Assistant Venue Manager

About Escape This

Escape This is one of Australia's fastest-growing entertainment brands, known for creating immersive, story-driven escape room experiences that challenge and thrill players of all ages. With venues across Perth and Sydney, and more on the horizon

We pride ourselves on delivering exceptional guest experiences through innovative set design, cutting-edge tech, and a passionate team who make the magic happen behind the scenes. From smooth daily operations to unforgettable in-room adventures, our success relies on talented, hands-on leaders who can help us maintain the high standards that define our brand.

As we continue to grow nationwide, we're looking for individuals who are ready to roll up their sleeves, support their teams, and play a key role in delivering operational excellence and unforgettable experiences every day.

About the role:

● Managing all maintenance and repairs of the venue grounds, property, equipment, and facilities.

● Ensuring that the venue and facilities are clean and organised.

● Managing all bookings for events and liaising with the guests to determine event requirements.

● Supervising all staff including general staff, and maintenance personnel.

● Scheduling and coordinating external maintenance / build / repair work as required.

● Supervising the operations of events and tending to any incidents or queries.

● Managing all administrative tasks such as bookings, reports, schedules, human resources, admin procedures and game procedures and other adhoc tasks as delegated.

● Communicating and enforcing all procedural changes with staff.

● General Games Master duties when applicable.

● All duties are in assistance to the Venue and Area Manager where applicable.

Job Role Further:

Overseeing The Operations of the Venue A venue manager's overarching responsibility is to ensure that the venue is running smoothly and efficiently. This involves a combination of front-of-house and behind-the-scenes work. To be an effective venue manager, you require a thorough understanding of all aspects of the venue's operations and strong interpersonal skills.

Managing Employees Managing in-house employees is a key responsibility of venue managers. Responsibilities in this area include delegating and supervising work, staff training, implementing procedural changes, scheduling and maintaining staff work schedules (rostering and leave) and, effectively and professionally handling staff performance / grievances. All whilst motivating employees to deliver excellent customer service measured on guest feedback (reviews, feedback emails, return patrons etc.)

Hiring New Employees Liaise with the Operational Management and Marketing Team to advertise vacancies, conduct interviews and onboarding new staff members. As a venue manager, it's often your decision whether or not a new employee passes their probationary period.

Organising Training and Staff Development Organising training and development, ensuring all employees receive the proper training. The training that employees require can range from the general principles of customer service to specific skills for the role, such as the first aid training / fire warden training.

Managing Bookings As a venue that takes bookings, you are responsible for managing them alongside the bookings team and other FOH staff. This often involves handling enquiries, maintaining a bookings calendar and dealing with changes and cancellations. Having an excellent understanding of the venue's capabilities and a high level of organisation is essential.

Handling Complaints As the venue manager, you're responsible for dealing with complaints. You may hear complaints from employees, customers, external contractors etc. It's important to handle complaints calmly and professionally and mitigate issues so as not to damage the venue's reputation. Handling complaints can also involve monitoring and responding to complaints via social media and online reviews. Ensuring Health and Safety Ensuring the venue is compliant with health and safety procedures. Carry out risk assessments, maintain health and safety / incident reports and ensure the proper training of all staff with regard to this. You are to also investigate any incidents on the premises and take steps to ensure that they don't happen again.

Ensuring Compliance Escape This is subject to a lot of legislation and regulation governing their operation. In addition to abiding by health and safety rules, there may be other regulations governing, for example, noise levels, licensing and disability access. It's important that you have a thorough understanding of the legal requirements that apply to the venue and make sure you adhere to them.

Arranging Maintenance and Repairs Be proactive in maintaining the premises, rooms and experiences by arranging routine maintenance and repairs - this also includes any outdoor space / gardens when applicable.

Managing Finances and Monitoring Budgets Have a good understanding of financial principles and can actively manage the venue's finances. Your financial tasks may include preparing several quotations for works, research for purchase requests, monitoring expenditure, cost cutting where appropriate, rostering budgets and running the venue efficiently.

Strategising It's important for you to plan and implement strategies to stimulate income generation and efficiency. This may involve developing marketing plans, identifying new business opportunities and introducing cost-saving measures. You may also devise strategies to reach new audiences or expand the venue's offering. Monitoring past cycles to efficiently update rostering etc.

Cultivating and Managing Relationships Maintain and cultivate good relationships with staff, external suppliers, contractors and other businesses . Building a strong team keeps the venue running smoothly and provides the best possible experience for our guests. Dealing with Unforeseen Issues The ability to improvise and devise solutions to problems, whether they're due to health and safety, equipment failure, rostering or even the weather. Adaptability is important as there is always the potential for unforeseen issues to arise. As the manager, you're often a key stakeholder, so you may frequently deal with urgent issues outside of your normal working hours.

Launching New Room Experiences Ability to learn and teach new rooms as they launch in an effective manner. This might include a change in the roster as short notice, so that you can be present for the launch event or are satisfied with the team's knowledge for launch.

Essential Skills:

● Excellent customer service skills ● Communication and interpersonal skills ● Approachable ● Team Player ● Leadership skills ● Enthusiastic and outgoing personality ● Efficient and organised ● Lots of energy ● Ability to deal with stress ● Very organised and systematic ● Responsible and trustworthy ● Computer literate ● Punctual ● Multitasker ● Negotiation skills ● Financial acumen ● Health and safety risk management ● Ability to take on feedback ● Adaptability

Job Requirements:

Ability to adhere to the standards and principles of set by Escape This

Fulfil all duties and responsibilities as per the job role

Must be able to work between the hours of 8am - 12am any day of the week including weekends

o Please note that the times above might be subject to change for maintenance, opening hours etc.

Flexible in regards to shift allocation and starting/finish times

Must have basic computer skills and be able to handle a booking system and other job related apps

Ability to follow the company procedures and policies

Keep unavailability and leave up to date

How to Apply:

Please submit your CV and a cover letter explaining why you'd be a great fit for this role. In your cover letter, please respond to the following questions:

• What experience do you have managing a venue or live events (especially with guest flow, timing, and set-ups)?
• Have you worked with staff scheduling, shift management, and supervision before? What was the size of your team?
• Tell me about a time when something went wrong during an event or shift (technical problem, guest complaint, unexpected change). How did you respond?
• Are you available for the hours this venue operates (including mainly working the nights/weekends)?
• Why do you want to work in the escape room / immersive entertainment space rather than a more traditional venue/event space?

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $60,000.00 – $70,000.00 per year

Application Question(s):

• What experience do you have managing a venue or live events (especially with guest flow, timing, and set-ups)?
• Have you worked with staff scheduling, shift management, and supervision before? What was the size of your team?
• Tell me about a time when something went wrong during an event or shift (technical problem, guest complaint, unexpected change). How did you respond?
• Are you available for the hours this venue operates (including mainly working the nights/weekends)?
• Why do you want to work in the escape room / immersive entertainment space rather than a more traditional venue/event space?

Work Authorisation:

• Australia (Required)

Work Location: In person