Commercial Development Consultant

About The Music Works

The Music Works is a Gloucestershire charity that transforms young lives through music. We’re specialists in working with young people in challenging circumstances to help them reach their full potential in music, in learning and in life. We work with over 3,000 young people a year in schools and our four community studios in Gloucester, and the Forest of Dean. Our approach is youth-led, with young people involved at every stage of planning and delivery.

About the role

Despite holding significant commercially viable assets, The Music Works currently generates a very small proportion of its income through traded commercial activity. For the purposes of this engagement, commercial income means earned income from trading only, covering areas such as facility and Music Bus hire, training and consultancy, and similar fee-based services.

We are looking for someone to do the essential scoping work, to rigorously assess what we have, what the market will bear, and what a realistic commercial development strategy looks like for an organisation of our size, mission and sector context. The output will directly inform our longer-term commercial development activity and provide the foundation for a potential future employed commercial role.

We are asking someone with deep commercial development expertise to help us understand what is genuinely viable, set out a clear strategic plan, and leave us with the tools and confidence to execute it.

The engagement will be considered successful when the final report gives the Board and Leadership Team sufficient evidence and clarity to decide which income streams to invest in, at what pace, and whether and when to create an employed commercial role to lead that work.

How to Express Interest

We welcome expressions of interest from individual consultants and consultancy organisations. Please click on Apply Now and send the following by Sunday 18th October 2026:

A brief outline (no more than two pages) of your relevant experience and proposed approach to this engagement

- Examples of comparable work, including any relevant case studies or testimonials
- An indicative breakdown of how you would allocate the 25 to 35 consultant days across the scope of work
- Confirmation that you hold professional indemnity insurance
- Confirmation that you are available to commence in Autumn 2026

Please note the fee for this engagement is fixed at £20,000 inclusive of all expenses. We are not inviting open fee proposals. The expression of interest should focus on your approach and relevant experience.

See details to the right of this advert for further details.

Conversations with shortlisted candidates: Ongoing w/c 26th October 2026
Decision confirmed: 30th October 2026
Engagement commences: Autumn 2026