience in an administrative role
- Excellent organisational and time management skills
- Meticulous attention to detail and accuracy
- Confident IT skills including MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook)
- Ability to manage multiple deadlines and work independently
- Strong communication skills with high levels of discretion
- A collaborative, positive and can-do attitude
- Knowledge of the operatic process
Desirable:
- A flexible approach to getting things done
- Ability and willingness to seek out information from a range of sources
- Demonstrable energy and enthusiasm
- Curiosity around how processes may be streamlined and made more efficient
- A passion for the arts
General Terms and Conditions:
Contract: 1-year fixed term
Hours of Work: Standard office hours are 35 hours per week, 9.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday, with an hour for lunch. Hybrid working available.
Annual salary: £26,000 per annum.
Holiday entitlement: 25 days per annum plus 10 public holidays.
Probationary period: 3 months.
Pension: Automatic enrolment is in operation within the Company. You will be automatically enrolled into the pension scheme. You will contribute 4% of your salary and the Company will contribute 8%.
Job Types: Full-time, Fixed term contract
Contract length: 12 months
Pay: £26,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Cycle to work scheme
- Discounted or free food
- Employee discount
- Free fitness classes
- Sick pay
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Glasgow G2 4PT
Application deadline: 14/09/2025