Production Manager

NEIU • Chicago, IL

4d • $62,000

About The Position

As part of the Student Union, Events and Conference Services department (SUECS), and Production and Technical Services department (PTS), the Production Manager reports to the Production Director and is responsible for managing production operations in the Recital Hall and Auditorium, as well as providing production support for other PTS-supported events on campus, Board of Trustees meetings at El Centro and CCICS campuses, and NEIU commencements. Responsibilities include planning staffing and production services with SUECS staff, student groups, faculty, staff, rental groups, and other clients, managing up to two full-time staff including one Production Coordinator, student staff, freelance staff, and contractors, advancing internal, hosted, and rental events, executing equipment setups, live sound engineering, lighting design and operation, and providing stage management. After the Operations Unit, the Production Manager supervises, manages, and supports operations staff for events in the Student Union as well as other locations around campus.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree.
• A total of one (1) year (12 months) in education, training and/or work experience in the area of specialization inherent to the position. (Note: Master’s Degree in an area consistent with the duties of the position may be substituted for one (1) year of work experience.)
• Based on position requirements, additional education, training, and/or work experience in the area of specialization inherent to the position, may be required.
• An additional two (2) years (24 months) of experience (three years of experience, total) in managing performing arts operations.
• Demonstrated experience performing safety and equipment inspections, maintenance, diagnosing, troubleshooting and repairing audio, video, lighting, rigging, and networking equipment.
• Knowledge in lighting design, programming lighting consoles, patching, as well as hanging, focusing, and addressing lighting instruments.
• Ability to engineer live sound for concerts and events, mixing channels for a PA system, creating additional mixes for monitors, press feeds, or live streams, configuring and programming various digital mixing consoles, and adjusting digital signal processing (DSP) programming.
• Must have the physical ability to lift up to 70 pounds, work on ladders (up to a 24-foot working height), lifts (up to a 30-foot working height), catwalks and crawl spaces.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in a field related to technical theatre, theatrical design, or AV engineering
• 2 years of experience managing a team
• Dante Level 1 certification
• Knowledge of video recording, livestreaming, and video editing
• Experience managing rental events
• Familiarity with Microsoft Office suite, Google suite, and email correspondence.
• Understanding of event related software, including QLab, CAD and/or Vectorworks.
• Ability to interpret and implement layouts and diagrams.
• Demonstrated problem solving ability.
• Self-motivated, ability to carry out tasks with minimal direction.
• High attention to details and solid organizational skills.

Responsibilities

• Manages production operations in the Auditorium and Recital Hall in support of all concerts, conferences, lectures, third-party and rental events occurring in these spaces.
• Advances all event needs with NEIU faculty, staff, and external partners, renters, and other event organizers.
• Supervises and manages the following service areas: live sound engineering, including creating patch lists and stage plots; projection system operation; stage management, including calling performance cues and moving stage equipment; lighting design, programming, and operation, including hanging and focusing lighting instruments; rigging and fly system operation; audio and video recording, livestreaming, web conferencing, and additional production services as needed.
• In addition, executes all of the above duties in place of or in collaboration with production staff.
• Supervises full-time staff, including one full-time Production Coordinator and others as needed or assigned.
• Schedule staff for event support and venue management.
• Provides training and coaching on professional development.
• Covers their duties in their absence.
• Hires, trains, schedules, and supervises a staff of student workers, freelance employees, and contractors to meet the production needs of events in the Auditorium and Recital Hall, working within budget constraints.
• In collaboration with the Production Director, participates in identifying and executing departmental objectives and the development of long-range planning.
• Identifies and leads special projects, including capital improvement projects as well as staffing leadership and development opportunities in support of successful program administration.
• Creates training and protocol documentation.
• Creates and improves administrative systems in support of departmental responsibilities.
• Enforces University policy, and creates and revises policy for the Production Unit in conjunction with the Production Director.
• Maintains equipment and records, including creating reports, troubleshooting, cleaning and repairing audio, video, lighting, and control equipment, verifying and updating inventory documentation, maintaining and updating standard patch list documentation, maintaining and updating lighting repertory (rep) plots, creating and updating technical venue documentation, updating firmware for equipment, and notifying the Production Director of any issues outside of this scope.
• Recommends capital equipment purchases and other services in order to maintain and improve venue safety and functionality.
• Reports facilities maintenance requests for the Auditorium and Recital Hall to Facilities Management and tracks progress.
• Administrates venue calendars via the University scheduling system.
• Ensures activities in venues are accurately reflected in the scheduling system.
• Provides operational support as needed in other SU spaces and the north campus.
• Manages, supervises, and supports the duties of the Operations Unit when necessary.
• Advises and educates faculty, staff, rental clients and others on equipment operations and facilities use.
• Serves as event liaison to Police, Building Service Workers, University Technology Services, and Parking during SUECS/PTS-supported events.
• Provides administrative support and management for rental events, including meeting with prospective clients, scheduling pre-production meetings for contracted rentals, serving as primary day-of production point-of-contact for NEIU venues, and reporting on space and staff usage for accurate invoicing.
• Participates in the planning and execution of commencement and board meetings, and other off-campus or satellite PTS-supported events. This includes but is not limited to: organizing equipment, loading trucks, driving trucks, moving furniture, setting up, configuring, and operating AV equipment and conference room technology, and other duties normally performed on-campus.
• Participation at all commencement ceremonies is required.
• Performs other related duties as assigned, or as needed.

Benefits

• University employees may be eligible for a variety of State of Illinois benefits. These benefits are administered through the Illinois Department of Central Management Service (CMS). Please visit our Employee Benefits page to learn more about our comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, and vision benefits, sick and vacation days, and participation in the State Universities Retirement System.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager