Assistant Manager, Venue Reservations and Operations Venue and Production Management

Duke University:

Duke University was created in 1924 through an indenture of trust by James Buchanan Duke. Today, Duke is regarded as one of America’s leading research universities. Located in Durham, North Carolina, Duke is positioned in the heart of the Research Triangle, which is ranked annually as one of the best places in the country to work and live. Duke has more than 15,000 students who study and conduct research in its 10 undergraduate, graduate and professional schools. With about 40,000 employees, Duke is the third largest private employer in North Carolina, and it now has international programs in more than 150 countries.

Positional Summary

The Assistant Manager, Reservations & Operations supports the Venue and Production Management (VPM) team, overseeing reservations and operations for venues on Duke University’s campus, such as Page Auditorium, Reynolds Theater, the Arts Annex, and the Rubenstein Arts Center. This role is a key component of the VPM team and customer facing services. The Assistant Manager will be responsible for a complex operation of managing reservations, event logistics, and cultivating relationships across the university and community.  The Assistant Manager ensures smooth coordination of reservations, event workflows, and internal teams, supporting a variety of events, from complex university functions, one day performances, and community performances. On-site event support is required, which will include nights and weekends.

Key Position Duties

Reservation Management - 25% of Effort

• Manage the reservation process, requests, and space agreements for multiple venues, including the Rubenstein Arts Center, Arts Annex, and other locations.
• Ensures seamless event tracking by formalizing space agreements, managing event logistics, including production details, front-of-house needs, and ticketing solutions.
• Manage and maintain consistent workflows and data management practices within the departmental event database, Momentus, to ensure efficiency.
• Collaborate with the management team to schedule advancing meetings, provide event package estimates, and finalize billing settlements. 
• Collaborate with Student Involvement and Leadership on the event approval process in Campus Labs database for Recognized Student Organization events ensuring all necessary approvals and logistics are in place.
• Assist in the settlement process of events as needed.

Customer Service & Engagement - 20% of Effort

• Deliver a customer-focused, high-quality experience for all interactions.
• Demonstrate strong listening skills, showing empathy and understanding to effectively comprehend and address requests effectively and respectfully.
• Work closely with academic units, students, student organizations to understand the needs of curricular and co-curricular elements involved in the day-to-day needs of all stakeholders throughout the year.
• Uphold policies and procedures of the department, division and the university.
• Work with the VPM team, or others as needed, to confirm the event details, ensuring smooth operations and alignment with VPM goals while striving to exceed client expectations.

Event Communications - 15% of Effort

• Schedule and attend client advancing meetings with VPM production and front of house teams to discuss event logistics and details.
• Lead weekly event staff meetings to review past and upcoming events.
• Schedule and coordinate services for events, workshops, and programs.
• Ensure that resources, such as, appropriate card access plans, parking, and other services are scheduled properly based on event requirements.
• Manage the monthly calendar for campus partners, communicating event details and schedules to ensure coordinated planning and resource allocation.
• Ensure successful space usage and operations with thorough correspondence with clients, vendors, and assisting with staff and resource scheduling.
• Collaborate and effectively communicate with VPM staff necessary event logistics and details.

Student Organization Support - 15% of Effort

• Work directly with student councils and organizations to coordinate reservations.
• Coordinate with VPM staff and campus partners on organizing student participation in university wide events that include student showcases and workshops.
• Facilitate scheduling and use of studios for student rehearsals in accordance with established policies.
• Manage annual recognized student organization reservation process, student training opportunities.
• Collaborate with Student Involvement and Leadership, appropriate student governance, and Student Finance to keep updated on expectations and requirements of groups.
• Manage the application, approvals, and activation of Student Funding requests, and online solution for student organizations to accept payments. The process will be approved via Campus Labs and maintained in AudienceView.

Data Organization & Evaluation - 10% of Effort

• Maintain standard procedures in data management for event reservations.
• Assist in training of VPM staff on locating and accessing information for events across all resources and products used including Momentus, Box, Teams.
• Ensure staff understand and follow data entry protocols to maintain accuracy and consistency.
• Serve as the primary contact for VPM with Momentus for support cases and monthly meetings. Maintain VPM user profiles for staff.
• Conduct assessments in accordance with division strategic goals.
• Recommend changes to leadership to improve departmental operations, optimize resource utilization, and ensure the consistent flow of information across all event-related processes.

Event Support - 10% of Effort

• Assist with additional event management tasks as needed, which may include crowd management, ticketing operations, production support, etc.
• Contribute to the overall success of events and supporting team efforts across all areas of the VPM team.
• Provide front line event support during peak periods and major university events, which will include evenings, weekends, and occasional holidays.
• On-site work may be for extended hours.

Other- 5% of Effort

• Perform related duties as assigned or required to meet departmental, Division and University goals and objectives, as assigned by their Supervisor, Director, or respective designees.

The intent of this job description is to provide a representative outline of the type of responsibilities that will be required of positions given this title and shall not be construed as all-encompassing or as a declaration of all specific duties and responsibilities of this position. Employees may be directed to perform job-related tasks other than those specifically presented in this description.

Qualifications, Skills, and Competencies

Strongly Preferred Experiences:

• Two or more years of experience in theater, production, event operations, entertainment or a related field.
• One or more year working with a relational database.
• Experience working in a higher education environment is beneficial.

Preferred Skills and Competencies

• Self-motivated, ability to take initiative and complete projects independently;
• Capable of working and thriving in a fast-paced environment;
• Experience with databases, reservation and ticketing systems experience preferred;
• Experience in customer record management and maintenance;
• Must exhibit professional phone etiquette;
• Ability to explain and interpret documents and complex processes to others;
• Ability to work under pressure on projects and with people of varying experience levels;
• Excellent organization skills and the ability to problem solve and manage concurrent projects within established guidelines;
• Strong communication skills – verbal, written and in-person;
• Self-motivated with the ability to work independently, requiring minimal supervision.
• Excel in a team environment, demonstrating strong collaboration and communication skills.
• Experience with digital media concepts and marketing;
• Valid NC driver’s license required.  Must complete and maintain required compliance, vehicle safety checks, and training in order to remain eligible to drive Duke vehicles. 

Physical Demands (If needed)

• Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essential job functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.
• The primary nature of this position is working at a desk with a laptop computer on-site in an administrative office. Frequent communication by zoom, Teams, and telephone is common. This position will frequently conduct in-person tours of venues across campus.
• Ability to work in various physical environments, including frequent use of stairs, exposure to noise, a wide variety of flooring treatments, and working in low light conditions.
• Ability to safely carry, push, or pull items weighing up to 25 pounds.

Must be able to complete all positional requirements outlined above with or without reasonable accommodations. For more information, please visit https://hr.duke.edu/policies/ada/

Anticipated Pay Range:

Duke University provides an annual base salary range for this position as USD $ 43,888.00 to USD $70,300.00. Duke University considers factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position; candidate's work experience, education/training, and key skills; internal peer equity; as well as market and organizational considerations when extending an offer.

Your total compensation goes beyond the dollars on your pay check.  Duke provides comprehensive and competitive medical and dental care programs, generous retirement benefits, and a wide array of family-friendly and cultural programs to eligible team members. Learn more at:https://hr.duke.edu/benefits/

Essential Physical Job Functions: Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essential job functions that require specific physical and/ or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.

Minimum Qualifications

Education

Work requires communications, analytical and organizational skills generally acquired through completion of a bachelor's degree program.

Experience

Work requires one year of experience in the arts, special events, conference planning, student activities or a related field.

Duke is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.

Essential Physical Job Functions: Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essentialjob functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.