Senior Production Manager

Job Description

Job Description

About On Board Experiential (OBE)

OBE is a global marketing agency that brings brands to life through culture-shaping experiences. For more than 30 years, we've partnered with iconic brands — including Nike, the NFL, JPMorganChase, Meta, Sephora, Starbucks, and Converse — to build community, create cultural relevance, and drive measurable business impact. With offices in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and London, we activate globally. OBE is also a founding member of The ADD Collective, extending our reach and resources while staying true to our core capabilities.

We've been recognized by Event Marketer as one of the best places to work in events — and we couldn't agree more.

The most important part of our business is our people. They are hardworking, imaginative, and make genuinely remarkable things happen. But behind every great activation is a human who deserves rest, connection, and a life outside of work. That's why we invest in recovery days, company offsites, happy hours, and the kind of friendly-but-competitive fitness challenges that bond teams for life.

We show up for each other — in open conversations that heal, inspire, and bring us closer. We want to hear about your lived experiences, your unconventional ideas, and the perspectives only you can bring. Being unapologetically yourself isn't just welcome here. It's part of the job.

SUMMARY OF POSITION  

The Senior Production Manager (SPM), loves collaboration, and has experience working on a wide variety of project types in which they held various roles and responsibilities. To the point that they, "get it", no matter what the project is, the problem that needs fixin' or the level of ambiguity they're dealing with. Relevant examples would be; live events, hybrid, virtual events, B2B, B2C, mobile, CPG, lifestyle, and more. A very strong character, next-level organizational and communication skills, prioritization, production workflow, managerial and client facing skills are a must.

The SPM is responsible for a wide variety of elements on a given project. Responsibilities may include management of production related personnel (internal FT staff as well as external contractors) including but not limited to; other producers, third-party vendors/service providers, production assistants, coordinators, and managers. Depending upon the size and complexity of the project, this may (and most likely will) involve running multiple projects/events simultaneously at various stages of project planning.

This person is also responsible for the development and implementation of the overall project plan; which will include development of the overall staffing plan, managing, monitoring and maintaining the workback/timeline, managing multiple vendors, negotiating contracts, obtaining and managing staff and resources, budget development, management and tracking P/L, being onsite and in the office, and the overall project QC.. By working closely with internal and external account, technology, creative and operations teams in a collaborative manner, this person is responsible for executing the approved production-specific Scope of Work in support of the clients goals and objectives.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS  

• Assist pitch teams in determining feasibility of projects and establishing production budgets for new business proposals (RFPs). Attend brainstorms and pitch meetings as needed. 

• When leading projects, serve as the primary Production team contact throughout the project process with internal and external project teams. This includes being in the office and onsite as defined by the project and by OBE policy. 

• Participate in, and lead, project planning and development meetings and internal/external status meetings. 

• Collaborate with Production Department Leadership in establishing the overall project plan and budget within the key client deliverable dates and the agreed upon Scope of Work.

• Work closely with internal operations, account, technology, and creative teams to ensure the highest quality and smoothest operation of the overall production. And do so in a way that ensures that all key deliverables are not just met but exceeds the clients' satisfaction.

• Establish, maintain and evolve best practices that meet and exceed OBE standards and that continually elevate the level at which we are operating as an agency. 

• Implement plans for staffing procedures, budget tracking, project timelines, critical paths, production schedules, Run of Show, meeting agendas, contingency and emergency actions, etc.

• Keep internal teams, and other specific project teams, informed on a regular basis on any need for revisions to budgets and estimates to complete. 

• Recruit, hire and manage production crews and staff as required by the project(s). 

• Identify outside vendors needed (depending on the type of event), request bids, select vendors and negotiate and obtain signed contracts. Monitor performance of vendors.

• Manage, mentor and motivate junior production staff. 

• Submit all status reports, photo/digital documentation, and other evidence of production as required by Account team and Client personnel. 

• Reconcile all production budgets and prepare post event analysis of production. 

DESIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE  

EDUCATION  

• Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, Business Administration, or related field preferred.

EXPERIENCE   

• 7+ years of direct experience in producing/managing budgets for major marketing programs/events/activations with or within an experiential agency environment.

• Must have an extremely strong and diverse experience base that directly applies to this multi-faceted, high demand position. 

• Very strong Vendor relationships and experience with the competitive bidding process.

• Experience in executing staffing procedures, budget tracking, project timelines, critical paths, production schedules, Run of Show, meeting agendas, contingency and emergency actions specifically for experiential events.

ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES  

• Strong and proven management skills and interpersonal communication skills. 

• Proven ability to manage internal and external partners, and service providers. 

• Very strong client/customer service experience and focus. 

• Excellent planning, organizational, prioritization, and time-management skills. This includes possessing the capacity necessary to effective carry and execute multiple projects simultaneously.

• Ability to multi-task, manage competing priorities, work in the "grey", embrace ambiguity, thrive when "it" hits the fan, never be satisfied, always push to elevate the work, and still be on time for the after party. 

• Must be able to work in a very (and we mean very) collaborative manner both with internal and external teams, and with clients. 

• Ability to manage projects events within budget.

• Excellent judgment/awareness with the proven ability to pro-actively identify issues/obstacles and effectively create solutions. 

• Extremely strong working knowledge of and experience with contracting, permitting and insurance processes.

• Understanding of Union Labor laws and ability to manage within a budget without penalties 

• Strong understanding in the areas such as Security/Access Control, Branding, fabrication, location scouting, venue negotiations. 

OTHER SKILLS AND JOB REQUIREMENTS  

• Extremely strong work ethic and the proven ability to thrive and enjoy a (very) fast-paced, dynamic, ever-changing, exciting and challenging working environment.

• Must be flexible and comfortable in working non-traditional hours in non-traditional locations, as needed (some nights and weekends). 

• Experience with SharePoint, Google apps, Trello, Microsoft Teams or other project management tools is a plus.

• Willingness to travel up to 50% of the time, if necessary. Please note this level of travel is at the very high end of what our producers typically average.

• Ability and desire to work in the office in keeping with OBE's current in-office policy, to be "present" and participation at a high-level, and to be onsite as required. 

Compensation  

$95,000 - $11