Senior Director of Ticketing & Customer Service

About The Opportunity:

The Senior Director of Ticketing & Customer Service for the Metropolitan Opera drives policy, standards, and accountability for a world-class customer service operation of over 40 staff and works as a critical member of the Sales & Marketing team to achieve the organization’s earned and contributed revenue goals. The Met seeks an individual who can continue its long history of exceptional customer relations across all Met performances and offerings, including ticket and subscription sales for performances at the Metropolitan Opera House, worldwide customer service for Live in HD, digital products and platforms, donor relations, merchandise ecommerce, and more. The successful individual will understand the diverse, complex, and rewarding nature of collaborating within a world-class 21st century arts organization, while being prepared to evolve practices and policies to serve an ever-changing audience base. They will need the motivation and nuanced leadership acumen to own and drive complex projects while building buy-in and ensuring long-term success. The Senior Director of Ticketing & Customer Service leads a large operation of skilled customer service and order fulfillment professionals responsible for handling over $80 million in annual box office revenue, and annual attendance of 650,000. A commitment to the ongoing development of this team and its individual members is of the utmost importance, along with an ability to stay abreast of cutting-edge developments in technology and customer experience to ensure the operations are evolving apace. 

About The Role:

The Senior Director of Ticketing & Customer Service is a critical member of the Sales & Marketing team and provides leadership of the Customer Service team in carrying out all functions in the most efficient way possible. The Director is responsible for maximizing the use of Tessitura across the organization and overseeing the team that provides direct application support, focusing on a CRM strategy that maximizes sales and donations through analysis of customer insights. The role directly supervises: Director, Call Center & Donor Relations; Director, Tessitura Systems Support; Subscription Services Manager; Director, Revenue Processing & Data Entry; and Special Services Manager.   

• Leadership
• Lead the Customer Care team in serving every customer efficiently, with a focus on maximizing ticket sales and donation revenue to achieve the Met’s institutional goals.
• Provide Met audience members across all performances and programs with an exceptional customer service experience.
• Ensure that the Customer Care team is equipped with the necessary tools to carry out their core functions, and communicate information about all current Met performances, programs, and activities.
• Serve as the primary liaison between the Marketing team and members of Local 210 (Call Center), as well as a key liaison with Local 751 (Box Office).  Design and facilitate regular collaborative communication between Customer Care and fellow Met departments.
• Determine ongoing needs of both team and individuals to continue to develop in their professional capacities.

• Technology & Applications 
• Manage support of the Tessitura application, including support of external users, such as third-party ticketing partners and consultants.
• Lead the Application Support team to address organizational needs, prioritize requests, and implement standard and required changes and modifications.
• Test and go live with all new Tessitura application releases.
• Encourage utilization of on-going training programs using network resources.
• Partner with web team to optimize the digital experience, including ecommerce functionality, tech-enabled customer care, and systems integration. 
• Work with web vendors and internal website team to implement project changes for annual ticketing programs. 

• Customer Service Policy & Training
• Design and implement customer-centric policies that ensure optimal service and efficiency for both Met audience and staff.
• Manage customer relationships, problem resolution, and deliver service to the internal and external customer base for the Met, American Ballet Theatre (ABT), and rentals.
• Identify opportunities to enhance processes and procedures within the department.
• Create and implement systems to address and resolve instances of customer friction or dissatisfaction.
• Serve as the internal ambassador for audience members, constantly aiming to improve service from all departments.
• Develop comprehensive plans for training the entire customer care staff.
• Support organizational Tessitura training. 

• Order Fulfillment: Ticketing, Membership, and Subscription
• Manage the staff directly responsible for fulfilling ticket orders from inception to fulfillment and delivery for the Met, ABT, and rentals.
• Work with the Marketing Department and Box Office to ensure that ticket fulfillment processing is being carried out smoothly and efficiently.
• Coordinate interdepartmental processes in order to ensure smooth workflows.
• Ensure that end-to-end subscriber ticketing experience (including processing, seating, and changes) is carried out smoothly.
• Ensure sound processes for all data entry of membership gifts and ticket orders, while ensuring consistent constituent records and high data integrity. 

• Inbound Customer Care 
• Work with the Call Center and Donor Relations Director to properly implement all marketing programs and ticket sales plans for Met, ABT, and rentals. 
• Ensure that all Inbound Call Center representatives receive materials and project plans for any new initiatives.
• Analyze calling patterns, review statistics, recommend upselling incentive programs, and verify the department is adequately staffed to meet organizational goals. 

• Other Responsibilities 
• Participate in new system development and procedure design and implementation.
• Work on special projects, i.e. Met Opera app, Met Opera On Demand integration, Live in HD, etc.
• Collaborate with various departments on projects as needed.
• Provide auditor with all audit requests and make necessary adjustments to process to conform to audit requirements. 
• Review and evaluate all customer order forms and marketing mailing pieces and identify areas for improvement.
• Create procedures that will provide other departments with productive information.
• Manage Pay and Non-pay department budgets.
• Make process recommendations as required. 

• 7-10 years of supervisory experience with a large, high producing, customer-focused team.
• Skills in negotiating between multiple stakeholders, and ability to advocate for change while honoring current processes to build buy-in and ensure success.
• Excellent organizational skills, and an ability to institute organizational systems that span a large department.
• Complete understanding of Tessitura and all its modules/business processes.
• Excellent interpersonal and written skills required.
• Ability to multi-task. 

• Requires evening and weekend availability for system troubleshooting. 

• The search for the Senior Director of Ticketing & Customer Service is being conducted on behalf of The Metropolitan Opera by Tom O'Connor Consulting Group, a New York-based executive search and consulting firm specializing in the arts and culture industries. Rachel LeFevre-Snee is leading the search process in consultation with Tom O’Connor, reporting to Met Opera leadership.

• To apply, visit the online application and submit your materials here: https://recruiterflow.com/db_a2dee46107ed67d53c603e55c148d987/jobs/105. Please use your cover letter to tell us about what you hope to bring to this role, and how your background and experience responds to the desired skills and qualities.

• The priority application deadline for this search is February 14, 2025. Applications received by this date will be given priority consideration, but we encourage you not to wait until the last moment, as we may begin interviews before this date. While we will still accept and consider applications received after this date, we encourage you to apply as early as possible for the best chance at being considered for the position. Please note that meeting the priority deadline does not guarantee an interview. No phone calls, please. 

A Note from Tom O’Connor Consulting Group:

Not sure you meet 100% of our qualifications? Research shows that men apply for jobs when they fulfill an average of 60% of the criteria. Yet, women and other people who are systematically marginalized tend only to apply if they meet every requirement. If you believe that you could excel in this role, we encourage you to apply. We are dedicated to considering a broad array of candidates, including those with diverse workplace experiences and backgrounds. So, whether you’re returning to work after a gap in employment, simply looking to transition, or taking the next step in your career path, we will be glad to have you on our radar. Please use your cover letter to tell us about what you hope to bring to this role. 

Please apply with the link provided and not on this site.

The Metropolitan Opera believes that diversity is critical to our success and growth as a leading performing arts institution and we seek to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool. Our goal is to be a diverse workforce that is representative, at all job levels, of the communities we serve.

The Metropolitan Opera is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and existing employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy (including childbirth, lactation and related medical conditions), national origin, citizenship status, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information (including characteristics and testing), military and veteran status, or any protected category prohibited by local, state or federal laws.