Senior Production Manager

On Board Experiential; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 95,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/dental/vision insurance

Profit sharing/bonus plan

401(k)

Paid time off (PTO)

Flexible spending accounts

Job summary

On Board Experiential is seeking a Senior Production Manager to lead multi-faceted projects across live events, hybrid and virtual experiences for top brands. You will partner with creative, tech, and account teams, ensuring budgets, timelines, and staffing align with client expectations.

The role demands strong organizational and client-facing skills, travel readiness, and a hands-on leadership style that thrives in a fast-paced environment. OBE offers competitive pay and comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of direct experience in producing/managing budgets for major marketing programs/events/activations.
• Strong and diverse experience base across multi-faceted projects and high-demand roles.
• Very strong vendor relationships and experience with competitive bidding.
• Experience with staffing procedures, budget tracking, timelines, critical paths, Run of Show, and contingency actions for experiential events.

Responsibilities

• Assist pitch teams in determining feasibility of projects and establishing budgets for new business proposals.
• Lead projects as Production team contact; onsite as defined by project and policy.
• Lead planning and development meetings and internal/external status meetings.
• Collaborate with Production leadership to set project plan and budget within client dates and Scope of Work.
• Work with internal teams to ensure top quality and client satisfaction across all deliverables.
• Develop and evolve production best practices to exceed company standards.
• Plan staffing, budgets, timelines, schedules, Run of Show, and contingency actions.

Skills

Budget management

Vendor relationships

Client service

Project management

Staffing procedures

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Time management

Negotiation

On-site coordination

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Marketing

Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration

Tools

SharePoint

Google apps

Trello

Microsoft Teams

Job description

ON BOARD EXPERIENTIAL

On Board Experiential (OBE) is an award-winning, full-service, experience-led agency that creates meaningful brand experiences worldwide. We work out of our homes and physical offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and NYC, or wherever our adventures take us! Our clients include Nike, Meta, JPMorganChase, The Infatuation,andStripe, to name a few. We know, “Cool, cool, but what’s it like to work at OBE?” We thought you’d never ask. Event Marketer has recognized OBE as one of the best places to work in events and well, we couldn’t agree more.

The most important part of our business is our people. They are hardworking, brave and make magic happen on the regular. But under each majestic exterior is a human deserving of a healthy work-life balance. That’s why we believe in recovery days, happy hours, friendly but competitive fitness challenges and company offsites.

We conduct open meetings to facilitate discussions that heal, inspire, and bring us closer. We encourage each other to bring our whole selves to work. We want to hear about your lived experiences and unique perspectives. We don’t just want you to be unapologetically you: it’s part of the job description.

SUMMARY OF POSITION

The Senior Production Manager (SPM), loves collaboration, and has experience working on a wide variety of project types in which they held various roles and responsibilities. To the point that they, “get it”, no matter what the project is, the problem that needs fixin’ or the level of ambiguity they’re dealing with.Relevant examples would be; live events, hybrid, virtual events, B2B, B2C, mobile, CPG, lifestyle, and more.A very strong character, next-level organizational and communication skills, prioritization, production workflow, managerial and client facing skills are a must.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS

• Assist pitch teams in determining feasibility of projects and establishing production budgets for new business proposals (RFPs). Attend brainstorms and pitch meetings as needed.
• When leading projects, serve as the primary Production team contact throughout the project process with internal and external project teams. This includes being in the office and onsite as defined by the project and by OBE policy.
• Participate in, and lead, project planning and development meetings and internal/external status meetings.
• Collaborate with Production Department Leadership in establishing the overall project plan and budget within the key client deliverable dates and the agreed upon Scope of Work.
• Work closely with internal operations, account, technology, and creative teams to ensure the highest quality and smoothest operation of the overall production. And do so in a way that ensures that all key deliverables are not just met but exceed the clients’ satisfaction.
• Establish, maintain and evolve best practices that meet and exceed OBE standards and that continually elevate the level at which we are operating as an agency.
• Implement plans for staffing procedures, budget tracking, project timelines, critical paths, production schedules, Run of Show, meeting agendas, contingency and emergency actions, etc.
• Keep internal teams, and other specific project teams, informed on a regular basis on any need for revisions to budgets and estimates to complete.
• Recruit, hire and manage production crews and staff as required by the project(s).
• Identify outside vendors needed (depending on the type of event), request bids, select vendors and negotiate and obtain signed contracts. Monitor performance of vendors.
• Manage, mentor and motivate junior production staff.
• Submit all status reports, photo/digital documentation, and other evidence of production as required by Account team and Client personnel.
• Reconcile all production budgets and prepare post event analysis of production.

DESIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

EDUCATION

• Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, Business Administration, or related field preferred.

EXPERIENCE

• 7+ years of direct experience in producing/managing budgets for major marketing programs/events/activations with or within an experiential agency environment.
• Must have an extremely strong and diverse experience base that directly applies to this multi-faceted, high demand position.
• Very strong Vendor relationships and experience with the competitive bidding process.
• Experience in executing staffing procedures, budget tracking, project timelines, critical paths, production schedules, Run of Show, meeting agendas, contingency and emergency actions specifically for experiential events.

ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Strong and proven management skills and interpersonal communication skills.
• Proven ability to manage internal and external partners, and service providers.
• Very strong client/customer service experience and focus.
• Excellent planning, organizational, prioritization, and time-management skills. This includes possessing the capacity necessary to effectively carry and execute multiple projects simultaneously.
• Ability to multi-task, manage competing priorities, work in the “grey”, embrace ambiguity, thrive when “it” hits the fan, never be satisfied, always push to elevate the work, and still be on time for the after party.
• Must be able to work in a very (and we mean very) collaborative manner both with internal and external teams, and with clients.
• Ability to manage projects events within budget.
• Excellent judgment/awareness with the proven ability to proactively identify issues/obstacles and effectively create solutions.
• Extremely strong working knowledge of and experience with contracting, permitting and insurance processes.
• Understanding of Union Labor laws and ability to manage within a budget without penalties.
• Strong understanding in the areas such as Security/Access Control, Branding, fabrication, location scouting, venue negotiations.

OTHER SKILLS AND JOB REQUIREMENTS

• Extremely strong work ethic and the proven ability to thrive and enjoy a (very) fast-paced, dynamic, ever-changing, exciting and challenging working environment.
• Must be flexible and comfortable in working non-traditional hours in non-traditional locations, as needed (some nights and weekends).
• Experience with SharePoint, Google apps, Trello, Microsoft Teams or other project management tools is a plus.
• Willingness to travel up to 50% of the time, if necessary. Please note this level of travel is at the very high end of what our producers typically average.
• Ability and desire to work in the office in keeping with OBE’s current in-office policy, to be “present” and participation at a high-level, and to be onsite as required.

Compensation

$95,000 - $110,000 annually. This is the pay range OBE believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on level of experience, relevant skills, professional certifications, market pay, and demand for the role. OBE reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. For this role, Benefits include: medical/dental/vision insurance, employer paid basic life and personal accident insurance. Also included: Annual Profit Sharing/Bonus Plan based on the company’s performance and your individual performance, 401(k), Healthcare Flexible Spending Account, Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account, PTO, STD/LTD insurance benefits.

On Board Experiential is An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status, age or any other federally protected class.