Group Rentals Supervisor

The Group Rentals Supervisor assists the Visitor Experience Manager and Visitor Experience Assistant Manager in the delivery of Wonder Works Children’s Museum (“Wonder Works” or “Museum”) private rentals and field trips. The mission of Wonder Works is to spark curiosity and creativity in all young children through positive play-based learning experiences. The Parties and Rentals Supervisor actualizes this mission through playful engagement, helpful guidance, respect for all visitors, giving 100% while at work, and ensuring a safe and clean space.

The Parties and Rentals Supervisor works closely with the Visitor Experience Manager to book parties, museum rentals, and field trips at Wonder Works through all stages of the rental process. They are also a member of the manager-on-duty team for the museum and oversee museum operations for Saturday and Sunday private evening rentals. This is a hybrid role, with a required on-site presence on Saturdays and Sundays from 2:30 pm-8pm weekly when the museum is booked for private rentals.

Essential Job Functions

• Private Rental Booking–Birthday Parties and Field Trips
• Act as primary contact for all rental inquiries and bookings across the event pipeline, including inquiry response, booking, processing contracts and deposits, confirmations, and post-event follow-up.
• Respond to all event-related communications (phone calls, voicemail, and email) within 24 hours.
• Provide responses to rental inquiries, questions, and concerns, using Wonder Works templates and language.
• With assistance from the Visitor Experience Manager, learn and implement processes to book field trips for Chicago Public Schools and other school districts.
• Private Event Manager on Duty
• Provide day-of rental management including but not limited to preparing the event space, working with Museum Guides on table and chair arrangement, briefing Museum Guides on event details, and coordinating the changeover from museum operations.
• Supervise museum during private birthday parties, field trips, facility rentals, and special events, including checking in guests, opening party room, and informing guests of museum rules.
• Lead museum opening and closing procedures, including quality checks before museum opening and dismissal from shift when acting as manager-on-duty.
• Initiate joyful interactions with all visitors to the museum, making them feel invited and welcome in our space.
• Oversee front desk transactions and register, assist with troubleshooting operational resources (Veevart, PA system, etc.). Process final payments from customers and perform final visitor check-in at the end of events.
• With Museum Guides, lead special programming with rental guests, including group games, dance parties, and birthday parades when part of rental agreement.
• Provide knowledgeable, in-the-moment solutions to challenges that may arise relating to equipment failure and unexpected environmental or visitor-driven changes.
• Cleanliness and Safety
• Lead staff and fully participate in cleaning processes and procedures, including bathrooms, vacuuming, mopping, trash removal, windows, sanitation, laundry, outdoor maintenance, and bodily fluid clean-up.
• Ensure safety practices are followed with cleaning chemicals and tools.
• Lead staff, volunteers, and visitors in emergency situations, provide first aid as needed. Ensure incident reports and other documentation takes place.
• Training, Administrative Tasks, Special Projects
• Attend required meetings and assist with leading and attending required meetings, including morning stand-ups, monthly meetings, quarterly trainings, and any other required meetings as determined.
• With support of Visitor Experience Manager, assist with training new staff and volunteers on party and field trip expectations, delivery, and tasks.
• Stay up to date with museum exhibits, events, programs, promotions, policies, and procedures.
• Assist with museum projects, such as exhibit maintenance, opening and closing seasonal outdoor exhibits, and event set up and take down.
• Assist in set up and implementation of museum special events and projects.
• Step in to cover the museum as a Museum Guide as needed.
• Other duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Must have an interest in working with young children and their adult caregivers from a variety of ages, backgrounds, abilities, and experiences.
• Repetitive friendly and respectful communication while engaging with visitors. Comfortable speaking with children and adults individually, in small groups, and in large groups. Use of PA systems and walkie-talkies for communication.
• Reliable and maintains a solid attendance record.
• Proactive, takes initiative to resolve problems and anticipates tasks that need completion.
• Ability to manage time and work independently as well as a team player.
• Working knowledge of PCs, tablets, phones, and digital communication platforms.
• Willingness to learn how to use new software and tools, including Veevart and Google Suite.
• Bilingual is a plus, but not required.

Experience and Education Considerations

• Must pass background and reference checks.
• Must have reliable transportation.
• One or more years of customer service experience, ideally with families and young children.
• Experience in hospitality, leisure, non-profit, or educational sectors preferred.
• One or more years of sales experience. Experience with parties and event rentals preferred.
• One or more years of supervisory experience is preferred.
• Degree in education, museum studies, arts, hospitality, communications, or commensurate professional experience preferred.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

• This is a hybrid role. Hours will vary per week depending on bookings at the museum.
• Must be available Saturdays and Sundays to work on-site, between the hours of 2:30 p.m. - 8 p.m, in order to act as manager on duty for private birthday parties.
• The Group Rentals Supervisor is expected to is expected to work additional days throughout the week to process rental inquiries and bookings. This work can be done remotely on a flexible schedule.
• Additional on-site hours will be available during special events and peak museum days.
• Stamina and physical endurance to stand on the museum floor throughout shifts and maintain quality interactions with museum visitors and staff.
• This job is primarily performed in a visitor-facing environment. The employee must be able to focus on assigned tasks where the activity and interruptions are constant and demanding.
• The noise level in the museum is typically moderate but ongoing, noise level may be overstimulating at times.
• Bending, stooping, kneeling, crawling, pushing, pulling, reaching above the shoulders, reaching in all directions, grasping and handling motions throughout the work period.
• Lifting of moderately heavy objects, possibly up to 50 pounds.
• Maintain a fun and professional appearance and demeanor, and adheres to the provided dress code.

This job description will be updated if duties and responsibilities change significantly. Job functions are subject to modification based on business necessity.

Job Type: Part-time

Pay: $17.50 - $19.00 per hour

Expected hours: 10 – 20 per week

Benefits:

• Employee discount
• Flexible schedule
• Free parking
• Professional development assistance

Physical Setting:

• Office

Schedule:

• 4 hour shift
• 8 hour shift
• Day shift
• Evenings as needed
• Evening shift
• Every weekend
• Morning shift

Experience:

• Customer service: 1 year (Preferred)
• Event marketing: 1 year (Preferred)

Shift availability:

• Day Shift (Required)
• Night Shift (Required)

Ability to Commute:

• Oak Park, IL 60302 (Required)

Work Location: In person