The Lir, National Academy of Dramatic Art at Trinity College Dublin, is seeking a person to join our team as the Head of Sound. The Head of Sound provides tutoring and supervision of undergraduate students, as well as support to postgraduate students and tutors. This role also provides hands-on tutoring and supervision in the lead up to and during The Lir’s productions.
The Lir’s aim is to train stage managers, theatre technicians, actors, designers, directors, producers and playwrights to the highest international standards for careers in the theatre and allied professions.
Training at The Lir Academy is significantly practice-based. To facilitate this, we produce 10 plays and 2 films with the undergraduate technical students and final year acting students each year, four of these productions involve our postgraduate students. Alongside this, there is the delivery of classes and technical support provided to the internal acting projects and external collaborations.
Principal Duties and Responsibilities
Technical Department
1. Deliver training to The Lir’s Stage Management & Technical Theatre (SMTT) and Foundation Diploma students relevant to your expertise.
2. Teach and mentor Lir students in: sound equipment; system set up; operation and other technical areas; provide hands-on ongoing tuition and supervision in the lead up to and during Lir productions; and providing any assessment that is required
3. Supervise and mentor students through production meetings, build weeks, technical/dress rehearsals and get outs of each Lir production. This may include evenings and weekends.
4. Support Lir productions as the need arises, as well as support First Year students needing to observe the core work of the role within a production setting and, if in the absence of a student, to provide ‘sound up/sound down’ guidance for productions.
5. Programme classes on advanced technical topics including, but not exclusive, to your area of specialism providing any assessment that is required. This involves directly engaging industry specialists based on what industry developments are becoming relevant to the Sound Department. Securing industry professionals to deliver these advanced classes outside of your specific area of expertise. Leading on teaching these classes is optional should that be within your capacity to do so.
6. Deliver and keep updated clear and concise course documents that align with the course’s learning outcomes, covering class plans, class notes, assignments, assessment and other relevant details.
7. On occasion, teaching will also be delivered to Foundation Diploma students. Informal mentorship of MFA programmes is also required when there is capacity to do so.
8. In conjunction with the Director of Technical Training & Facilities, develop, implement and monitor appropriate learning and teaching strategies for the SMTT course.
9. In conjunction with the Director of Technical Training & Facilities, engage with international conservatoire/industry teaching to develop new strands of teaching and development of future courses.
10. Provide feedback to students through individual and group tutorials at the end of each rotation.
11. Engage in outreach and recruitment as and when applicable or feasible around core teaching i.e. interviews, talks and workshops
12. Engage with the larger theatre industry to build new training relationships and deliver placements for students.
13. Attend model box presentations and advise on costings of materials and feasibility of the build with the learning outcomes and resources of Lir students.
Management of The Lir Academy Resources
1. Act as a main key holder for access to our technical equipment stocks. This should be facilitated across the Lighting and Sound Departments in order to track and maintain equipment where possible.
2. Be a key member of staff responsible for the upkeep, maintenance and management of all relevant workshops, rehearsal spaces and student offices. This extends to all sound equipment and infrastructure in venues, workshops, dressing rooms and rehearsal rooms. There is an overall building maintenance budget that is managed by the Director of Technical Training & Facilities and any works are done in consultation with costings proposed by the heads of departments.
3. Ensure all goods, machinery, equipment, and infrastructure affiliated with this department is maintained in good working order, including arranging servicing on a regular basis and in-house repairs as required.
4. Ensure all stock levels of goods and materials are maintained to a practical level
5. Be jointly responsible for the maintenance, upkeep and care of The Lir’s theatres and overall building as support to the Facilities Team, and overall responsibility for maintenance and upkeep of all sound equipment storage areas as HOD.
6. Be available to provide a moderate amount of support to The Lir Academy’s various needs both generally and in reference to your areas of speciality across internal projects and showings.
7. Be available to provide a moderate amount of support to The Lir Academy’s various needs, both generally and in reference to your areas of specialty across external hires and short courses.
Health & Safety
1. Ensure good safe working practice is employed in all areas for which you have responsibility.
2. Teach safe working practices as an integral part of all teaching within The Lir Academy.
3. Lead on safety in your area of specialism inputting any research and opinion to the safety officer of The Lir Academy.
4. Act as First Aid and Safety Officer in the building, adhering to fire safety regulations.
5. Ensure incident reports are completed properly for your department and reported upwards as appropriate.
Additional Responsibilities
· Supervision of research projects in Third Year; pending appropriate academic professional development if required. Additional pay is provided for this role per student supervised.
· Design the sound for the Third Year Acting Showcase
· Deliver one full day workshop in your area of expertise as part of the class module.
· Develop and teach Introduction to Sound Design as part of the Second Year Design module
· Line Management: Co-Line Manager for Lighting and Sound Technician – to be reviewed and developed in the academic years 2025/2026, 2026/2027+
· Other duties as required by the Director of Technical Training that are within your skillset and agreed within reason with sufficient advance notice.
Person Specification
The following attributes, experience and qualifications are desirable, but not all are essential:
Qualifications, Knowledge & Experience
Essential Criteria
· Minimum 5 years of technical experience working in a professional theatre sound environment at a senior level
· An honours degree in a relevant field, or minimum five years of relevant professional experience
· Experience and up-to-date knowledge in health and safety practices for theatre
· An aptitude for and enjoyment of teaching
· Experience using Qlab, Yamaha consoles and Dante.
· Specification, design and implementation of digital and analogue audio systems for a variety of use cases.
Desirable
· Previous teaching experience
· Good basic computer skills (Microsoft Office suite, Sharepoint, etc.)
· Competence in a CAD package
· Specialist software skills (Pro Tools, Logic Pro)
· Experience of AV equipment
· Experience in equipment/venue maintenance and repair.
· Experience in either live music or studio engineering is also an advantage.
Competencies
· Strong ability to organise
· Work effectively under time pressure and on own initiative
· Strong communication skills
· Co-operation and adaptability
· Willingness to work flexibility, to travel when necessary, and undertake appropriate training.
· Ability to work closely as part of a team
Terms and conditions of employment
· The position is offered initially as a two-year contract, with potential for extension, and includes an initial six-month probationary period.
· The position is offered on the basis of a 35-hour week, 9am-5pm Monday – Friday.
· Due to the nature of our work there are regular busy periods where the working week will extend over 35 hours and or into the weekend, with TOIL given to meet contract hours.
· 20 days annual leave plus an additional 5 working days over the Christmas period, when The Lir Academy closes for the holidays.
· The successful candidate will also be enrolled onto the new auto-enrolment pension scheme, My Future Fund.
The role will report directly to the Director of Technical Training & Facilities Management and work in collaboration with relevant department heads.
Salary – €37,500 annual salary
Start Date – 2nd February, 2026
Application details
Interested candidates should submit a letter of application and a full CV by email to recruitment@thelir.ie, with ‘Head of Sound’ in the subject line.
Deadline for applications – 16th January, 2026
Interview Dates and Selection Methods
Short-listing of candidates will be on the basis of their experience, CV and covering letter. Short-listed candidates will be contacted regarding interviews which will take place the week of 19th January, 2026
About The Lir Academy
The Lir, National Academy of Dramatic Art at Trinity College Dublin was established as a result of identified needs within the theatre, TV and film industries.
Offering a range of undergraduate, postgraduate and short courses, The Lir Academy is successfully supplying the theatre, film, TV and related industries with students who have been trained to the highest standards possible. All training from introductory level to degree level is taught by industry professionals who take immense pride in teaching their craft. Voice and movement training are core elements to the acting degree and short courses are on offer to established actors who are interested in improving their skills and to actors in training. Technical courses range from introductory courses in lighting, sound, stage management and costume, to the three-year Bachelor degree in Stage Management and Technical Theatre (SMTT).
The Lir Academy is synonymous with professional training in acting, voice, movement, stage management, stage construction, scenic art, lighting, sound, costume, playwriting, theatre directing, theatre producing and stage design.
The Lir Academy is housed in a custom-designed building with facilities catering to the range of training on offer. It was founded by the Cathal Ryan Trust and Trinity College Dublin. For the first ten years of its existence, The Lir Academy had an association with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London who acted as International Advisors on the foundation of The Lir Academy. The Lir Academy and RADA continue to work together as peer conservatoires, acknowledging the close links established during their formal relationship.
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