Venue Rentals Manager

The Venue Rentals Manager is a key position within our Campus Division, based at the award-winning Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend. Our campus is home to the largest Wooden Boat Festival in North America, the Race to Alaska, a huge suite of maritime education programs, and more. Our unique facilities, including large event spaces, classrooms, and an outdoor commons overlooking Port Townsend Bay, are often filled with students, racers, and festival-goers, and our Venue Rentals program makes sure the use of these spaces is maximized throughout the year.

The Venue Rentals Manager promotes, sells, coordinates, and executes the rental of NWM spaces to other organizations and the public. This can range from mariner trainings and nonprofit events to weddings, celebrations of life, and everything in between. The ideal candidate loves planning and working closely with people within and outside our community and brings experience in customer service, event planning, and sales.

If you think you might be interested, here are a few things you should know about us:

• To us, customer service isn't the forced smile and "Have a nice day" as people exit the plane, but honoring people enough to be present and human with them. The customer may not always be right, but they always need to feel respected and honored. Sometimes that looks like reassuring the mother of the bride, sometimes it’s helping a renter re-envision their room layout.
• We want all people to feel welcome here, especially those who have been historically marginalized. We work towards access, inclusion, and belonging in all of our spaces and events. We continue to learn and find new areas of opportunity.
• We understand that sometimes our days may not go as planned. We work with people, after all. Sometimes being flexible isn’t easy, but it is essential.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Venue Rentals:

• Manage all venue rentals, including event rentals, Boathouse, and tenant(s)
• Work with renters from initial inquiry through their events and post-rental follow-up
• Recruit, hire, support, and inspire a team of part-time Venue Coordinators who support rental operations
• Establish venue rental packages and rates
• Develop and oversee the Venue Rentals annual budget including revenue and expense goals and tracking
• Connect with local vendors and maintain NWM’s Preferred Service Partner List for venue rental clients in alignment with NWM values and requirements
• Ensure event spaces are kept clean and organized; maintain catering kitchen, event supplies, and permits
• Work with Accounting to ensure accurate and timely venue rental invoicing
• In collaboration with the Communications team, create & implement a plan to promote venue rentals across our region

Campus and Other Responsibilities:

• Provide customer service for all NWM stakeholders including staff, board, tenants, donors, clients, program participants, and the public towards successful NWM activities and events
• Maintain a thorough understanding of the organization's activities to answer inquiries in person, by phone, or by email
• Assist with the ‘front desk’ function for the office, including answering the phone and resolving questions or directing calls to appropriate staff, helping in-person visitors to the office, and replying to email inquiries
• Assist with preparations for NWM events and provide support to team during key event weekends, including serving as Will Call Captain during Wooden Boat Festival
• Check out items to patrons of H.W. McCurdy Library
• Assist in opening and locking up of the Library, Admin Area, and exterior campus doors following their established hours
• Other duties as assigned

GENERAL OPERATIONS

While the primary focus of this position is venue rentals, the Venue Rentals Manager works as part of the entire NWM team, ensuring smooth operations. As a growing non-profit, we all pitch in for the heavy lifting, whether it's participating in all-hands projects and events, assisting visitors, or occasionally doing some literal heavy lifting.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Passion for customer service and interest in events
• Flexibility, patience, calm under fire, and creative problem-solving
• Initiative, attention to detail, good organization, and strong communication skills
• Demonstrated computer skills
• Ability to lift 50 pounds
• Available to work a flexible schedule, including some evenings, weekends, and holidays

HELPFUL QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience managing budgets
• Familiarity with weddings and wedding planning
• Past supervisory experience
• Interest in sales and marketing
• Competency with A/V equipment
• Current MAST permit and/or Food Handlers Permit
• CPR and/or First Aid Certification (or plan to get certified upon hiring)

NWM is committed to equal employment opportunity, striving towards being an antiracist and inclusive organization. We value the diversity of our staff and the communities that we serve, which includes a spectrum of racial, cultural, religious, sexual and gender identities, and abilities. We strongly encourage applications from people who have not seen themselves represented in the industry.

• 100% company paid Health, Dental, Vision, and Life insurance + contributions to HSA account 
• Matching contributions to a SIMPLE IRA retirement fund after 1 year of employment
• Paid time off: accrues 2 weeks of vacation per year, 17 paid holidays in a calendar year, & 1 hour of sick time accrued per every 25 hours worked
• Flexible schedule & employee discounts
• Full details on benefits