Ravinia, North America's oldest music festival, stands today as its most musically diverse, presenting over 140 different events throughout the summer. These concerts run the gamut from Yo-Yo Ma to John Legend to the annual summer residency of the nation's finest orchestra, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

The 36-acre park is nestled in a gently wooded area that makes it an enchanting place to experience music. Guests can bring their own picnics or eat at one of the park restaurants.

Our Mission

As a nonprofit organization, community outreach and music education initiatives are our mission. Over 75,000 people are served through Ravinia's Reach*Teach*Play programs each year, ensuring that great music remains accessible to all.

The primary responsibility of Ravinia's Associate Director of Retail Operations (Associate Director) is to manage the Ravinia Gifts and Chair Rental businesses for the Women’s Board of Ravinia Festival. This is a full-time position that reports to the Director of Communications and is also accountable to the Women’s Board volunteers who lead the Gift and Chair rental Committee. 

The Associate Director is responsible for all of Ravinia's day-to-day retail operations.  This includes merchandising, financial management and staff management for Ravinia's three on-site store locations and two e-commerce stores. In addition, the Associate Director oversees Custom, Corporate and In-House sales for the business. The Assistant Manager, Retail Operations reports to this position year round. Other staff report to this position during Ravinia’s busy summer season.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Develop short and long-range business plans, including measurable benchmarks for financial sales and inventory management

2. Set specific policies, standards and procedures consistent with Ravinia’s mission, vision and strategic plan

3. Recruit, train, schedule and manage staff of 1 additional full-time supervisor, paid seasonal part-timers, including an Inventory Coordinator, and Women’s Board volunteers

4. Work closely with Women’s Board leadership on sourcing, branding and merchandising new product; includes attending trade and product shows

5. Develop and implement criteria and standards for customer service. Monitor outcomes on an ongoing basis and take action to reward performance and/or address concerns

6. Work closely with the Communications Department to market Ravinia’s retail identity and product

7. Identify and activate new business opportunities and locations that drive incremental revenue

8. Develop annual income and expense budget based on previous year’s financials, projected attendance and concert selection

9. Manage operating expense budget of approximately $350,000 with projected yearly sales of over $700,000

10. Oversee data entry for each day’s sales, both in Counterpoint and in Solomon

11. Collaborate with  Ravinia’s Finance Department to ensure revenue and expense data is timely and accurate 

12.  Reconcile Counterpoint and Solomon month-end sales and expense reports as they pertain to retail and chair rentals and provide reporting updates to Women's Board and Communications Department upon request

13. Supervise seasonal Inventory Coordinator to  ensure stock deliveries and warehouse operations are operating efficiently

14. Work with all Ravinia departments and on-site Levy Restaurant staff to provide custom branded merchandise for in-house use, promotions, corporate partners, special events and promotions

15. Review monthly financial reports with Women’s Board representatives. Prepare all year-end reporting for budget reconciliation to include tax, UBIT (unrelated business income tax), and sales reports for closing

16. Manage e-commerce site and online catalogue

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• Must be customer-focused and friendly
• Must be well-versed in point-of-sales systems and willing to learn the systems in place at Ravinia
• Must know PowerPoint, Excel and have experience with databases
• Knowledge of a design program such as InDesign preferred
• Merchandising experience including retail space management
• Demonstrated experience designing retail space that is fresh, welcoming and reinforces the mission of the business in an exciting way
• Four-year college degree or equivalent work experience required, with emphasis on retail management, customer relationship management, marketing or business
• Four  years experience in a retail environment
• At least two years management experience
• Previous experience with a not-for-profit cultural institution and volunteers preferred
  

• Must be able to work collaboratively as a key member in a close, creative team of volunteers and professionals
• Embrace and actively support Ravinia’s culture of integrity, professionalism, collaboration, mutual respect and customer focus
• Must be able to work in a fast-paced and intense customer-focused environment
• This is a full-time, year-round position that will have seasonally intensive work periods requiring working on nights and weekends.

Qualified candidates should upload both a cover letter and resume.