Title: Senior Director, Audience Systems and Service Operations

Department: Audience Services

Reports to: Managing Director, Audience Services and IT

Summary

The Senior Director of Audience Systems and Service Operations is the enterprise owner of the ticketing services, guest service systems, and operational architecture which define how audiences engage with Audience Services at Ensemble Arts Philly. This role defines operational policy, system standards, automation priorities, and governance frameworks to ensure revenue-critical infrastructure, guest service models, and processes are cohesive, scalable, and aligned with institutional priorities.

Anchored in ticketing as a core business platform, this role provides end-to-end leadership across ticketing operations, policy, vendors, and service workflows. In parallel, the Senior Director serves as the primary business owner of ticketing systems and ticketing-domain functionality within shared audience-facing platforms, and as co-decision partner in digital commerce and service delivery flows, working closely with Marketing, Information Technology, and other departments to define priorities, requirements, and governance.

Initial focus for this role is placed on stabilizing and modernizing ticketing and audience systems while eliminating manual workflows, establishing standardized operating models, and building the operational foundation for durable systems and technology governance as the organization’s IT function continues to mature.

Essential Functions: 

Enterprise Ticketing and Audience Systems Leadership

• Define and uphold enterprise ticketing operational policy, standards, and governance frameworks.
• Lead ticketing operations across platforms, policies, vendors, and workflows ensuring consistency, accuracy and scalability.
• Establish clear decision-making authority and accountability across ticketing operations functions by reducing dependency on escalation, formalizing decision domains, and accelerating service delivery.
• Translate institutional priorities into executable operational plans that support sustainability, revenue growth, and long-term operational resilience.
• Establish standardized governance for performance builds, pricing execution, inventory management, and settlement processes.
• Own vendor strategy, contract governance, performance accountability, and service-level enforcement for ticketing-related platforms and services.
• Oversee payment and fraud operations to enhance guest experience and safeguard revenue.

Strategic Systems Ownership and IT Partnership

• Business owner for ticketing system, access control system, partnerships, value added services and related platforms.
• Gather and manage ticketing-related requirements for projects ensuring alignment with organizational and departmental strategy.
• Co-own digital purchase path optimization and systems roadmap with IT and Marketing Leadership, defining business requirements for digital-first service delivery and self-service expansion.
• Develop and maintain roadmap for efficient, high-quality and sustainable ticketing operations.
• Oversee reporting and data analysis services on behalf of Audience Services. Partner with stakeholders to identify, prioritize deliver actionable reporting aligned with strategic and operational plans.
• Co-lead cross functional forums to align technology and operational decisions.

Operational Architecture and Design

• Design and oversee operational architecture connecting ticketing systems and policy, ticketing operations, contact center operations, box office operations, finance, marketing, development, and audience experience with clearly defined ownership boundaries and governance standards.
• Centralize, formalize, and enforce ticketing operations documentation and change management protocols to ensure standardized, consistent, and auditable processes which deliver efficient, high-quality outcomes.
• Standardize intake, prioritization and escalation frameworks for audience systems, establishing transparent decision domains and reducing reliance on upward escalation.
• Identify and lead process (re)design and automation initiatives that reduce manual work, improve data integrity and eliminate system bottlenecks.
• Prioritize modernization and standardization of performance build and management processes to replace institutional knowledge dependency with governed, system-supported workflows and standardized approval protocols.
• Establish and manage quality control guidelines and service level commitments, including measurable performance indicators tied to accuracy, timeliness, and guest impact. 
• Ensure that systems and workflows support a digital-first, guest-empowered service model, including self-service adoption, reduced performance-time intervention, and frictionless digital delivery.

Data Stewardship and Governance

• Data Steward for Ticketing data domain, with full accountability for data integrity, governance standards, and exception management within the ticketing domain.
• Serve on Data Stewards Council, working with senior leaders to define data governance standards, reporting expectations and inter-operability across data domains, while representing and enforcing ticketing domain requirements.
• Serve on Constituent Profile data working group, working with senior leaders to define data governance standards, reporting expectations, and cross-organizational inter-operability ensuring alignment between constituent records and ticketing data standards.
• Serve on Finance data working group, working with senior leaders to define data governance standards, reporting expectations and cross-organizational interoperability ensuring alignment with finance standards and compliance with audit, risk management, and control requirements.
• Ensure that ticketing data reliably supports decision-making, analysis, insight, and forecasting through defined data hygiene standards, merge protocols, audit routines, and reporting governance.

Leadership, Culture and Capacity Building

• Lead and develop managers and functional leads, defining clear decision domains and performance expectations. Build confidence, accountability, and decision-making capability within established governance frameworks.
• Foster a culture of clarity, continuous improvement and operational discipline while reducing reliance on “heroic individualism” through well-developed processes and documented authority structures.
• Support professional development and succession planning to ensure continuity, resilience, and distributed leadership capacity across ticketing and audience systems functions.
• Serve as trusted thought partner to Managing Director, translating enterprise priorities into executable systems and governance frameworks and enabling sustained focus on enterprise strategy and external leadership.
• Serve on Audience Services and IT Senior Leadership Team representing ticketing and audience systems interests and ensuring alignment between operational governance and enterprise technology direction.
• Lead Audience Services Management Team ensuring free flow of information, resolving bottlenecks and facilitating planning for ticketing activities.

Education/Experience:

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Arts Administration, Information Systems, or a related field preferred. Minimum of 8–10 years of leadership experience in ticketing operations, audience systems, or related operational environments required.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

• Strong knowledge of ticketing operations, audience systems, and customer service workflows. 
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional operational and systems initiatives. 
• Excellent analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills. 
• Strong communication and stakeholder management abilities. 
• Experience with Tessitura or similar enterprise ticketing/CRM platforms preferred. 
• Comfortable working with data to form opinions and guide decision making.
• Experience with defining business requirements for complex systems integrations and related processes.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, high-volume environment.

Direct Reports:

• Box Office Manager
• Subscription Project Manager
• Ticketing Operations Coordinator
• Ticketing Operations Associate

Working Conditions/Physical Demands:

Routine for office environment. The employee will be required to perform the essential functions of the job during evening and weekend concerts and/or events.

Resume and cover letter are required when applying for this position.

About The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts Philly

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts Philly (POEA) brings together one of the world’s preeminent orchestras with the iconic venues that have anchored Philadelphia’s cultural life for nearly 170 years. As owner and operator of the Academy of Music, Miller Theater, and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and the programming partner for the historic Forrest Theatre, POEA serves as a cornerstone of the city’s artistic and civic identity, welcoming one million people annually to a vibrant constellation of stages across Center City.

Representing both the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra and a dynamic roster of resident partners and visiting artists, POEA presents more than one-thousand events annually that represent a wide range of programming, including Broadway, classical, comedy, theater, jazz, dance, and family presentations, reflecting and serving the breadth of the region’s communities. Through innovative programming, robust educational initiatives, deep commitment to diverse communities, and expanding digital platforms, POEA acts as a convener and civic partner—bringing people together, fostering dialogue, and creating an expansive, inclusive future for the arts in Philadelphia and beyond.

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts is an equal opportunity employer. ?All applicants are considered for employment without attention to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ethnicity, veteran or disability status.

Employees are expected to be able to perform the essential duties and responsibilities of this position, with or without job modification/reasonable accommodation. If an employee believes a job modification/reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact Human Resources so that a review can be conducted. POEA strives to comply with the accommodation provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, and other related federal, state, and local laws.