Current Openings

• Senior Manager of Strategy & Operations
• Production Manager
• Programming Coordinator

Scroll down for more information about each role and instructions to apply.

Senior Manager of Strategy & Operations

Reports to: Vice President of Partnerships and Strategy 

The Role

Chicago Ideas is a platform for progress. We inspire, connect, and enable the curious and the committed to build a more thriving, more joyous city for everyone. At Chicago Ideas, you'll find accessible, high-quality experiences designed to inspire, and ways to find and activate your purpose within our community and beyond.
We’re seeking a Senior Manger of Strategy and Operations who is passionate about creating and scaling systems, connecting people, and social impact. This position will work in partnership with leadership team and will be responsible for driving the development of strategic planning, process and systems management with the end goal of supporting the team in meeting annual goals and objectives.

You

You are organized, detail-oriented, energetic and collaborative. You are fearless when it comes to suggesting new ways of doing things if it means improving the end result. You approach new challenges with curiosity and excitement. You’re as comfortable with self-direction and independent thinking as you are with collaboration. You’re a good listener and empathetic, but also use data to inform your decision-making. 
The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of driving strong operating practice within an organization and have experience collaborating across an organization to achieve the desired end product. You are comfortable in entrepreneurial environments, and have experience starting new projects from scratch. You’re able to channel the sentiments of individual team players into productive systems and love working with teams to make them run better. You’re proud of how resourceful you are in identifying ways to achieve a desired goal while preserving capital, and you have demonstrated experience managing multiple moving parts in the same direction. You’re tech savvy and understand how technology and data can be an asset when creating systems.

Additional responsibilities of the role of Senior Manager of Strategy and Operations include:

• Identify and target areas in which a business can improve operations; implement new initiatives and oversee existing systems and processes at the organization and team-level that drive towards operating effectively and transparently
• Participate in annual strategic planning with the CEO/leadership team and own the goal-setting process; ensure the organization has developed a strategic plan to reach goals that reflect impact agenda and core values
• Collaborate with CI teams to ensure that an efficient and transparent process is established and managed for creating CI’s annual events and activation calendar, and that those events reflect our organizational priorities and goals
• Working across teams, ensure that CI has a plan/process for regularly assessing and reflecting on the impact and effectiveness of programs and activities; apply a metrics-based approach to assess wins/losses and optimize for future improvement
• Develop and execute a plan for transparent communication/reporting on progress against goals
• Work with all teams to ensure CI’s annual operating budget is efficient, transparent and reflective of the organization’s priorities; oversee financial operations inclusive of invoice processing and expense reviews
• Work with strategic partnerships team to ideate around new revenue streams and assist with sell-in of partnerships
• Support VP of Strategic Partnerships with oversight of select partner relationships, including partnerships aimed at strategic growth and focusing on leveraging existing partner relationships to drive conversions
• Develop and implement guidelines for employee evaluations, recruitment and promotion
• Develop and execute a strategy for organization-wide employee communication to ensure team members are connected, engaged and informed
• Initiate and lead special project development and scaling, ensuring alignment across employees, teams, leaders and the board

Qualifications

• Demonstrates ability to quickly understand and absorb new information; detail-oriented and can sift between important signals and noise
• Strong analytical skills; can structure and process qualitative and quantitative data and draw insightful conclusions and recommended next steps
• Track record of developing strategies to achieve goals in the long-term, with an ability to constantly focus on the end result in day-to-day decision-making and make quick and thoughtful decisions to achieve goals
• Experience managing and operationalizing an annual operating budget and/or P&L
• Exceptional project manager – effectively plans and executes long-term, complex projects, investing, managing, and communicating effectively with others to achieve objectives and meet deadlines
• Proven ability to build trust and effective relationships at all levels of the organization and externally
• Exceptional communication, written and verbal
• Embodies our core values

 To apply: Please send resume and cover letter to amanda@chicagoideas.com

Production Manager

Reports to: Managing Producer

The Role

Chicago Ideas is a platform for progress. We inspire, connect, and enable the curious and the committed to build a more thriving, more joyous city for everyone. At Chicago Ideas, you'll find accessible, high-quality experiences designed to inspire, and ways to find and activate your purpose within our community and beyond.
We’re seeking a Production Manager who has a great eye for design, experience working with media production, and is incredibly well organized.   This position will work in partnership with the Managing Producer and be responsible for event operations and management of Front of House.

You

You are curious, collaborative, organized, flexible and detail-oriented. You are comfortable with stressful situations, customer relations and always trying to improve the product you deliver.  You maintain a positive attitude and are very solutions-orientated. You are comfortable coordinating complicated schedules and making sure every step in the process is executed with the highest quality. 
The ideal candidate will have 3-4 years of production experience with a proven track record of seamless and successful event operations and live production. You are comfortable leading  stage operations at an event as well as working to ensure the audience experience is smoothe. You’re creative and savvy with an understanding of Chicago’s live venue offerings, stage design and the latest in production technology. You are comfortable with sourcing video and photos for production and are always thinking of fresh ways to elevate the live event experience.

Additional responsibilities of the role of Production Manager include:

• Lead the execution of year-round Front of House operations planning, including coordination of operations & logistics teams, creation and implementation of staffing plans, and planning and tracking of operations budget as approved by Managing Producer and in coordination with overall event staffing
• Secure all necessary permits and permission for onsite execution 
• Coordinate all brand signage for Front of House, Labs and stage for events including production, transportation and storage 
• Work with Box Office Manager to map out all front of house and box office operations throughout events and labs
• Develop and manage the credentialing plan as needed 
• Work with security partner to develop onsite staffing plans and oversee onsite execution as needed 
• Develop & manage food & beverage for talent, crews, staff, volunteers, and attendees as needed 
• Oversee greenroom and talent needs
• Coordinate with full team and book seller to oversee all aspects of book sales at relevant events
• Leads the execution of Chicago Ideas Week Front of House staffing, planning and execution including operations budget in coordination with the Executive Producer of Chicago Ideas Week 
• Curate and maintain a production style guide for events for Front of House and production 
• Assist Managing Producer in venue relationships 
• Produce Chicago Ideas Labs
• Create and update master list of all equipment, signage, furniture 
• Support production team as needed

Qualifications

• 3-4 years experience in production and/or event operations
• Demonstrated understanding of Front of House operations and ability to manage teams
• Strong live event skills and ideally media production skills but not required
• Proven ability to build trust and effective relationships at all levels of the organization and externally
• Must, with or without reasonable accommodation, be able to lift up to 49 pounds, stand and walk for up to 8 hours  
• Available to work occasional evening or weekend events 

 To apply: Please send resume and cover letter to sarah@chicagoideas.com

Programming Coordinator

Reports to: Editorial Director

The Role

Chicago Ideas is a platform for progress. We inspire, connect, and enable the curious and the committed to build a more thriving, more joyous city for everyone. At Chicago Ideas, you'll find accessible, high-quality experiences designed to inspire, and ways to find and activate your purpose within our community and beyond.
We’re seeking a Programming Coordinator who is passionate about the development and execution of innovative, action driven event programming. This position works closely with the Editorial Director and the Programming team to support the curation and delivery of all year round and Chicago Ideas Week events.

You

You are curious, organized, detail-oriented, and collaborative. You excel at helping others be their best and are energized by helping those around you succeed. You approach new challenges with curiosity and excitement. You’re a high energy, resourceful problem solver who is as comfortable with self-direction and independent thinking as you are with collaboration.

You will be responsible for:

• Researching and developing program topics and presenter suggestions to support editorial calendar and Chicago Ideas mission/goals
• Supporting the Programming Team in managing the logistics of all Chicago Ideas programs, with an emphasis on presenter logistics, administration, and communication. 
• Managing presenter logistics, including travel (air and ground) and hotel accommodations and creating and maintaining detailed presenter itineraries 
• Collecting presenter materials, including headshots/bios, and coordinating use with marketing department
• Maintaining and updating programming organizational and tracking database, including Excel and Google docs
• Attending and tracking action items from programming meetings
• Training and supervising programming interns as needed

Qualifications

• Excellent organizational and project management skills
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• High energy, positive personality, flexibility, resourcefulness, and problem-solving acumen
• Wide ranging interest and experience presenting live events

 To apply: Please send resume and cover letter to rina@chicagoideas.com