Associate Director, Patron Experience

woodruffcenter; United States; On-site; USD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Alliance Theatre, part of The Woodruff Arts Center, seeks an Associate Director of Patron Experience to lead Box Office, Front of House, and Concierge teams. You will drive exceptional patron service, optimize seating and event operations, and partner with Marketing and Education to advance the theater's engagement goals.

The role requires coordinating staffing, events, and communications across departments, with a focus on efficient processes and strong customer relations during weekday and

Qualifications

• Leadership of a multi-functional patron services team.
• Strong customer service focus and problem-solving.
• Experience with staffing, scheduling, and event coordination.
• Familiarity with box office operations and ticketing software.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of approximately fifteen staff, including four managers and three concierges.
• Oversee customer service functions for performances, subscriptions, special events, and education activities.
• Coordinate seating meetings, seating arrangements, and ticketing logistics.
• Manage parking inventory and reports in Tessitura, including prepaid parking.
• Ensure timely responses to patron emails and voicemails (target within 24 hours).
• Collaborate with Marketing, Education, and Finance to align patron experience strategy.

Skills

Team Leadership

Customer Service

Staffing & Scheduling

Event Management

Box Office Operations

Tessitura

Tools

Tessitura system

Job description

Woodruff Arts Center employees play an integral role in creating and supporting great art and education initiatives at the nation's third largest arts center. Comprised of three Art Partners-Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and High Museum of Art-there's a role for everyone at The Woodruff.

Reports to:
Director of Marketing and Communications
FLSA:
United States of America (Exempt)
Employment Status :
Regular/Full time

ABOUT THE ALLIANCE THEATRE:

The Tony Award® winning Alliance Theatre is the leading producing theater in the Southeast, reaching more than 165,000 patrons annually . Over 1 40 productions have premiered at Alliance Theatre, including 11 that went on to Broadway. The theater performs on four stages: The Coca-Cola Stage at Alliance Theatre, Hertz Stage at Alliance Theatre, Goizueta Stage for Youth & Families, and the Selig Family Black Box .

Off the stage , Alliance Theatre is dedicated to education and community engagement. Through performances, classes, camps, in‑school initiatives, online programs, and more, Alliance Theatre reaches over 90,000 students and community members annually .

Alliance Theatre's mission is to expand hearts and minds on stage and off .

POSITION DESCRIPTION:

The Associate Director of Patron Experience is a key leadership position responsible for ensuring exceptional customer service and operational efficiency across Box Office , Front of House , and Concierge teams at Alliance Theatre.

This role plays a critical part in providing outstanding patron experience, from ticketing to seating arrangements, and involves collaboration across multiple departments including , but not limited to, marketing, education, data services, and production . The Associate Director will lead a dynamic team, oversee ing staffing, scheduling, special events , and contribute to the strategic vision for patron engagement alongside the Director of Marketing.

WORK SCHEDULE:

Full-time weekdays, with flexibility to support evening and weekend events and show calls as needed. The individual in this role is not expected to attend every show call but should participate frequently enough to oversee processes, assess effectiveness, and provide ongoing feedback and recommendations when appropriate .

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Team Management & Leadership

Train, supervise, and support a team of approximately fifteen employees , directly managing four managers and three concierges

• Ensure effective staffing schedules for all patron services, front of house, and concierges shifts , optimizing for busy periods and special events and including classes and camp support
• Work with managers to ensure smooth operation s and exceptional patron experiences .
• Ensure patron email and voicemails are responded to as quickly and as efficiently as possible, ideally within 24 hours.

Event s & Patron Experience Oversight

• Oversee and manage all customer service functions for performances, subscriptions, special events , and education activities including classes, camps, and family events .
• Manage all rental-related patron services tasks, including contracts and staffing
• Coordinate Opening Night logistics , including running the seating meetings and executing seating arrangements
• Ensure adherence to company complimentary tickets policies, including comp s for staff and cast/creative team members
• Oversee contractual ticket allotments for producers and artists
• Manage all chargebacks, investigat ing dispute d credit card charges from patrons to determine the accuracy and report the findings to the finance department
• Build parking as a product in Tessitura and manage parking inventory by creating schedule reports in Tessitura for patrons with prepaid parking and ensure these reports are sent to the parking deck.
• Build and manage ticketing RSVPs in Tessitura for free events
• Work with Season Ticket Concierge and Box Office Managers to book seat s for season subscribers.
• Generate box office statements and credit card reports at the close of each production run or event and submit them to the Finance Controller
• Collaborate with Director of Marketing to develop and implement the patron experience vision for the theat er
• Work with managers to execute external calling campaign solicitations in collaboration with marketing, development, and education departments
• Attend regular meetings on behalf of the patron services team, including Marketing meetings , Sales meetings , E ngagement team meetings , data services meetings , managers meeting, campus events/facilities/security meetings, and other m eetings as assigned
• Work closely with Data Services on season builds and tracking patron data and engagement metrics
• Work closely with the Director of Marketing & Communications to support sales campaigns for season tickets
• Work closely with the Woodruff Arts Center Director of Security to ensure that security team members are scheduled appropriately for all performances and special events

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