Director, Visitor Experience & Hospitality

Harbourfront Centre is a leader in providing internationally renowned artistic, educational and recreational programming across a beautiful 10-acre campus at the heart of Toronto’s waterfront. For more than 45 years, Harbourfront Centre has celebrated the best in Canadian culture and the rich mosaic of cultures from around the world, presenting thousands of events annually from music festivals to contemporary dance, to craft and design, to visual arts and more. Welcoming visitors year-round, there is something for everyone at Harbourfront Centre!

We are currently looking to bring on board a motivating, forward-thinking, and dynamic service-oriented Director, Visitor Experience & Hospitality to manage and direct all activities related to the Visitor Experience and the delivery of exemplary customer service befitting Harbourfront Centre at all venues and events.

 

Position Title: Director, Visitor Experience & Hospitality

Department: Marketing

Reporting To: Chief Marketing Officer

Direct Reports: Manager, Hospitality, Manager, Visitor Services (Ticketing and Front of House), Manager, Volunteer Resources

Type of Employment: Full-time

Location: Toronto

 

Role Overview

The Director, Visitor Experience & Hospitality is accountable for the leadership, operational and tactical management of the Visitor Experience team. This individual will work with the cross functional groups to effectively manage the execution, planning and strategy of the visitor experience of festivals, shows, events when it comes to accountability in ticketing, event hospitality, management of the front of house and guest services (info and accessibility), and our volunteer team. This position plays a key leadership role in the development, management, and implementation of long-term strategic planning to ensure Harbourfront Centre meets its strategic goals and maintains operational, programming and service integrity, on top of the day to day execution of services related to our programming and events on site.

 

Duties

• Manage the areas of Ticketing, Info Desk, Front of House, Food & Beverage/Hospitality, Accessibility Services and Volunteers.
• Provide leadership to workforce planning, hiring, managing and developing staff, maximizing their potential to meet business needs.
• Develop best practices in Visitor Experience and coach service staff to adhere to these best practices to provide a top-level experience for our guests.
• Maintain awareness of visitor needs and attend to visitor issues in an effort to achieve high visitor satisfaction levels.
• Create and roll out short-term and long term departmental goals and objectives.
• Manage departmental budgets and expenditures. Make recommendations to senior management about budgeting efficiencies and needs.
• Manage AGCO relationship, Liquor Sales Licenses, and Special Occasion Permits.
• Work with Grounds and Site Operations to ensure, venues and workspaces comply with all relevant Federal, Provincial, and Municipal codes and policies.
• Support the management of our Food & Beverage tenant Boxcar Social as required.
• Communicate with senior executives about Visitor Experience issues, as well as successes, through multiple channels, written reports, and formal presentations.
• Maintain detailed records on Visitor Experience, as well as staff development.
• Support the development of, and adherence to Human Resources and Health & Safety initiatives, policies, and procedures.
• Work cooperatively and professionally to achieve outcomes that align with Harbourfront Centre’s vision and values.
• Collaborate with other departments to align the goals of the Visitor Experience department with other areas of the business.

 

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Management, Hospitality Management or relevant field is preferred.
• 3 – 5+ years’ leadership and management experience in service/hospitality industry.
• Demonstrated experience in customer relationship management and overseeing visitor engagement and satisfaction, experience in the live entertainment or cultural sector is considered an asset.
• Demonstrated track record in hiring, motivating and developing effective frontline and visitor support teams to deliver exceptional service and be great ambassadors of the organization.
• Experience with ticketing best management practices, event building, reporting, and ticket sales/financial reconciliations.
• Knowledge of the Tessitura ticketing system is considered a strong asset but is not mandatory.
• Experience in people management and coaching required.
• Experience with and knowledge of Microsoft Office.
• Must enjoy working in a fast-paced environment, collaborating with many different teams.
• Demonstrated experience in executive and VIP guest level interaction.
• Knowledge of and demonstrated experience with festivals and events.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills are required in dealing with outside peers, the general public and diverse communities.
• Excellent demonstrated organizational skills with the ability to coordinate multiple activities and programs.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with demonstrated ability in dealing and collaborating with diverse communities, and other departments.
• Experience with creating adhering to and analyzing budgets.
• Strong familiarity with local health and safety statutes and regulations.
• Flexibility and availability to work some evenings and weekends as required and based on programming and events schedule.
• Must be legally eligible to work in Canada. Non-Canadian applicants must have a valid employment Visa and proper documentation authorizing their ability to work in Canada.
• This role is based in Toronto, and as Harbourfront Centre operates multiple types of festivals, programing, shows and events, on-site work will be required.
•  Harbourfront Centre recognizes its heightened duty to protect employees from health and safety risks. As such, an offer of employment shall be conditional on proof of full COVID-19 vaccination with a vaccine series approved by Health Canada or the World Health Organization.

Apply

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Our Values

Open
We’re friendly, welcoming and inclusive, with an experimental attitude that thrives on collaboration.

Brave
To achieve our bold ambition we empower and support imaginative risk and we always try to learn from our mistakes.

Rigorous
We are committed to excellence in all we do, ensuring every visitor encounter is safe, memorable and enriching.

Kind
We value and respect each other and all our visitors, celebrating difference and striving to realise potential.

How To Apply

Harbourfront Centre values and is committed to diversity and inclusiveness in our teams, creative communities, programmes and services. We invite qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply. Acceptable applications must include a current resume and a cover letter indicating why you wish to join the team and how you would meet the criteria of what we are seeking.

Qualified applicants can submit their candidacy by contacting jobs@harbourfrontcentre.com by no later than December 16,2022.  Please quote Director, Visitor Experience & Hospitality in the subject line of the application.

We sincerely thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those being considered for an interview will be contacted. Suitable accommodations will be available upon request during the hiring process.