Group Programming Manager

Australian Venue Co.; City of Melbourne; On-site; AUD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Australian Venue Co. is seeking a commercially minded entertainment leader to shape national strategy for ticketed programming across our venues.

You will connect great content with the right venues, audiences and commercial outcomes. As Group Programming Manager, you will build influential industry relationships, identify viable live entertainment opportunities, and lead a cross‑venue team to prioritise, pursue and convert opportunities into revenue.

Qualifications

• Experience in entertainment programming, live events, venue programming, touring, promoter relations or agent management.
• Ability to build relationships and turn them into commercial opportunities.
• Demonstrated experience leading a team across multiple locations, markets or programming categories.
• Strong knowledge of ticketed entertainment and live content markets.
• Ability to assess event viability, pipeline quality, venue fit and commercial value.

Responsibilities

• Lead AVC's national ticketed entertainment programming strategy across multiple venues, cities and states.
• Position AVC as an easy-to-work-with, commercially credible touring partner.
• Build and grow relationships with promoters, booking agents, touring companies, artists and content partners.
• Identify, assess and secure commercially viable live entertainment opportunities.
• Match content to venue capacity, audience, location, production requirements and commercial potential.
• Lead and develop the Group Programming team across locations and categories.
• Own the national ticketed event pipeline, prioritising and converting opportunities.
• Collaborate with venue operations, marketing, digital, CRM, ticketing, finance and partnerships teams.
• Drive growth in ticket sales, revenue, attendance, sell-through and profitability.
• Use market insight and performance data to guide content pursuit, trials or declines.
• Improve programming processes, booking pathways, reporting and partner experience.
• Represent AVC in industry conversations, events and forums.

Skills

Entertainment programming

Team leadership

Strategic partnerships

Live events

Content partnerships

Tools

CRM tools

Ticketing platforms

Data reporting tools

Job description

Australian Venue Co. is looking for a commercially minded entertainment leader to make our national venue network the first choice for promoters, touring companies and live content partners.

With venues across Australia, AVC has the scale, reach and ambition to create bigger opportunities for ticketed entertainment. As Group Programming Manager, you'll lead the strategy that turns that opportunity into a stronger national event pipeline, increased ticket sales and memorable guest experiences.

This is a high-impact role for someone who understands live entertainment, knows how to build influential industry relationships and can connect great content with the right venues, audiences and commercial outcomes.

What you'll do

• Lead AVC's national ticketed entertainment programming strategy across multiple venues, cities and states.
• Position AVC as an easy-to-work-with, commercially credible touring partner.
• Build and grow relationships with promoters, booking agents, touring companies, artists and content partners.
• Identify, assess and secure commercially viable live entertainment opportunities.
• Match content to venue capacity, audience, location, production requirements and commercial potential.
• Lead and develop the Group Programming team, including programming, late-night/promoter and comedy specialists.
• Own the national ticketed event pipeline, ensuring opportunities are clearly prioritised, progressed and converted.
• Work closely with venue operations, marketing, digital, CRM, ticketing, finance and partnerships teams.
• Drive growth in ticket sales, revenue, attendance, sell-through, profitability and venue utilisation.
• Use market insight and performance data to determine what content should be pursued, scaled, trialled or declined.
• Improve programming processes, booking pathways, reporting and the experience for both venues and external partners.
• Represent AVC in industry conversations, events and forums.

What you'll bring

You'll be an experienced entertainment, programming or live events professional with the relationships, commercial judgement and leadership capability to operate at a national level.

You'll ideally bring:

• Experience in entertainment programming, live events, venue programming, touring, promoter relations or agent management.
• A proven ability to build relationships and turn them into commercial opportunities.
• Experience leading a team across multiple locations, markets or programming categories.
• Strong knowledge of ticketed entertainment and live content markets.
• The ability to assess event viability, pipeline quality, venue fit and commercial value.
• Strong communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills.
• An understanding of hospitality venue operations and guest experience.
• Experience across pubs, bars, live music venues, comedy rooms, entertainment spaces or multi-site hospitality groups.
• Established relationships across the entertainment, touring or promoter landscape.
• Experience with ticketing platforms, CRM tools and event reporting systems.

Why join AVC?

This is an opportunity to shape the future of live entertainment across one of Australia's largest venue networks. You'll have the scale to create national touring opportunities, the autonomy to influence our programming model and the platform to make a visible impact across venues, audiences and the broader entertainment industry.

You'll work with a passionate team that is focused on creating experiences people want to come back to, while building a stronger and more connected touring network across Australia.

Evening and weekend work, as well as interstate travel, may be required.