Location: Philadelphia, PA (Hybrid: On-site & Remote)
Engagement: Initial 30-day contract, with potential extension
Start: ASAP
Compensation: To be discussed based on experience and scope
About the Opportunity
We're preparing to open a new, independently developed cultural experience in Philadelphia and are looking for an experienced, resourceful, hands-on Opening & Operations Producer to help bring it across the finish line.
The creative vision is established, the project is well underway, and many of the major pieces are already in motion. Now we need someone who can take ownership of the remaining production, procurement, vendor coordination, and operational details and make things happen.
This is not a creative direction, strategy, or consulting role. We're looking for someone who knows how to get complex projects open and operational, who can comfortably juggle multiple moving parts, make sound independent decisions, and solve problems without needing constant direction.
What You'll Own
- Retail & Merchandising: Coordinate merchandise assortment, source suppliers, negotiate pricing, calculate margins, manage purchasing, establish inventory and reorder systems, populate the POS catalog, and oversee stocking and merchandising.
- Food & Beverage: Source and coordinate vendors for a curated tea, chocolate, and beverage offering. Negotiate pricing and quantities, place orders, coordinate deliveries, and establish practical service procedures.
- Signage & Fabrication: Manage vendors for exterior, interior, and wayfinding signage, including production, fabrication, permitting, electrical coordination where needed, and final installation.
- Casting & Talent Coordination: Coordinate casting logistics for media production, confirm performers and roles, manage availability and scheduling, and negotiate compensation within approved budgets.
- Production & Vendor Management: Coordinate remaining contractors, fabricators, suppliers, deliveries, purchases, and physical installations. Keep vendors accountable, resolve issues, and ensure work is completed on schedule.
- Pre-Opening Operations: Help coordinate staffing, onboarding, training, operational supplies, facility needs, guest-service procedures, and other practical requirements for opening.
- Testing & Opening Readiness: Identify operational gaps, coordinate testing and adjustments, troubleshoot issues, and ensure the venue, systems, supplies, and staff are ready to welcome guests.
- Cross-Team Coordination: Work alongside existing creative, technical, sales, marketing, and publicity resources to keep production and operational milestones aligned with the overall launch schedule.
- Day-to-Day Project Ownership: Independently manage priorities, deadlines, vendors, and outstanding tasks. Bring founders consolidated decisions requiring creative or budgetary approval rather than a constant stream of questions.
Who We're Looking For
- Proven experience personally managing the execution of complex openings, experiential productions, cultural attractions, hospitality venues, exhibitions, or similarly multifaceted projects.
- Strong practical experience with vendor sourcing, purchasing, negotiation, production logistics, budgets, and operational coordination.
- Familiarity with retail operations, inventory management, POS systems, merchandising, and/or hospitality service setups.
- A demonstrated ability to manage several overlapping workstreams, anticipate problems, and make good decisions independently.
- Strong organizational skills, resourcefulness, persistence, and exceptional follow-through.
- Philadelphia-based, with an understanding of the local market and an established network of vendors, fabricators, contractors, and other resources.
- Experience with museums, libraries, themed entertainment, immersive experiences, cultural institutions, arts organizations, or hospitality is a major plus.
- Comfortable working in a creative, entrepreneurial, non-corporate environment.
The Most Important Part
We're looking for someone who can take work off our plates, not create more of it.
We're a small, creative, entrepreneurial team, and we value initiative, good judgment, practical problem-solving, and follow-through over complicated processes and endless meetings.
The ideal person thrives in complex environments, knows how to prioritize, anticipates what needs to happen next, and takes genuine ownership of getting things done.
We don't need someone to tell us what needs to happen. We need someone who can figure out how to make it happen, coordinate the right people, and see it through to completion.
This is an execution-focused role. Success means vendors coordinated, orders placed, shelves stocked, signage installed, systems functioning, staff prepared, and an experience that's operationally ready to open.
Creative direction and major budget decisions remain with the founders. Within those boundaries, we're looking for someone who can work with a high degree of independence.
How to Apply
Please include:
- A brief introduction and your connection to Philadelphia.
- 2–3 examples of complex openings, productions, or venue launches you personally helped execute, including exactly what you were responsible for and the outcomes.
- A description of your experience with vendor management, procurement, retail, and/or opening operations.
- Your availability to begin and anticipated rate or fee structure for an initial 30-day engagement.
We're particularly interested in people who have helped bring unusual, ambitious, experience-driven spaces to life, especially within Philadelphia's cultural, hospitality, arts, or entertainment communities.
This is a short-term, hands-on engagement with the potential to extend through opening.
Pay: From $25.00 per hour
Expected hours: No less than 30.0 per week
People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply
Location:
- Philadelphia, PA 19125 (Required)
Work Location: In person
