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Technical Director (Experiential)

New York City or Los Angeles

ON BOARD EXPERIENTIAL

On Board Experiential (OBE) is an award-winning, full-service, experience-led agency that creates meaningful brand experiences worldwide. We work out of our homes and physical offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and NYC, or wherever our adventures take us! Our clients include Nike, Meta, JPMorgan Chase, The Infatuation, Stripe, and OpenAI, to name a few. We know, "Cool, cool, but what’s it like to work at OBE?" We thought you'd never ask. Event Marketer has recognized OBE as one of the best places to work in events and well, we couldn't agree more. 

 

The most important part of our business is our people. They are hardworking, brave and make magic happen on the regular. But under each majestic exterior is a human deserving of a healthy work-life balance. That’s why we believe in recovery days, happy hours, friendly but competitive fitness challenges and company offsites. 

 

We conduct open meetings to facilitate discussions that heal, inspire, and bring us closer. We encourage each other to bring our whole selves to work. We want to hear about your lived experiences and unique perspectives. We don't just want you to be unapologetically you: it's part of the job description.

 

 

Summary of Position

The Technical Director has both management and implementation responsibilities across all of the company’s projects.  Along with the Senior Technical Director, this role will establish initiatives to keep the technical production capabilities at OBE ahead of the industry curve.  In partnership with our Senior Technical Director, and other cross functional teams, this person will ensure OBE continues to deliver the highest quality experiences through the implementation and management of all technologies (Audio/visual, lighting, immersive (AI, VR, MR, etc), custom builds, staging and all related elements).

 

Essential Job Functions

Technical Direction: Strategy and Concept Development (10%)

  • Identify key technologies and resources available to OBE in order to provide the highest quality technical production options for client projects.
  • Partner with key stakeholders (internal and external) to define strategy and resources needed for specific events. This includes vetting numerous concepts, vendor outreach, specific and targeted research, as well as advanced feasibility related work related to next level technical integrations
  • Participate in pitch meetings to present OBE case studies, work history, and expertise in event and state of the art technical productions, as well as pitch specific concepts and strategies directly associated with the integration of the highest-level technical production, including emerging technologies and associated possibilities.

Technical Direction: Pre-Production (30%)

  • Simultaneously advance technical workstreams across multiple projects.
  • Workstreams include details such as to-scale .DWG drawing and modeling, advanced planning with vendors and partners on technical production elements. This includes budgeting, pricing, testing (incl final phase testing) and other associated best practices. 
  • Onsite planning including load in, live and load out associated timelines, staffing, labor services, and associated best practices.

Technical Direction: Execution (30%)

  • Coordinate with production team to ensure all appropriate and approved technical production resources for projects are acquired, installed, and managed throughout all project stages.
  • Hire and manage production teams, both internal and external, to properly execute OBE’s technical SOW on projects at the highest level possible and in keeping with both client and OBE desired outcomes.
  • Ensure appropriate contingencies are addressed and planned for at all stages of projects.

Budgets/Vendor Management (25%)

  • Work with 3rd party vendors to define and deliver services for execution and activation of events.
  • Develop and manage Technical Directing related budgets for assigned events.
  • Submit budgets to producers for inclusion in overall event/project budgets.
  • Source 3rd party vendors through competitive bidding and work samples per company policy.

Administration (5%)

  • Ensure invoices for all elements are properly approved and processed on a timely basis.
  • Negotiate any budget to actual variances with vendors.
  • Expense reports and timesheets submission.

 

Desired Skills and Experience

Education/Experience

EDUCATION

  • Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent work experience.

EXPERIENCE

  • Minimum 8 years of experience managing A/V, lighting technologies, custom builds and related strategies.
  • Strong track record of managing state-of-the-art technologies for all audio/visual fields: Audio, Lighting, Video, Rigging, Effects, and other technical production related devices and resources.
  • An understanding of XR (AR, VR, MR), projection mapping, LED, spatial audio, and real-time rendering engines such as Unreal or Unity.
  • Proven and strong understanding of production labor. Both union and non-union, safety practices, labor rules. familiar with current CBA’s.
  • Proven and strong experience drawing in Auto CAD and/or Vectorworks at the advanced level.
  • Proven history of custom builds in the areas of power, staging, trussing and other related infrastructure.
  • Experience in an agency environment, preferably experiential marketing, is required.

 

Essential Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

  • Very strong client/customer service experience and focus.
  • Excellent planning, organizational and time-management skills. 
  • Ability to multi-task, manage priorities and commitments, and meet deadlines.
  • Must be able to work in a collaborative manner both internally, and with clients.
  • Ability to manage projects/events/races within budget.
  • Excellent judgment with the ability to pro-actively identify issues/obstacles and effectively create solutions.
  • Ability to work independently as well as within teams.
  • Extremely strong and current vendor relationships and experience with the competitive bidding process.
  • Very strong work ethic and ability to thrive and enjoy a fast-paced dynamic work environment.
  • Excellent computer skills that include Microsoft Office (including PowerPoint and Access), MS Project or other project management tools are a plus.

 

Other Qualities and Skills

  • Natural curiosity—the drive to always be learning and growing, professionally and personally.
  • High energy and flexibility in working non-traditional hours as needed (some nights and weekends as deadlines dictate).
  • Willingness to work a hybrid schedule of at least 2 days in office (up to 4 days as needed) and travel up to 50% of the time.

 

Compensation

Compensation Range: $115,000 - $165,000 annually. This is the pay range OBE believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on level of experience, relevant skills, professional certifications, market pay, and demand for the role. OBE reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. For this role, Benefits include: medical/dental/vision insurance, employer paid basic life and personal accident insurance. Also included: Annual Profit Sharing/Bonus Plan based on the company’s performance and your individual performance, 401(k), Healthcare Flexible Spending Account, Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account, PTO, STD/LTD insurance benefits.

On Board Experiential is An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status, age or any other federally protected class.

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