Brand Home Manager

IJW Whiskey•Shelbyville, KY

14d•Onsite

About The Position

The Brand Home Manager will lead the guest experience at The Maven Distillery in Shelbyville, Kentucky, from pre-opening through phased growth. The role is accountable for the guest-facing operation, including VIP hosting, tours and experiences, retail, bar service, events, staffing, and business operations. The distillery will initially host invited VIPs before expanding to broader guest experiences and public access in phases through 2027. The manager will host high-value visitors and oversee personalized visit logistics, while developing the systems, standards, training, and team needed to scale the operation without losing its personal service. This includes managing the tour and experience calendar; establishing retail and bar programs; executing events; recruiting and developing staff; and managing the guest-experience P&L, booking and CRM systems, reporting, forecasts, and operational metrics. The role works onsite with teams across Production, Safety, Facilities, Sales, Marketing and Communications, Finance, and Legal. The position requires 100% onsite work in Shelbyville, including evenings, select weekends, and holidays. The successful candidate is at least 21 years old and able to obtain any required alcohol service certification.

Requirements

At least 7 years of experience in hospitality, luxury guest experience, tourism, restaurant, or retail operations.
At least 3 years of experience leading and developing teams.
Demonstrated ownership of a high-touch guest program, such as at a luxury hotel or resort, fine-dining operation, private club, winery, distillery, or comparable destination.
Direct experience running a tour, tasting, or visitor program, including capacity management and guide training and delivery.
Hands-on retail and/or food-and-beverage operating experience, including inventory, POS, cost controls, and service standards.
Proven ability to host senior, high-net-worth, or high-profile guests with warmth, discretion, and composure.
Strong operational discipline, including experience with schedules, budgets, staffing models, SOPs, and reporting, and ability to build these where they do not exist.
Excellent written and verbal communication and sound judgment to represent the brand without supervision.
Ability to work 100% onsite in Shelbyville, including evenings, select weekends, and holidays.
Must be at least 21 years old and able to obtain any required alcohol service certification.

Nice To Haves

Experience opening a new venue, property, or program, from pre-opening through stabilization.
Knowledge of American whiskey, bourbon production, and the Kentucky bourbon tourism market.
Track record of creating or curating new guest experiences, rather than only executing existing ones.
Familiarity with booking, ticketing, and CRM platforms, and with Kentucky ABC regulations.
Existing relationships across Kentucky hospitality, tourism, and trade.

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary contact and host for VIP visitors, including allocation holders, barrel purchasers, trade and media guests, brand partners, and executive visitors.
Manage end-to-end VIP visit logistics, including pre-arrival communication, itineraries, arrival, pacing, food and beverage, gifting, and follow-up.
Maintain accurate guest records and preferences, coordinate with Sales, Marketing, and Communications, and resolve service issues while establishing standards to prevent recurrence.
Manage scheduling, routing, capacity, staffing, and flow for tours and experiences as offerings expand.
Develop and lead training, rehearsal, and practice for tour content, delivery, and storytelling.
Deliver tours, tastings, blend-your-own-bottle experiences, cocktail classes, and private barrel selections as they launch.
Maintain a safe, compliant, and clean guest route across the active production campus in partnership with Production, Safety, and Facilities.
Establish and operate the retail program, including assortment, merchandising, inventory, receiving, cycle counts, shrink control, and POS.
Drive retail revenue and attachment to experiences; coordinate guest gifting and support engraving, personalization, and barrel-related retail fulfillment.
Operate the bar and trolley service, overseeing menus, cost and pour controls, par levels, ordering, glassware, and service standards.
Partner on cocktail menu development and ensure responsible alcohol service, including staff training and certification, ID verification, and regulatory compliance.
Support and execute launch events, the Grand Opening, Cocktails in the Garden, trade and sales events, external meetings, and community events.
Coordinate event staffing, run of show, setup, breakdown, and day-of execution with internal teams and contracted catering and private-chef partners; make on-site event decisions that balance guest experience, operations, and safety.
Recruit, hire, onboard, schedule, train, coach, and develop experience leads and associates, bartenders and servers, retail staff, and stewards as the organization grows.
Establish service standards, lead daily stand-ups and weekly leader meetings, and build a cross-trained team and hospitality-focused culture.
Manage the guest-experience P&L, including revenue by offering, labor and scheduling efficiency, cost of goods, and operating expenses.
Own booking, ticketing, CRM systems, reporting, forecasts, staffing plans, and operational debriefs.
Track and report guest satisfaction, conversion and attachment, revenue per guest, retail and bar performance, and repeat visits among high-value guests.
Partner across Production, Marketing and Communications, Sales, Finance, Legal, and Facilities as a member of the onsite leadership team.