Box Office Manager

Job Title: Box Office Manager

Location: Chicago, IL

Terms: Full-Time

Requirements: Ability to work evening and weekend hours per events scheduled

About Us:

The Athenaeum Center was built in 1911 on the St. Alphonsus campus and is home to Chicago’s oldest continuously-operating off-Loop theater. Our mission is to invite people into encounters with beauty and to revitalize the great Catholic tradition of the arts from our location in one of Chicago’s most unique religious, artistic, and civic buildings. At the Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture, we believe that beauty has the capacity to build up culture, transform society, and change lives. We hope to help you contemplate, encounter, and delight in beauty.

Job Overview:

Athenaeum Center for Thought & Culture maintains an outstanding reputation for customer service by the leadership role of the Box Office Manager. This candidate will manage and lead a team of Box Office staff that is responsible for providing the highest level of service in order to build and maintain a strong audience following and event experience to the Athenaeum Center. This role manages box office operations, guaranteeing accurate show builds, reporting and efficient ticketing procedures for staff and patrons across all sales channels. The ideal candidate thrives within a dynamic planning process, translating innovative producing ideas into streamlined systems in Tessitura.

Responsibilities and Duties:

Event Planning

• Lead the Box Office Advance for all events
• Build and maintain all events for the Athenaeum Center within the ticketing software, including in-house season, resident companies, and third party renters
• Work with the Marketing, Production and Talent departments, artist management and label representatives to set-up events, place holds, process orders, and release tickets in a timely fashion
• Assist with the monitoring of all ticket inventory and sale progress
• Collaborate with Pricing team to monitor and dynamically price tickets to maximize revenue
• Implement strategies to increase sales and attendance
• Manage design of print and e-tickets for each production
• Maintain performance-related keywords and collaborate with Marketing to maintain company brand

Customer Service & Ticketing

• Process day-to-day ticket transactions
• Collaborate with internal departments and external event personnel to ensure all ticketing needs are addressed
• Communicate with patrons by phone, email, mail, and in person
• Ensure Audience Services department delivers exceptional customer service to all guests and works proactively to resolve any issues that arise
• Develop strong working relationships with renters, resident companies, ticketing staff, guests, and affiliated partners
• Organize and oversee nightly Box Office operations during events (Ticket Sales, Will Call, Ticket Scanning, etc.)
• Head of ticketing services and the main contact for all events at the venue

Management & Administration

• Manage the hiring, training, scheduling, and day-to-day supervision of all Box Office personnel
• Develop and maintain training materials on Box Office policies and procedures.
• Ensure all Box Office Staff adheres to the company’s ticket operations policies and procedures
• Create a positive & collaborative working environment and maintain staff morale
• Monitor all ticketing software and hardware and report any issues immediately
• Embrace all new ticketing technology
• Maintain and interact with ticketing system community
• Keep current with all key ticketing trends in entertainment industry
• Attend all relevant meetings, discussions, and conferences as the venue’s ticketing lead
• Assist Sales with information related to Audience Services

Financial Duties

• Maintain accurate Box Office accounting records and archives
• Ensure venue Box Office staff adheres to company’s cash handling policies and procedures
• Perform daily Box Office safe reconciliation, prepare deposits, and run all daily financial reporting
• Responsible for the preparation of all Box Office settlement reports on event nights
• Actively participate in event settlements, as needed
• Prepare and submit payroll for box office and front of house employees
• Reconcile monthly ticketing transactions
• Setup and reconcile all third party ticket sales

Requirements:

The Box Office Manager should have the following skills, educations, and experience:

• Minimum of 2 years experience in Box Office, including management level work experience
• Strong knowledge of customer service, computer operations, and accounting/cash management procedures
• Ability to work a flexible schedule, including evening and weekend hours
• Ability to provide leadership, engage in positive interaction with staff and guests, prioritize, organize, motivate staff, problem solve, delegate, follow-up, communicate and diffuse possibly volatile situations with tact
• Ability to communicate respectfully with diplomacy across all levels of business is essential
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Excellent leadership and team management skills
• Detail-oriented with a strong ability to work under pressure to meet strict and fluid deadlines
• Comfort with making changes on short notice
• Strong proficiency in computer skills, including use of MS Office or Google products
• Experience with Tessitura ticketing software

Reports To:

• This position reports to the Executive Director
• This position’s direct reports are:
  • Box Office Associate
  • Box Office Representative

Compensation:

• Pay Rate/Range: $45,000-60,000 per experience
• Holiday and paid time off
• Full benefits package including medical, dental vision, life insurance, disability, accident, flexible spending and transit
• 401(k) plan with company match