Job Description

About Savage Wonder

Savage Wonder Art Center is a veteran-led nonprofit arts center in Beacon, New York. We are building a cultural institution rooted in bold artistic work, live experience, hospitality, visual art, and public programming. Our work is ambitious and surprising and rooted in the intimate and absurd.

We are looking for a senior operational leader to serve as the organizational counterpart to the Founder / Artistic Director: someone who can manage the day-to-day life of the institution, support the team, strengthen systems, deconflict workflow across departments, and help carry Savage Wonder into its next stage of growth.

About the Environment

Savage Wonder is a growing, entrepreneurial arts institution in an active stage of organizational build. This is not a legacy organization with fully mature infrastructure already in place. It is a dynamic, highly engaged environment that requires urgency, judgment, adaptability, stamina, and a willingness to build while doing.

The right candidate will be energized by the opportunity to bring structure, coordination, and operational discipline to a fast-moving institution with real ambition and a great deal happening at once.

This role is best suited to someone who thrives in ambitious, evolving organizations and who takes pride in helping turn intensity into clarity, order, and sustainability.

Job Overview

The Managing Director / Chief Operating Officer will oversee the day-to-day operations of Savage Wonder Art Center and serve as a key senior leader across the organization. This person will be responsible for team management, operational planning, cross-department coordination, HR and personnel systems, and the successful functioning of a complex, fast-moving arts venue.

The ideal candidate is a highly organized, emotionally steady, solutions-oriented operator who thrives in dynamic environments and knows how to create clarity, accountability, communication, and momentum inside a growing organization.

This is not a purely administrative role. It requires strong people leadership, operational judgment, physical presence, responsiveness, and a willingness to work across departments in support of the whole institution.

The Managing Director / COO will report directly to the Founder / Artistic Director and work in close partnership with senior staff across advancement, hospitality, gallery, programming, production, and administration.

Core Responsibilities

Organizational Operations and Team Leadership

• Oversee day-to-day operations across programming, hospitality, gallery, events, facilities coordination, and administrative functions
• Serve as the primary internal operational leader and a key point of support for staff across departments
• Help departments stay disciplined in their lanes while coordinating cross-functional collaboration where needed
• Deconflict workflow issues, bottlenecks, staffing strain, and operational overlap across the organization
• Build and maintain strong internal communication rhythms, accountability structures, and clear follow-through
• Support the Founder / Artistic Director by absorbing operational problem-solving and helping translate institutional priorities into execution

Staff Management and Internal Accountability

• Supervise and support members of the team as assigned
• Help establish and maintain a culture of clarity, responsiveness, professionalism, collaboration, and accountability
• Support performance management, staff communication, prioritization, and internal decision-making
• Identify pressure points on the team and proactively solve for capacity, coordination, and execution issues
• Serve as a steady and trusted internal leader who can manage both workflow and people effectively

HR and People Operations

• Oversee HR systems and internal personnel processes, including onboarding, offboarding, handbook implementation, PTO tracking, documentation, and general policy consistency
• Partner with the Founder / Artistic Director on employee relations matters and organizational structure
• Help improve internal processes around approvals, reporting lines, staff expectations, and communication standards
• Ensure HR and people systems are functional, consistent, and aligned with organizational growth

Systems, Process, and Cross-Department Infrastructure

• Identify opportunities to improve organizational systems, coordination, and operating procedures
• Help create more efficient workflows across departments and reduce unnecessary strain caused by work falling outside normal lanes
• Partner with business affairs and finance leadership on organization-wide systems, tools, and process improvements
• Help develop and maintain clear operating structures as the organization grows

Venue and Institutional Support

• Be physically present and engaged in the life of the organization
• Support real-time institutional needs in a multi-use arts venue environment
• Step in where necessary to help maintain smooth operations across programming and venue activity
• Help ensure the organization is staffed, coordinated, and prepared for public-facing activity, transitions, installations, and event flow

Strategic Partnership with the Founder / Artistic Director

• Serve as a close operational partner to the Founder / Artistic Director
• Help carry institutional leadership in a way that allows the Founder / Artistic Director to remain focused on artistic direction, fundraising, external relationships, and long-range strategy
• Act as a thought partner on organizational growth, staffing, systems, and capacity planning
• Support implementation of new initiatives, expansion efforts, and cross-functional institutional priorities

Ideal Candidate Profile

The strongest candidates will bring many of the following:

• Significant senior-level experience in operations, general management, venue management, producing, hospitality leadership, nonprofit administration, or a related field
• Experience managing teams in a fast-paced, high-touch, mission-driven, public-facing environment
• Strong people management skills and sound operational judgment
• Excellent follow-through and communication
• Ability to stay steady under pressure and navigate a complex human environment with maturity and tact
• Strong organizational instincts and a bias toward action
• Comfort balancing strategic thinking with hands-on execution
• Experience building or improving systems, processes, and internal coordination
• Ability to manage competing priorities without losing responsiveness or clarity
• Appreciation for the demands of a scrappy, growing cultural institution
• Willingness to be on site and engaged in the physical and operational life of the organization

Especially Relevant Backgrounds May Include

• Performing arts organizations
• Museums or cultural institutions
• Creative venues
• Live events or experiential programming
• Hospitality operations
• Production or general management
• Entrepreneurial or growth-stage nonprofits

The Kind of Person Who Will Thrive Here

This role is a fit for someone who:

• thrives in entrepreneurial, high-accountability environments
• is excited by the challenge of helping a growing institution become more functional, coordinated, and sustainable
• knows how to create structure without becoming bureaucratic
• communicates clearly and consistently
• is willing to be highly engaged, highly responsive, and deeply present
• understands the difference between glamour and real operational leadership
• can lead people, solve problems, and jump in when needed
• wants to help build something ambitious, unusual, and alive
• This role is likely not a fit for someone seeking a narrowly defined, highly siloed, or low-change executive position.

Compensation and Structure

• Full-time, senior leadership role
• Based in Beacon, New York
• Significant on-site presence required
• Salary commensurate with experience $100k-$120k

Benefits and additional details to be discussed with finalists.

Job Tags

Similar Jobs