Box Office Manager

Colburn School; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 68,000 - 78,000; Full time

Job summary

The Colburn School in Los Angeles is building a centralized box office operation to support its expanding performance and rental activity. The Box Office Manager will implement systems, policies, and guest services to ensure a seamless audience experience across venues and events.

This entrepreneurial role requires leadership, hands-on management, and a commitment to service as you oversee ticketing, reporting, and staff development while collaborating with Finance, Marketing, and Events.

Qualifications

• Minimum five years of ticketing/box office leadership in a multi-venue arts organization or similar venue.
• Experience administering an enterprise-level ticketing platform (Spektrix, Tessitura, Ticketmaster, AudienceView, PatronManager, or comparable).
• Strong customer service, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Experience hiring, training, supervising, and scheduling staff in a customer service or ticketing environment.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Excel; solid reporting ability.
• Evenings, weekends, and holidays work hours required.

Responsibilities

• Administer Spektrix including event setup, seating configurations, pricing, reporting, and user administration.
• Ensure accuracy of ticket buyer records and integrity of the ticketing database.
• Prepare ticket sales, attendance reports, forecasts, and other management reports.
• Coordinate with Finance and Rentals for ticket settlements, reconciliation, and revenue reporting.
• Oversee box office operations across Colburn venues and offsite venues as needed.
• Establish and enforce box office policies and procedures.
• Build a customer-service focused team for a welcoming environment.
• Recruit, train, supervise, schedule, and evaluate box office staff.
• Manage ticket sales transactions, exchanges, and promotions.

Skills

Customer service

Communication

Staff management

Training staff

Organizational skills

Analytical skills

Collaboration across departments

Excel proficiency

Time management

Evenings/weekends availability

Tools

Spektrix

Tessitura

Ticketmaster

AudienceView

PatronManager

Job description

As Colburn prepares for the opening of its new performance facilities in 2027, this role presents an exciting opportunity to build and shape a new ticketing operation at a transformative moment for the institution. The Box Office Manager will play a central role in establishing systems and practices that support Colburn’s growing performance and rental activity, while helping to create a seamless, welcoming experience for audiences, strategic partners, and rental clients. This is an opportunity for a thoughtful, entrepreneurial ticketing professional to build an operation from the ground up and help define how audiences experience Colburn as it enters its next era.

Duties And Responsibilities

CRM Management

• Serve as the primary administrator of the Spektrix ticketing platform, including event setup, seating configurations, pricing, reporting, and user administration
• Responsible for accuracy of ticket-buyer records and ensure the integrity of the ticketing database; works with Philanthropy department to ensure accuracy of donor records
• Prepare ticket sales reports, attendance reports, forecasts, and other management reports
• Coordinate with Finance and Rentals to support ticket settlements, financial reconciliation, and revenue reporting

Box Office Management and Audience Services

• Oversee box office operations for all Colburn venues and offsite venues as needed
• Establish and enforce box office policies and procedures
• Build a customer-serviced focused team dedicated to creating a welcoming environment for audience members
• Recruit, train, supervise, schedule, and evaluate ticket office staff including a Box Office Supervisor and Box Office Services Associates
• Supervise and assist with all customer service calls for ticket transactions, including single ticket and subscription sales, group and student sales, promotional offers, and exchanges
• Serve as primary contact for box-office related customer service issues; provide excellent customer service and resolve patron concerns in a professional and timely manner
• Coordinate with Events and Facilities to provide box office services for rental events
• Manage internal ticket buys
• Coordinate with operations team to manage credentials, wristband inventory and other related supplies
• Service comp ticket requests from faculty, staff, students, artists, press, and VIPs
• Share complimentary ticket offers from outside organizations with students, faculty, and staff
• Manage and fulfill charitable ticket donations, community outreach comps, and contest winners
• Maintain a thorough understanding of Colburn events, policies, and ticketing procedures
• Perform other related duties as assigned

Marketing Support

• Work with the Marketing team to develop and implement ticket pricing strategies, dynamic pricing initiatives, promotional offers, subscription programs, flex package offerings, and audience development initiatives
• Monitor dynamic ticket pricing changes and make manual adjustments as needed
• Analyze ticket sales and attendance trends and recommend strategies that improve patron engagement and ticket revenue
• Support outreach and benefits for donors giving under $1,000 annually including early ticket access; partner with Marketing team to develop marketing campaigns encouraging gifts under $1,000 including add-on donations to ticket purchases

Philanthropy Support

• Manage distribution of tickets supported by philanthropic funds and coordinate with the Philanthropy department to report to and steward the fund donors
• Work collaboratively with Philanthropy and Marketing to leverage performances in support of institutional fundraising goals.

Qualifications

• Minimum five (5) years of progressively responsible experience managing ticketing, box office operations, or audience services within a multi-venue performing arts organization, university, or similar venues complex
• Experience administering an enterprise-level ticketing platform (Spektrix, Tessitura, Ticketmaster, AudienceView, PatronManager, or a comparable commercial ticketing system)
• Strong customer service, communication, and interpersonal skills
• Experience hiring, training, supervising, and scheduling staff in a customer service or ticketing environmen
• Basic understanding of box office reporting, sales tracking, reconciliation, and financial procedures
• Strong organizational and analytical skills
• Ability to collaborate effectively across multiple departments
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Excel
• Evenings, weekends, and holiday work hours required

Essential Functions:

Must be able to see, hear, feel, speak, and use hands to type and grasp objects with fingers. Primarily sedentary with intermittent standing, walking, bending, and stooping; occasional light lifting and carrying of objects weighing 25 pounds or less; light toheavy repetitive use of hands, wrists and forearms while working on a computer.

Emotional

Ability to develop and maintain effective working relationships involving interactions and communications personally, by phone and in writing with a variety of individuals and/or groups of individuals from diverse backgrounds on a regular, on-going basis; ability to concentrate on detailed tasks for extended periods of time and/or intermittently while attending to other responsibilities; ability to work effectively under pressure on multiple tasks concurrently while meeting established deadlines and changing priorities.

Working Conditions

Primarily indoor office environment; frequent contact with and interruptions by individuals in person or by phone.

Compensation and Benefits:

This position is full-time/exempt/ and onsite in the Colburn School LA Office. The pay range is $68,000 - $78,000 annually depending on skills, experience, and ability level. The Colburn School offers excellent benefits including medical, dental and vision insurance plans; Long Term Disability, Short Term Disability and Life Insurance plans; paid sick leave and vacation; a 403(b)-retirement plan with a generous employer matching contribution.

About the Colburn School

The Colburn School is a world-renowned performing arts institution located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. Its mission is to provide the highest quality performing arts education at all levels of development in music and dance, and to foster a vibrant community through a wide range of performances, events, and educational activities.

The Colburn School trains students from beginners to those about to embark on professional careers. Each year, more than 2,000 students from around the world come to Colburn to benefit from the renowned faculty, exceptional facilities, and focus on excellence that unites the community.

The academic units of the school provide a complete spectrum of music and dance education:

Conservatory of Music - The diploma- and degree-granting Conservatory of Music is distinguished by a unique all-scholarship model, renowned faculty, and outstanding performance opportunities. It prepares the very highest level of collegiate musicians for professional careers.

The Music Academy is a highly selective training program for gifted young pre-collegiate musicians, designed to prepare students for conservatory study and performing careers at the highest levels of achievement. This residential program balances performance, musical instruction, and academics.

The Community School of Performing Arts welcomes students of all ages, from seven months old to adults. It offers over 120 classes each year in orchestral instruments, piano, guitar, voice, jazz, music theory, drama, and ensembles including orchestra, choir, and chamber music.

The Trudl Zipper Dance Institute develops performers of all levels, from the pre-professional ballet program in the Dance Academy to beginners starting in Youth Dance. Students of all levels receive training in ballet, tap, and modern genres as part of a comprehensive dance education.

Center for Innovation and Community Impact was created to empower the musical and dance leaders of tomorrow by nurturing students’ passion and ability to serve their communities, preparing them for sustainable careers, and embracing the development of new ideas. The Colburn School partners with 15 Los Angeles Unified School District schools, 13 of which receive Title I funding, to provide interactive and engaging concerts and instructional sessions to 5,000 students every year.

The Colburn School is currently constructing a transformational addition to our downtown Los Angeles campus, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry with acoustics by acclaimed Nagata Acoustics. This monumental project reflects a deep commitment to both the community and our students and will feature world-class performance venues and innovative learning spaces that foster collaboration and interdisciplinary partnerships throughout the region.

A once-in-a-lifetime expansion for Colburn, the new facility will include a remarkable and accessible 1,077-seat concert hall, complete with a 70-musician orchestral pit and a modular sprung dance floor. It will also house the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute, Colburn’s renowned dance education program. The new dance center will feature a 100-seat dance studio theater, four spacious ballet and tap studios, administrative offices, and vibrant street-level and rooftop gardens with outdoor performance spaces. This will complement Colburn’s existing campus and performance venues which include the 430-seat Zipper Concert Hall, 189-seat Thayer Hall, 100-seat Mayman Hall, an outdoor Plaza, and other venues.

Construction began in 2024, and upon completion in 2027, the expansion will create the world's largest concentration of Frank Gehry-designed buildings - joining the Walt Disney Concert Hall and mixed-use project The Grand in redefining the cultural landscape of downtown Los Angeles.