SENIOR GENERAL MANAGER / DIRECTOR OF
VENUE OPERATIONS
High-Volume Entertainment & Event Venue | Atlanta Area | Full-Time
We are seeking a senior operational leader to oversee a high-volume entertainment and event venue.
This role is responsible for the performance of the venue as a complete operation - not for personally
doing every department's job.
Your responsibility is not to do everyone's job. Your responsibility is to make sure everyone's job gets
done - correctly, efficiently, professionally, and consistently.
This is a hands-on leadership position for someone who can see the entire building, establish structure beneath them, lead
department managers and staff, recognize problems early, assign responsibility, and verify execution. The successful
candidate will combine operational discipline with hospitality and understand that the energy, appearance, cleanliness,
organization, and attitude of the team directly affect the guest experience.
ON-SITE LEADERSHIP REQUIREMENT
Minimum 50 hours physically on-site each week. This is not a remote or primarily administrative management role. The
General Manager must be visible in the building, especially during live operations, and understand what is happening
firsthand rather than managing exclusively through reports or phone calls.
Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays are core operating days. Nights and weekends are mandatory unless specifically
approved otherwise.
THE ROLE
The General Manager serves as the central operational leader of the venue. Department managers, supervisors, staff,
contractors, and vendors should operate within a clear chain of command. The GM establishes expectations,
communicates priorities, holds leaders accountable, and makes sure the venue continues moving forward.
- Oversee the venue as one complete operation, including guest experience, cleanliness, staffing, security coordination,
bar operations, maintenance, event readiness, vendors, contractors, and internal culture.
- Build and maintain a clear management structure beneath the GM so department leaders understand exactly what they
own and what is expected.
- Conduct regular property walkthroughs and personally verify standards rather than assuming tasks have been
completed.
- Lead pre-event readiness: confirm the building, staff, managers, security, bars, restrooms, entrances, VIP areas, guest
flow, supplies, and operational areas are ready before doors open.
- Remain highly visible during operating hours, observe performance in real time, and intervene when execution begins
falling below standard.
- Coordinate department leaders during events so issues are handled quickly without disrupting the show or guest
experience.
- Establish efficient systems, schedules, checklists, communication procedures, reporting expectations, and chains of
command.
- Hold managers and employees accountable for punctuality, appearance, attitude, professionalism, productivity, and
completion of responsibilities.
Confidential Venue Recruitment | Atlanta Area Page 1 Coach and develop employees when improvement is possible; document performance issues and administer corrective
action professionally when necessary.
- Ensure recurring problems are actually solved. Identifying or discussing a problem is not considered completion.
- Maintain strong hospitality standards in every guest interaction, including communication, problem solving, conflict
resolution, and de-escalation.
- Ensure the venue remains exceptionally clean, organized, presentable, and operational throughout events - not only
before doors open.
- Review staffing and labor deployment to ensure adequate coverage without unnecessary inefficiency.
- Oversee vendor and contractor performance and ensure outside teams meet the same standards expected from internal
staff.
- Identify maintenance, facility, equipment, safety, and appearance issues early and ensure the appropriate person
resolves them.
- Provide ownership/executive leadership with concise reporting on meaningful operational issues, staffing concerns,
incidents, recurring problems, and recommended solutions.
LEADERSHIP & CULTURE
We are building a culture of accountability, hospitality, pride, positive energy, urgency, and solutions. A venue can have
great music, production, art, and design, but the staff ultimately carries the energy of the room. The General Manager is
responsible for protecting and strengthening that culture.
- Set the tone through professionalism, consistency, punctuality, composure, and personal example.
- Create an environment where people bring solutions instead of repeatedly bringing problems without ownership.
- Be firm without being disrespectful. Accountability and positive culture are expected to exist together.
- Recognize strong employees, develop capable managers, and address people who repeatedly resist reasonable
standards or negatively affect the operation.
- Prevent departmental silos, internal drama, poor communication, and 'that's not my job' thinking from becoming
accepted culture.
- Keep the organization moving forward. Every weekend should teach the team something that makes the next weekend
stronger.
OWNERSHIP MENTALITY
The General Manager is ultimately responsible for the condition and operation of the venue while on
duty. Identifying a problem is not enough. The expectation is to organize a solution, delegate
appropriately, follow through, and verify that it was completed.
This does not mean personally cleaning every spill, repairing every fixture, running every bar, or performing every security
function. It means knowing who is responsible, making sure they respond, and confirming that the standard was restored.
GUEST EXPERIENCE
Guests are paying to have a great time. Their first interaction with the property matters, and so does every interaction
afterward. The GM must understand that hospitality includes the condition of the building, wait times, staff demeanor,
communication, cleanliness, organization, problem resolution, and the overall feeling guests take with them when they
leave.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
- Significant management experience in live entertainment, nightlife, event venues, hospitality, hotels, restaurants,
festivals, or another complex high-volume operation.
- Experience supervising managers or multiple departments is strongly preferred.
Confidential Venue Recruitment | Atlanta Area Page 2 Exceptional organizational ability: able to compartmentalize, prioritize, delegate, communicate, and follow through under
pressure.
- Strong judgment and the confidence to make timely operational decisions.
- Professional appearance and demeanor; punctual, dependable, composed, and highly accountable.
- Strong people leadership, including coaching, conflict resolution, corrective action, documentation, and performance
management.
- Hospitality-driven and comfortable interacting with guests, employees, promoters, vendors, contractors, and senior
leadership.
- Naturally attentive to detail and capable of seeing both the immediate problem and the larger operational picture.
- Comfortable challenging inefficient habits and improving systems rather than simply maintaining 'the way it has always
been done.'
TYPICAL OPERATING SCHEDULE
Friday: Venue operations beginning around 6:00 PM through closing; last call approximately 2:45 AM.
Saturday: Venue operations beginning around 6:00 PM through closing; last call approximately 2:45 AM.
Sunday: Event operations generally from approximately 12:00 PM to midnight.
The 50-hour on-site workweek also includes planning, staffing, manager meetings, walkthroughs, maintenance follow-up,
vendor coordination, training, administrative work, and preparation outside live-event hours.
WHO SHOULD APPLY
Apply if you are the type of leader who walks into a building and immediately begins seeing what can be better - while also
knowing how to organize people to make those improvements happen. We want someone who can create order without
killing the energy of the venue, enforce standards without creating unnecessary negativity, and understand that operational
excellence and a great vibe should reinforce each other.
We are not looking for someone who simply maintains the existing operation. We are looking for a
leader who can improve systems, raise standards, develop people, eliminate recurring inefficiencies,
and help build a venue that becomes stronger every week.
APPLICATION
Please submit a resume and a brief description of your experience leading high-volume operations, entertainment venues,
hospitality teams, or multi-department environments. Qualified candidates will receive additional information about the
venue during the interview process.
Confidential Venue Recruitment | Atlanta Area
Pay: $70.00 - $85.00 per hour
Work Location: In person
