Production Manager

Do you have experience with event production, leading and managing teams, making and keeping schedules, treating people with respect in 35º heat?

Do you like missions in challenging environments? Doing things with friends? Do you love it when a plan comes together?

Can you think on different timelines simultaneously, organise, prioritise, and communicate effectively under pressure? Can you do it in English AND Spanish? Great, when can you start?

About us

Norg, the group of humans collaborating in organising Nowhere, is recruiting for a Production Manager in the lead up to Nowhere 2023 – this is a paid position on a full-time(-ish) relationship.

PURPOSE/SUMMARY

The Production Manager (PM) creates and maintains at all times an high-level overview of the status of tasks, dependencies, blockers and deadlines within the organisation using a Gantt chart or other suitable methodology.

The PM collaborates with MetaLeads to coordinate production of the annual Nowhere event including but not limited to: ensuring realistic deadlines are communicated and understood; identifying priorities and dependencies; and working proactive to resolve blockers. The PM keeps the whole process documented as per instructions and is empowered to make decisions within agreed limits set by the Finance Coordinator and Directors.

You will receive training in First Aid and get certified to operate a forklift.

This job description and person will be reviewed after 3 months and again in September to refine the role. Continuation in the role is dependent on satisfactory performance at a minimum.

Duties/Tasks

Pre Event (from January to build time):

• Primary Task: With the assistance of the MetaLeads, create and maintain up to date the Event Timeline/Gantt Chart. This document lists all critical tasks and their deadlines, for all departments year round.
• Use the Event Timeline/Gantt Chart to identify and help resolve blockers, keep track of dependencies between tasks and identify critical paths and potential points of failure
• Maintain a risk register for the organisation and annual event
• Attend Director meetings via online conference monthly, relevant working group meetings with project leads via online conference, and in person when geographically reasonable.
• Participate and moderate the MetaLeads Committee meetings monthly and provide regular status updates to Directors and MetaLeads. High activity periods may require weekly updates in the form of written reports and meetings when necessary.
• Ensures that MetaLeads meetings are minuted and shared with the wider organisation.
• Support the coordinators and other relevant teams in liaising with local authorities.
• Specifically attend any of the meetings with authorities including on-site visits.

On-site (generally most of June and July)

• The role will not perform traditional PM functions onsite – as the Leads and MetaLeads will be performing their functions, and the PM will only be expected to connect people with questions to the correct resources.
• Observe and identify work-as-done, and take notes of its relationship to the event timeline, so that the event timeline may become more accurate.
• Support the on-site teams in keeping track of deadlines and help them communicate with the part of the organisation who is off-site.
• Be part of the team of event time coordinators responsible with liaising with authorities,  and be on duty as the contact coordinator for two (2) 24 hour shifts during event.
• Organise daily meetings during the set-up period and participate in other on-site meetings relevant to the role. Function as an available resource at the request of operational or incident leadership.

Post Event (From August to January)

• Provide feedback and highlight any areas that may need review or improvement , and subsequently be responsible for driving that improvement, by following up with and supporting those responsible when necessary
• Oversee and facilitate the creation of the ALM¹
• Incorporate feedback into the Event Timeline/Gantt Chart for next year’s Nowhere.
• Ensure that post-Nowhere reports are collected and collated from leads and build / strike volunteers

1. All Leads Meeting – an annual event to summarise lessons learned from one year and kick off planning for the next.

TIME COMMITMENT

This is a year round role, with levels of involvement depending on the season. It peaks in summer with required presence on site for six weeks and has less activity during winter. After the first year, a collaborative review will be undertaken to assess the time commitment needed.

Please apply by sending motivation letter and CV to hr@goingnowhere.org by the 15th of March 2023