Salary: USD 90000.00 - 99982.00 annually

Category: Venues/Promoters/Festivals

Full job description
General Manager
The Concept
The Queen, located in the heart of downtown Wilmington, Delaware, is a historic, 60,000-square-foot live entertainment venue and a cornerstone of the city’s music and entertainment scene. The venue hosts national artists and offers a wide variety of live entertainment and events. Featuring the state-of-the-art Main Hall, Olympia, The Crown, and Knight’s Bar, The Queen hosts concerts, intimate performances, private events, and more. The venue combines the character of a historic building dating back to 1789 with the operational capabilities of a modern, high-functioning live entertainment venue.
At its core, The Queen is dedicated to creating meaningful live experiences that bring people together through music and entertainment. The Queen’s vision is to strengthen Wilmington’s music scene, foster lasting relationships within the community, and continue building a venue where live entertainment and shared experiences remain the center of identity.
Job Description
The General Manager oversees the daily operations and overall success of the music and entertainment venue, ensuring a seamless guest experience across the bars and live entertainment. This role manages staff, coordinates service and event logistics, maintains financial performance, and upholds safety and compliance standards. The General Manager works closely with production, booking, and community stakeholders to deliver high-quality food, beverage, and programming while fostering a positive workplace culture and strong community relationships.
Responsibilities
❖ Develop and define short and long-term vision and growth strategies for the Venue and establish effective measurements and accountability processes to ensure successful implementation, including setting, achieving and maintaining goals and landmarks across the Venue.
❖ Oversee the development and execution of optimal business, capital and human resources strategies to ensure the sustainability of the Venue's operations and proactively communicate such strategies to the appropriate ownership and executive teams.
❖ Develop systems and strategies to continually improve the Venue's financial performance, customer, and employee satisfaction.
❖ Ensure a maximum level of guest service and satisfaction is achieved and maintained, and internal and external customer service needs are met through various avenues, including training, survey analysis, feedback and positive re-enforcement programs.
❖ Oversee VIP and comped guest list processes and ensure appropriate accommodations are made for artists, industry representatives, and VIP guests; act promptly on guest feedback, including any third-party or guest experience evaluations.
❖ Maintain high personal involvement and visibility with ownership to develop transparent and collaborative dialogue and accessibility.
❖ Achieve financial objectives by developing and monitoring the performance of the Venue's financial operational plans/budgets, sales and marketing plans to support the overall objectives of Company, including controlling labor and expenses in all areas of Venue operations, analyzing variances and initiating corrective actions where needed.
❖ Manage the day-to-day operations of the Venue, including supervising the work schedules, plan and organize work and communicate goals, ensuring staff compliance of standards and procedures, identifying opportunities for improvement and resolve issues and managing direct reports to accomplish performance goals.
❖ Serve as a key partner to the booking and talent team, staying current on music industry trends and helping guide talent decisions that support the Venue's artistic identity and financial goals; ensure artists and their representatives have an excellent experience at the Venue.
❖ Provide developmental coaching and guidance for both short-term and long-term career growth opportunities to all direct reports, including training employees, conducting planning sessions and goal setting.
❖ Supervise and execute performance reviews with direct reports, and disciplinary coachings when necessary.
❖ Develop and implement creative strategies to increase revenue.
❖ Increase group event sales revenue through effective management of sales team and create actionable and measurable sales deliverables.
❖ Ensure compliance with all applicable occupational, health and safety regulations and laws, create an environment where safety comes first, oversee safety program and assure Company's safety policies are followed.
❖ Maintain an open-door culture where staff feel comfortable raising concerns; respond promptly and objectively to workplace conflicts, and immediately address any conduct that violates the Venue's harassment or discrimination policies.
❖ Build and maintain positive relationships with neighbors, local officials, community organizations, and regulatory agencies; serve as a spokesperson for the Venue when needed.
❖ Oversee maintenance of the building, décor, and equipment, ensuring physical facilities remain in good working order and in compliance with applicable health, safety, and fire codes; oversee any venue construction or improvement projects.
❖ Partner with legal counsel on contract review and any venue litigation matters; ensure all permits, licenses, and certificates required to operate the Venue are current and properly posted.
❖ Work varying shifts, weekends, and holidays, as well as extended workdays to support business needs.
❖ Other duties and obligations as reasonably directed by Company.
Qualifications
❖ Proven leadership experience managing operations in a restaurant, music venue, hospitality, or entertainment setting.
❖ Strong knowledge of food & beverage service, live event operations, and guest experience standards.
❖ Demonstrated ability to lead, train, and motivate diverse teams in a fast-paced environment.
❖ Experience with budgeting, financial reporting, cost control, and revenue optimization.
❖ Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills with the ability to multitask and prioritize effectively.
❖ Working knowledge of health, safety, alcohol service, and local regulatory compliance requirements.
❖ Current or ability to obtain Responsible Alcohol Awareness / Beverage Service certification (e.g., BASSET, TIPS) or local equivalent, as required by applicable state or local law.
❖ Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with a focus on staff development and guest satisfaction.
❖ Experience coordinating events, entertainment schedules, or live performances preferred.
❖ Proficiency with POS systems, scheduling software, and basic business technology tools.
❖ Ability to work nights, weekends, and holidays in alignment with event schedules.
❖ Familiarity with local liquor licensing and live entertainment permitting requirements preferred.
Physical Demands / Working Environment
❖ Working environment is fast-paced and often loud.
❖ Must be able to lift or move up to 50 lbs using proper lifting techniques.
Equal Employment Opportunity + Hiring Practices
The Queen provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.
The preceding job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job. The Queen’s recruitment policies are designed to place the most highly qualified persons available in a timely and efficient manner. The Queen’s may pursue all avenues available, including promotion from within, employee referrals, outside advertising, employment agencies, internet recruiting, job fairs, college recruiting and search firms.
THE JOB RESPONSIBILITIES LISTED IN THIS DESCRIPTION DO NOT CONSTITUTE THE TERMS OF ANY AGREEMENT OF EMPLOYMENT.
Pay: $90,000.00 - $100,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person