Our Volunteer Programme offers an exciting opportunity to see how a festival works, whilst exploring your interests. There are plenty of ways to get involved, with roles spanning across all aspects of the festival. Take a look at the kinds of roles available, and find the one which suits you!
In order to support you in choosing which role is best for you, please use the level guide, along with considering which role(s) spark your interest. Please note, all roles will have training opportunities and will be supported by festival staff. You can indicate your role(s) choice via the application form.
- Beginner - For any newbies to volunteering or for anyone who may not yet have specialist festival/film experience. These roles are a great opportunity to get to know how the festival works in an accessible way. These roles are often customer facing.
- Intermediate - A general level of experience will be required for these roles - maybe you are studying in an area related to this role or have transferable skills from another area of work/life. You’ll be confident in both thinking on your feet and talking to staff, delegates and the general public.
- Advanced - For these roles you’ll likely need to have either volunteered at the festival before and/or have specific experience in this area. These opportunities tend to be focused on specific elements of the festival and require certain skills. You’ll likely need to be available across multiple days of the festival.
Volunteer Roles
Hospitality Team
Guest Liaison Crew
Team: Hospitality
Level: Advanced
As a Guest Liaison you will be assisting our festival guests, filmmakers and juries, helping them navigate the festival as required and supporting the Hospitality team with their schedule and attendance to their events.
Who is this suitable for?
You will need to be available every day throughout the festival. Have excellent knowledge about the festival or Sheffield, and have volunteered before. You will be an excellent people-person, have discretion, a professional attitude and have a curiosity about the film industry.
Additional Details: Note this role has limited spaces available. Full availability required.
Industry Team
Industry Crew
Team: Industry
Level: Intermediate
Operating in one of the world’s biggest and busiest documentary marketplaces, you’ll be offering high-level support to a room full of international industry representatives, filmmakers and artists. This role will also see you helping to run the Industry sessions and networking events. The Industry activities are on a tight schedule so it’s important to make sure no meeting or session runs over their allotted time.
Who is this suitable for?
We need a crew of bright, organised team players with strong people skills and a friendly nature who feel comfortable keeping lots of important meetings on time and on schedule to help the team. If you’re interested in the business and development side of documentary, it's a great opportunity to see how networking, and creative and business discussions at a high industry level are conducted.
Communications Team
Photography Crew
Team: Communications
Level: Advanced
Photos and selfies are both important to capture the life of the festival. You'll be amongst the fun at all the events capturing snippets of sessions, pitches and the legendary parties!
Who is this suitable for? For this role you will need some professional experience as well as your own equipment. You will need good time management skills when dealing with the busy schedule of events. You’ll need to provide us with a photography portfolio along with your application.
Additional Details: Note this role has limited spaces available. 4 shift minimum required.
Film Crew
Team: Communications
Level: Advanced
You will be taking part in filming all the events throughout the festival, for delivery to our YouTube channel and beyond.
Who is this suitable for?
If you take part in this role, filming experience is essential. You’ll need to be super organised with good time management to stick to the packed schedule of events.
Social Media Crew
Team: Communications
Level: Intermediate
You’ll be supporting the Communications team across the festival on our social media accounts, and will be responsible for keeping the world informed about what’s going on at DocFest. You’ll get to cover all aspects of the festival including filmmaker Q&As, talks and sessions, pitches and other live events, capturing some of the best content to come out of the festival and sharing it with our audiences online.
Who is this suitable for?
If you’re looking to learn more about the exciting possibilities of social media, are interested in content creation, or want to put your creative writing skills to the test, whilst engaging with audiences online, Social Media Crew is the one for you.
Additional Details: Note this role has limited spaces available. 4 shift minimum required.
Alternate Realities Team
Alternate Realities Exhibition Crew
Team: Alternate Realities
Level: Beginner
This role places you in our flagship Alternate Realities Exhibition programme. You will help our Alternate Realities team and digital artists bring their projects to life, before, during and after the festival.
Who is this suitable for?
If you have an interest in working with visual artists, emerging technologies or art-handling, this may be the role for you. You will talk to visitors about the works as a point of contact for audience members, you will be dealing with industry-leading technology, learning exhibition floor plans, supporting each individual project and maintaining a safe, smooth and inquisitive environment.
We engage with artists working in a range of forms including virtual and augmented reality, video, sound, performance art, game, installation, interactive documentary and many other media.
Additional Details: Please note the install and de-rig of the Alternate Realities Exhibition may require physical aspects.
Production & Operations
Head Volunteer
Team: Operations
Level: Advanced
Our Head Volunteers are the central cog to all Volunteer activities. This role supports the DocCrew volunteers on the ground and liaises with Venue Coordinators across the City. You will be stationed at the DocCrew Hub during the festival.
Who is this suitable for?
If you have volunteered at DocFest before or have a good understanding of the festival or perhaps you have been a Head Volunteer at a different festival, this role is for you. You will be organised, have good communication skills and can handle solving problems under pressure. This is a great role to gain experience and learn how festival operations run. You'll also learn about people management.
Additional Details: This role would require an interview and a Head Volunteer pre-Festival induction session on the 10th June. Greater availability during the festival dates is required.
Box Office Crew
Team: Operations
Level: Beginner
Be the face of the festival, someone who is a point of information for our single ticket holders, our DocLovers and our Industry Passholders. You’ll receive training in our ticketing software, distribute tickets for the entire DocFest programme, sell festival merchandise and advise on event times, venue locations and accessibility.
Who is this suitable for?
Our Box Office Crew is central to the success of our festival. You will need to be calm, friendly and have a professional manner with great verbal communication skills and a passion for film and events. This is a fantastic opportunity to interact with our audiences in a busy part of the festival, enhancing your customer service skills and event knowledge.
Delegate Centre Crew
Team: Operations
Level: Beginner
The Delegate Centre is the buzzing industry hub – the first point of arrival for thousands of attendees of the Festival. You’ll be welcoming them to the Festival, giving them everything they need and assisting with any queries they may have.
Who is this suitable for?
You need to be friendly, approachable and have great people skills. You’ll need to be comfortable working in a fast-paced environment. If you’re considering a career in events or hospitality, this is the perfect role for you, and you’ll get invaluable first-hand experience of how one of the UK’s biggest film festivals is run.
Festival Runner
Team: Operations
Level: Intermediate
This is a varied, diverse role that requires you to cover any and every aspect of the Festival. One minute you may be delivering sponsor signage to a venue, the next you might be helping at an industry networking event or assisting a guest speaker get to their venue on time.
Who is this suitable for?
An enthusiastic and energetic individual with a can-do attitude is required of all our runners. This is a fast-paced, exciting, challenging role that will give you a great insight into how a massive film festival like DocFest operates.
Info Desk Crew
Team: Operations
Level: Beginner
An essential role at DocFest, you’ll be at the centre of the festival working alongside the Delegate Centre! Here you will have a chance to experience the buzz of the festival whilst assisting guests with questions and signposting.
Who is suitable for this?
If you enjoy talking to people and providing excellent customer service, this is the role for you. Along with some administrative tasks, you will be supporting our team and guests, all whilst getting an insight into how the festival operates.
Additional Details: Note this role has limited spaces available and it will require some additional training beforehand.
Venue Crew
Team: Operations
Level: Beginner
Our Venue Crew is a diverse and important role that sees you carrying out Front of House duties at our venues. It's a fast-paced role in which you're making sure our audiences have a seamless experience. You could be counting attendance, managing queues, using our bespoke ticketing system, helping attendees to their seats or meeting guests of the festival and ensuring they get to their Q&As on time. You’ll also be the welcoming face of the festival dealing with enquiries as and when they come.
Who is this suitable for?
If you love being at the Festival, are passionate about people enjoying their time at DocFest and want the chance to meet people and gain front of house experience, you’ll be right at home on our Venue Crew.
Events
Special Events & Parties Crew
Team: Events
Level: Beginner
This role puts you in the middle of DocFest's exciting events! You’ll be helping with setting up, dressing and closing down the events, whilst ensuring everything runs smoothly.
Who is this suitable for?
Do you want to pursue a career in events? Have a bit of experience in front of house and customer service, or maybe you want to pursue a career in hospitality management? This might be the one for you.
Additional Details: Please note this role predominantly has evening only shifts and we will help you get home if public transit has stopped before the end of your shift.
