Role Overview
The Director of Production leads the planning, management, and execution of all production-related aspects of EXP’s events and experiences. This role oversees production systems, budgets, schedules, vendors, internal production staff, contractors, on-site execution, and post-event improvement. The Director of Production ensures every event is delivered at EXP’s standard of excellence while protecting profitability, managing workloads, and ensuring client trust.
Core Responsibility Areas
1. Production Leadership & Team Management
The Director of Production leads the production department and ensures the team has the structure, support, and clarity needed to deliver successful events.
Responsibilities include:
- Lead and support Producers, Production Managers, Production Coordinators, and production contractors.
- Manage production team workloads, assignments, and project coverage.
- Assign team members based on project complexity, skill set, bandwidth, and client needs.
- Train, coach, and mentor the production team.
- Identify skill gaps, staffing gaps, and support needs.
- Approve overtime when necessary and help balance workload and time off.
- Create a production culture rooted in ownership, accountability, communication, and problem-solving.
2. Project Oversight & Event Delivery
The Director of Production provides high-level oversight across EXP’s project portfolio to ensure each event is delivered on time, within scope, within budget, and to EXP’s standard of quality.
This role does not need to personally produce every event, but is accountable for the systems that ensure every event is produced well.
Responsibilities include:
- Maintain visibility across all active client projects.
- Oversee project health, timelines, staffing plans, vendor needs, budgets, and production risks.
- Ensure projects are progressing according to approved scope, schedule, and budget.
- Support Production Staff through complex logistics, vendor issues, and client needs.
- Help Production Staff identify delivery risks before they become client-facing problems.
- Step in as a senior production resource when projects require additional leadership or support.
3. Vendor Strategy & Partnerships
The Director of Production owns vendor strategy and helps build reliable production infrastructure across EXP’s existing and emerging markets.
Responsibilities include:
- Build and maintain relationships with key vendors, contractors, and event partners.
- Develop vendor strategies for active projects and new markets.
- Proactively build vendor benches in priority markets.
- Identify market-specific production considerations, including labor, rentals, AV, fabrication, transportation, venue rules, permitting, and local cost differences.
- Evaluate vendor and contractor performance after projects.
- Ensure vendor relationships support EXP’s standards for quality, communication, budget awareness, and professionalism.
4. Sales Enablement
The Director of Production supports the sales process by providing production insight, budget guidance, and feasibility support before work is sold.
Responsibilities include:
- Support the Director of Growth and Sales Team with budget creation, quoting, staffing plans, vendor strategy, and production feasibility during the sales process.
- Provide production insight during the proposal process to ensure scopes are realistic, profitable, and executable.
- Help identify vendor needs, labor assumptions, creative needs, technical requirements, timelines, and cost considerations before work is sold.
- Flag production risks, missing scope, unrealistic timelines, or budget gaps during the sales and proposal process.
- Support the transition from sold work into active production by ensuring the production team has clear scope, budget, assumptions, and expectations.
5. Reporting & Financial Oversight
The Director of Production owns production-level financial tracking once a project moves into execution and ensures accurate reporting across the department.
Responsibilities include:
- Monitoring financial reporting for each show once the project moves into production.
- Ensure Producers and Production Managers are tracking production costs consistently and accurately.
- Monitor production budgets, vendor costs, labor, rentals, technical needs, overtime,, and vendor scope creep.
- Support project closeout, budget reconciliation, vendor reconciliation, and final financial reporting.
- Track overall department production budget performance.
- Identify patterns in margin loss, budget overages, vendor costs, or staffing inefficiencies.
- Provide clear reporting to leadership on project performance, production profitability, and department-level financial health.
6. On-Site Execution Standards
The Director of Production defines what EXP-level execution looks like on-site and ensures every on-site lead is trained and prepared.
This includes standards for:
- Who is in charge on-site
- How teams communicate
- How problems are escalated
- How clients are handled during stressful moments
- How crew members present themselves
- How load-in is run
- How rehearsals are managed
- How changes are approved
- How strike is completed
- How the event is closed out
The Director of Production may not be on-site for every event, but they are responsible for ensuring every on-site lead is equipped to uphold EXP’s standards.
7. Post-Event Review & Continuous Improvement
After each major event, the Director of Production leads or participates in a structured review to identify what worked, what needs improvement, and what should be adjusted for future projects.
Reviews should evaluate:
- What went well
- What broke down
- Client satisfaction
- Team workload and capacity
- Vendor performance
- Timeline accuracy
- Budget accuracy
- Internal communication
- Lessons for future events
The goal of this process is to strengthen EXP’s production systems, improve team performance, protect profitability, and create a better experience for clients, vendors, and internal teams.
Pay: $85,000.00 - $95,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Flexible schedule
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Professional development assistance
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
