Director, Production - Chicago/Virtual

directtravel; United States; Remote; USD 130,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Direct Travel seeks a Director of Production Services to lead a skilled team of employees and contractors, driving scalable infrastructure and cross-functional collaboration across the organization.

Responsibilities include developing processes, mentoring staff, and partnering with leadership on revenue growth strategies while ensuring service excellence and operational profitability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, hospitality, tourism or related field.
• 7–10 years in Events or Production Industry with leadership experience.
• Proficient in MS Office; comfortable with CRM tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a high-performing Production Services team.
• Develop scalable systems, tools, processes, and technology to make production a core competency.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to improve efficiency, profitability, and service quality.
• Coach and develop staff; build training programs and performance reviews.
• Attract, interview, hire, train, and retain top talent; oversee freelance bench.
• Provide market data, forecasts, and sales insights to drive revenue growth.
• Negotiate contracts and assist in pricing strategy for projects.
• Debrief on projects to capture learnings for continuous improvement.
• Support Business Development in selling integrated agency solutions.
• Travel up to 20% as required.

Skills

Leadership

Team management

Cross-functional collaboration

Sales strategy

CRM proficiency

MS Office (Excel, PowerPoint)

Education

Bachelor's degree in business administration or related field

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft PowerPoint

CRM tools

Project management tool

Microsoft Teams/Zoom/Facebook Live

Job description

The Director of Production Services leads a team of Creative Group production employees and contractors and is responsible for the overall business performance of the department through scalable infrastructure development, team optimization, cross-functional collaboration and sales strategies.

Development of Scalable Department and High-performing Team.

• Lead, maintain and grow a high-performing and cohesive team.
• In partnership with leadership, develop scalable foundation of systems, tools, processes and technology to further establish production as a core competency within the organization.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to optimize the performance of the production department focusing on driving efficiency, collaboration, consistency, profitability, and service excellence.
• Manage and coach team members for professional development; identify and enable educational opportunities aligned with individual career objectives.
• Attract, interview, hire, train, and retain the best team.
• Develop training curriculum to create consistency and to meet the success pathing and competency benchmark requirements for each role.

• Build and oversee a diverse bench of freelance talent, understanding their strengths and weaknesses, and aligning them with projects and organizational need.
• Measure, assess and regularly analyze overall team performance, initiating any actions needed to close gaps and addressing opportunities for improvement.
• Participate on the Organizational Leadership Council (OLC) to represent the production department internally.

• Create a culture of psychological safety by welcoming feedback, navigating difficult conversations and conflict when necessary.
• Develop and deliver timely and fair performance reviews to direct staff, ensuring employee development and goal optimization.
• Discipline and terminate, if needed, with the approval of the appropriate Senior Leadership Team member, and President.

Client Engagement, Revenue Growth, Strategy, and Reporting

• In partnership with Business Development, help enable year-over-year revenue growth by analyzing market trends, customer feedback and voice-of-the client, and competitor activities to inform investment, pricing strategies and go to market positioning.
• Provides market data and analysis to continually improve growth and profitability in alignment with the company’s annual strategic goals; leverages data and analytics to help drive insights.

• Develop accurate sales forecasts, analyze sales data, and prepare regular sales reports. Provide insights and recommendations based on data analysis to drive sales growth and improve profitability.

• Works closely with and supports the Business Development team in selling profitable integrated agency solutions to current and potential clients.

• Works closely with the Director, Strategic Initiatives to negotiate and review supplier contracts and addendums for accuracy.
• Conduct debriefs with team members after all projects to apply learnings for continuous improvement.

• Resolve client escalations proactively, in concert with leadership and Business Development.
• As needed, participate in the conceptual phases of identifying and solving business problems and initiatives with the team and client.
• As needed, consult with clients during pre-sale phase on production solution options, recommendations, and pricing in partnership with business development and design teams.
• Partner with Business Development and Operations leaders to assist in the development of effective and profitable pricing strategies to inform the SOW (Scope of Work) and budget parameters for projects.

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with major course work in business administration, hospitality, tourism or a related field required, or a combination of education and experience.
• Must possess a minimum of 7-10 years of previous experience in the Events or Production Industry based on the role, including experience leading or supervising production teams or projects.
• Must be tech savvy, proficient in Microsoft Office products especially, Excel and PowerPoint, and be comfortable using CRM tools. Must be able to learn project management tool as needed.
• A strong knowledge of content streaming platforms, including Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Facebook Live, etc.
• Comfortable working closely with senior level executives.
• Possess a strong set of hands-on production skills is a plus, with knowledge of shooting video, as well as editing.
• Strong understanding of all areas of event strategy, creative, production, including audio recording and mixing, lighting, staging, projection, etc. for live stage events and virtual meetings.
• First-hand experience producing high-quality large-scale meetings and events.
• Understanding of best practice production methodologies.

Non-negotiable Hiring Criteria:

• Models behavior that reflects our organization’s Vision and Core Beliefs.
• Excellent interpersonal skills to relate well with levels of the organization cooperatively, individuals at all levels of the client organization, Account Executives, Operations, including senior-level management, and others.
  • Excellent communication and presentation skills to write promotional material, develop, express ideas, and results of research, and participate in sales calls with clients.
• Strong analytical and attention to detail skills develop accurate sales forecasts, analyze sales data, and prepare regular sales reports. Provide insights and recommendations based on data analysis to drive sales growth and improve profitability.
• Must be able to collaborate within cross-functional teams to deliver successful outcomes.
• Creative problem-solving skills, to solve problems to support successful project delivery and client satisfaction.
• Comfortable in a results-oriented, fast-past environment.
• Must be able to work effectively in an environment that isn’t bound by the traditional ‘9 to 5’ mentality.

Working Conditions:

• Must be able to travel up to 20% of the time
• Office environment
• Frequent use of a computer and other office equipment
• Ability to lift 20 lbs.
• Frequent sitting, standing, and walking
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle or feel; and reach with hands and arms. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.
• Ability and willingness to work extended workdays and possible weekends.
• Accessible during acceptable working hours identified per project/program.

Remote working requirements:

• Reliable home internet connectivity
• Ability to troubleshoot own devices & connectivity