Vacancies

Artistic Director & Chief Executive Officer

Full-time, permanent contract

Based at the National Centre for Writing, 115-123 King St, Norwich NR1 1QE

£63–65,000

We are seeking an outstanding individual to lead National Centre for Writing (NCW), as our new Artistic Director & Chief Executive Officer, into the future.

As Artistic Director & Chief Executive Officer, you will provide inspirational strategic, artistic, financial and team leadership to retain NCW’s reputation as a centre for national and international literary exchange. You will ensure that NCW at Dragon Hall remains creatively distinctive, nationally networked, and financially resilient.

You will focus on the strategic development of the organisation, creating and promoting a vision which achieves the highest standards of artistic, community and business practice. You will apply outstanding organisation and management skills to lead on business planning and change management.

You will work closely with the Senior Management Team (SMT) to maintain a clear strategy to deliver expectations to the organisation’s stakeholders, partners and audiences and will lead a senior team responsible for programme delivery, communications, development, HR, operations, venue management and income generation.

You will set and lead a culture of inclusivity across the whole organisation, advocating for NCW’s work with staff and the wider world.

You will also have the opportunity to develop the role around your strengths, and we encourage you to bring new ideas and ways of thinking to shape the future of NCW.

Who we are looking for

We are looking for someone who has a dynamic, forward-looking, collaborative and inspirational leadership and working style, and who would enjoy the opportunity to shape the future of NCW and the literature sector in the UK and beyond. We are looking for an individual who thinks strategically, is comfortable working with partners and stakeholders both inside and outside of the organisation, and who has a passion for the work NCW is doing at Dragon Hall and online. You will be someone who can build trust, lead, and inspire others through your communication style, someone who can develop and implement a creative vision, identify new ways of generating income and who can interrogate business models to ensure financial resilience.

You will have an understanding derived from your own experience of the local, regional, national and international ecologies within which NCW is operating. Your experience and knowledge will include a working understanding of the complexities of running an organisation that is both a charity and a company limited by guarantee. Ideally you will have held a Chief Executive or equivalent leadership role before, within an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, and you should have an understanding of the challenges involved in operating a cultural venue and managing commercial activities within the creative and cultural sector. Your understanding of NCW’s work and values, your capacity to lead and inspire, and your ability to work with the Board and SMT to deliver a robust and financially literate strategy are the most important things that will be considered.

Most importantly, you will be passionate and ambitious about the role of literature and the written word as a catalyst for change and a means of connecting people and exchanging ideas. You will have experience in artistic curation and be comfortable in and with the artform.

To find out more, download the job pack below. 

If you would like to receive this information in an alternate format, please contact Amanda Salmon, Head of Operations & Commercial [email protected].

Please note: an updated version of this job pack was uploaded on 25/02/26. Please re-read details carefully.