Senior Technical Manager

The Metropolitan Museum of Art; New York (NY); On-site; USD 125,000 - 135,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision insurance

403(b) retirement plan with employer 

Paid time off and holidays

Staff cafeteria

Staff discount

Job summary

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is seeking a Senior Technical Manager, Production Operations to lead museum-wide event production, staffing strategy, and technical standards in AVMS. You will drive planning, staffing, and execution for hundreds of events annually across The Met venues.

You will collaborate with union technicians, stakeholders, and vendors to ensure compliant, safe, and innovative productions while guiding workforce and process improvements.

Qualifications

• 8-10+ years of progressively responsible experience in live event production or related fields.
• 3-5 years of supervisory or management experience.
• Expert knowledge of AV tech including audio, video, projection, lighting, livestreaming.
• Experience leading technical teams and managing complex productions.
• Experience in unionized environments and collective bargaining.
• Experience with event scheduling and workforce planning.
• Strong organizational and communication skills.
• Ability to manage multiple high-priority projects and odd hours.

Responsibilities

• Lead production portfolios across museum-wide events and maintain senior technical authority.
• Provide technical leadership for complex productions and system configurations.
• Oversee staffing, planning, run-of-show, risk, and service quality.
• Offer escalation support to teams and ensure high-profile events succeed.
• Lead workforce management, scheduling, hiring, onboarding, and payroll review.
• Ensure compliance with labor contracts and HR policies.
• Maintain event records, staffing data, and performance metrics.
• Oversee procurement, budgets, vendor relationships, and capital planning.
• Drive improvements in AV infrastructure and workflows.
• Build cross-functional partnerships across museum departments.

Skills

Live event production

Staff management

AV tech

Union experience

Event scheduling

Workforce management

Communication skills

Museum/performing arts

Professional software tools

Tools

Artifax

Lasso

Workday

MS 365

AutoCAD

QLab

Job description

About the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy. The Museum lives in two iconic sites in New York City—The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters. Millions of people also take part in The Met experience online.

Since its founding in 1870, The Met has always aspired to be more than a treasury of rare and beautiful objects. We are committed to fostering a collaborative and respectful work environment with a staff as diverse as the audiences we engage. Our staff members are art lovers who are passionate about working toward a common goal: creating the most dynamic and inspiring art museum in the world.

At The Met, every staff member – from security officers to researchers to scientists and beyond – lives by our core values of respect, inclusivity, collaboration, excellence, and integrity.

Respect: Engage one another with collegiality, empathy, and kindness, always.

Inclusivity: Ensure that all are and feel welcome and valued.

Collaboration: Reach across boundaries to exchange ideas and work together toward our shared mission.

Excellence: Lead the cultural world in quality and expertise—and inspire curiosity and creativity.

Integrity: Hold ourselves to the highest moral standards, admit when we fall short, and then evolve.

GENERAL STATEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITIES & DUTIES

The Senior Technical Manager, Production Operations is a senior operational leader within Audio Visual & Media Services (AVMS), responsible for overseeing museum-wide event production operations, production staffing strategy, technical standards, and workforce coordination.

This position leads the planning, staffing, and execution of the AVMS portfolio across hundreds of events annually at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, including Met Live Arts performances, lectures, symposia, educational programs, donor events, Board of Trustees meetings, screenings, institutional meetings, and special events.

Working closely with AVMS leadership, Technical Managers, union technicians, museum stakeholders, and external vendors, the Senior Technical Manager ensures that AVMS operates through documented systems, consistent standards, and sustainable staffing models while maintaining compliance with Museum policies, labor agreements, and safety requirements.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES & DUTIES

• Lead assigned production portfolios including Met Live Arts, Musical Instruments, film screenings, high-profile initiatives, and other museum-wide productions, serving as the senior technical authority from planning through post-event reconciliation.

• Provide technical leadership and oversight for complex productions, including audio, video, projection, lighting, livestreaming, networking, show control, and presentation technologies

• Evaluate and approve technical designs, system configurations, signal flows, equipment deployment, and production approaches.

• Oversee production operations and execution, ensuring appropriate staffing, technical planning, documentation, run-of-show development, risk management, troubleshooting, and adherence to AVMS standards and museum best practices.

• Provide operational leadership and escalation support to Technical Managers and production teams, resolving complex technical, staffing, stakeholder, and service-delivery challenges while ensuring successful outcomes for high-profile and high-risk events.

• Lead workforce and staffing management for assigned portfolios, including staffing strategy, scheduling, hiring, onboarding, training, payroll review, performance management, workload balancing, and effective use of Outlook, Lasso, Artifax, Workday, and related operational systems.

• Ensure labor, HR, and regulatory compliance by applying Collective Bargaining Agreements, organizational policies, and HR procedures, partnering with HR as necessary

• Oversee operational systems, documentation, and controls, ensuring event records, staffing information, production documentation, metrics, and reporting are complete and accurate

• Manage financial and administrative operations including procurement, vendor relationships, event expenses, quotes, invoices, budgets, etc. while providing operational input into equipment lifecycle planning, capital projects, technology roadmaps, and infrastructure modernization.

• Drive technical and operational improvement by identifying opportunities to enhance AV infrastructure, production workflows, staffing models, equipment standards, and service delivery

• Build strong cross-functional partnerships and stakeholder relationships with Audience Engagement, Education, Met Live Arts, Curatorial, Special Events, Security, Facilities and more as needed.

REQUIREMENTS & QUALIFICATIONS

• 8-10+ years of progressively responsible experience in live event production, performing arts production, audiovisual services, museum operations, or related fields.

• 3-5 years of supervisory or management experience.

• Expert knowledge of professional audio, video, projection, lighting, livestreaming, presentation, and event-production technologies, including troubleshooting, system integration, signal flow, and live-event operations.

• Demonstrated experience leading technical teams and managing complex production operations.

• Experience working within unionized environments and collective bargaining frameworks.

• Experience with event scheduling, resource planning, and workforce management.

• Strong organizational and operational planning skills.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Ability to manage multiple high-priority projects simultaneously.

• Availability for frequent evening and weekend work as operational needs require.

• Experience in museums, performing arts organizations, cultural institutions, or higher education preferred

• Experience with Artifax, Lasso, Workday, Microsoft 365, AutoCAD, QLab, and production-management software preferred

• Budgeting, procurement, and vendor management experience preferred

• Experience developing operational procedures and service-delivery standards preferred

COMPENSATION

• Pay Rate: $125,000 - $135,000 / Annually

The advertised pay scale reflects the good faith minimum and maximum salary range for this role. The advertised pay scale is not a promise of a particular wage for any specific employee. The specific compensation offered to a candidate may be dependent on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s experience, education, special licensing or qualifications, and other factors.

Visa Sponsorship

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Location Requirements

At time of employment, employees are expected to be located within commuting distance of the Museum. “Commuting distance” means that they are located in one of following states: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, or Pennsylvania (the “Tri-state and PA” areas), and be able to commute to and from the Museum in a single day.

Benefits Offerings

The Museum provides competitive compensation, and generous benefits and perks for all eligible employees. Note: Benefits Offering may differ based on Employee Status.

• Medical, dental, vision and life insurance
• 403(b) basic retirement plan and optional matching retirement plan with an outstanding employer match
• Considerable paid time off, including annual leave, sick leave, and 13 Museum holidays
• Long-term disability coverage
• Flexible Spending Accounts & Health Savings Account (pre-tax income for eligible health care expenses)
• Commuter benefits (pre-tax income for parking or mass transit expenses)
• Free financial-planning services
• Financial assistance for relevant coursework, seminars, and training programs
• 25% discount for staff in Museum shops
• A subsidized staff cafeteria
• Access to the Museums Council pass, which grants free admission to various museums and cultural institutions

We recognize that it is highly unlikely that someone meets 100% of the desired attributes for a role. If much of this job description describes you, then please apply for this role.

The Met is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, The Met will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed in this process, please contact [e-mail].

The Metropolitan Museum of Art provides equal opportunity to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age, mental or physical disability, pregnancy, alienage or citizenship status, marital status or domestic partner status, genetic information, genetic predisposition or carrier status, gender identity, HIV status, military status and any other category protected by law in all employment decisions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, compensation, training and apprenticeship, promotion, upgrading, demotion, downgrading, transfer, lay-off and termination, and all other terms and conditions of employment.