Technical Producer

Charcoalblue • Chicago, IL

8d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Technical Producer role forms part of our Project Delivery team. You will oversee the design and development of new digital, video, and written content for one of our major clients. This will support guests' experience via direct interactions, content management systems, and tools for delivering demonstrations, events, and event spaces. This content will appear in new facilities as part of our overall delivery of experiential spaces and products. You will work with the Experience Design and Project Delivery teams and complement their strategic, cross-functional work to maximize resources and productivity. The role requires robust project management and administration skills and an ability to work effectively and efficiently with multiple teams and vendors across multiple disciplines.

Requirements

• Strong stakeholder management and negotiation skills.
• At least five (5) years of relevant work experience in Technical Production, Design Management, or Project Management in the environmental experiences industry or related field.
• Experience in exhibit design, architecture, or experiential design within themed entertainment, museums, creative/advertising agencies, or related fields.
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills, including working knowledge of Google Workspace and Microsoft Office applications.
• Ability to work in a collaborative and fast-paced environment with a great degree of self-motivation and initiative.
• Working knowledge of Agile and Waterfall project management techniques.
• Working knowledge of product life cycles, software and content development life cycles, design and construction project life cycles.
• Familiar with typical project management tools for scheduling, risk tracking, budgeting, etc.
• Experience in managing both design and delivery processes for physical installations and digital content.
• Direct experience with iterative design processes, rapid prototyping, and playtesting.
• Fundamental understanding of show control system design and approach.
• Ability to read and comprehend project technical documents, including but not limited to AV system drawings, engineering and architectural drawings, software architecture diagrams, wiring schematics, schedules, test reports, or commissioning documents.
• Ability to work in a collaborative and fast-paced environment with a high degree of flexibility, self-motivation, and initiative.
• Detail-oriented with the ability to think, plan, and execute on multiple projects in different phases simultaneously with little direct supervision.
• Able to work calmly and effectively under pressure.
• Ability to build relationships with colleagues, clients, vendors, stakeholders, and management.

Nice To Haves

• Software engineering experience is not required, but familiarity with some key principles will be advantageous: API use, open source/shared protocols, web-based applications, object-oriented development, software frameworks and platforms, User Interface Design, User Experience Optimization, general network architecture, cloud-based data management systems, and specific programming languages such as HTML, C++, and Java.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate project meetings, prepare meeting agendas and minutes, monitor completion of agreed action items and project plan tasks, and maintain and monitor project costs and risks as required.
• Schedule all vendors to meet overall project deadlines as they relate to the commissioning process and first day of business, adapting schedules as required.
• Support teammates in their management of projects with content and technology deliverables.
• Track platform product releases and coordinate deployment activities.
• Coordinate dependencies among multiple teams designing, delivering and supporting products and projects.
• Provide end-to-end project leadership for the successful design and delivery of experiential installations within client event and experience spaces.
• Support your project team as technical subject matter expert on a range of experiential activations including, but not limited to, custom and off-the-shelf software tooling; cloud solutions; networking; security, privacy and compliance requirements; hardware and software components of creative technology; and the sequencing and dependencies of system commissioning.
• Manage, coordinate, and provide oversight for on-site installation and management of external vendor-provided components.
• Ensure the technical design intent for experiential activations is properly developed, refined, understood, documented, and fulfilled from concept through handover by leading design and production meetings, site visits, and reviewing deliverables, assuring the best design process is maintained throughout.
• Serve as a translator on behalf of the client to identify, plug, and/or escalate gaps, conflicts, and misalignments.
• Work with key stakeholders to manage budgets for equipment, content, and development, and own this budget through design and development phases, installation periods, handover and close out.
• Review deliverables (written, visual, and technical) and provide feedback, flagging technical, financial, schedule, and experiential risks.
• Develop the approval and acceptance criteria and document key stakeholder approvals throughout the project timeline.
• Manage vendors in the development of design and production schedules, feeding key integration milestones into the master project schedule.
• Work with content creators and software developers to manage the development of all media, interactive content, and control interfaces.
• Oversee specialty fabrication vendors development of shop drawings and production of installations for placement in the field.
• Work with AV integrators, client infrastructure, and project management teams to ensure technical requirements are understood and successfully delivered.
• Participate in prototype reviews and playtesting to track and manage the expression of design intent, monitor, and pursue preliminary acceptances or rejections.
• Oversee commissioning and handover of space, software, content and activations.
• Work with the client’s AV and operations teams, and external design agencies to develop the lifecycle and maintenance strategy, including the establishment of service level agreements.
• Support the development of Charcoalblue’s services by contributing to the development and documentation of production processes.

Benefits

• Laptop and associated IT peripherals
• Contributions towards home internet and utilities
• 401K plan (employee contributions immediately, employer contributions after two years)
• Life insurance cover
• Short Term Disability
• FSA/Dependents’ Care plans
• Company healthcare plan
• Allowance for live event tickets
• Bonus plan

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed