Audience & Donor Experience Manager

Our client, The Cabaret, is growing again!

Founded in 2009, The Cabaret is a nationally acclaimed premier home for intimate cabaret where artists are uplifted, audiences belong, the next generation thrives, and our community is strengthened through world‑class artistry and radical hospitality.

Reporting to the Chief Advancement Officer (CAO), the Audience & Donor Experience Manager is a seasoned, relationship‑driven professional who leads The Cabaret’s guest services function while also supporting donor engagement and stewardship across the Advancement team. This is a current full-time role with some newly expanded responsibilities on The Cabaret’s growing staff. This role ensures that every audience member and donor experiences The Cabaret’s signature Radical Hospitality, transforming transactional encounters into meaningful relationships that deepen loyalty and philanthropic connection to the mission. The Manager plays an essential role in strengthening organizational systems, staff culture, and operational readiness, ensuring precision, excellence, and Radical Hospitality across every touchpoint.

As the leader of box office and front‑of‑house operations, this role oversees ticketing, guest experience, volunteer coordination, sales reporting, and patron/donor stewardship and hospitality. They work cross‑departmentally to ensure performance nights, donor touchpoints, and all audience communications consistently reflect The Cabaret’s commitment to excellence, belonging, and WOW‑level experiences.

This is a high-impact role suited for an experienced manager with strong leadership skills and the ability to grow into broader strategic responsibilities. With demonstrated performance and alignment with organizational values, the position has the potential to progress into a future Director-level role, supported by its high visibility within an entrepreneurial team and opportunities for mentorship and career development at one of Indy’s most beloved cultural institutions and leading nonprofit theaters.

All employees are expected to actively embody The Cabaret’s core Values: We Deliver the WOW, We Practice Radical Hospitality, We Welcome Everyone, We Lift Each Other Up, and We Do the Right Thing.

The ideal candidate pairs technical expertise and a passion for CRM excellence- combining accuracy, attention to detail, and a love of data- with positivity, initiative, curiosity, warmth, integrity, and a genuine commitment to serving and caring for others. A flexible schedule is essential, including the ability to work evenings and weekends during performances and events. The Cabaret presents 40–50 performance nights annually in its award‑winningtheatre, with show weekends typically occurring twice per month.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Patron Services & Front‑of‑House Leadership

• Lead, elevate, and refine all box office and guest services operations to ensure every patron and donor experiences seamless service, warm engagement, and The Cabaret’s signature Radical Hospitality.
• Serve as the organization’s primary front‑facing guest services representative, modeling hospitality standards that center empathy, responsiveness, professionalism, and belonging.
• Oversee comprehensive ticketing operations—including website user experience, phone services, seating maps, holds, sales, and performance‑night execution—ensuring accuracy, efficiency, and a polished guest experience.
• Recruit, train, schedule, and supervise volunteers and FOH support staff, cultivating a culture of teamwork, care, accountability, and values‑driven excellence.
• Provide real‑time problem‑solving and conflict resolution during performances, proactively anticipating and addressing guest needs.
• Maintain welcoming, aesthetically aligned lobby and reception spaces that reflect The Cabaret’s high‑touch, white‑glove service standards.
• Lead ongoing Radical Hospitality and “surprise and delight” initiatives by auditing guest, donor, and volunteer touchpoints and identifying opportunities to elevate experiences across the patron journey.
• Collaborate with leadership to embed hospitality standards into onboarding, training, evaluation tools, and FOH volunteer protocols, aligning operational systems with organizational values.
• Support venue‑planning and operational readiness by identifying environmental improvements, including signage, accessibility, audience flow, and ambiance that enhance the guest experience.

Donor Experience & Stewardship Support

• Support donor hospitality at performances by coordinating seating, benefit fulfillment, special requests, and personalized, donor‑centered communications.
• Partner with the CAO to strengthen donor relationships through thoughtful stewardship touchpoints and meaningful, individualized interactions.
• Ensure accuracy across donor ticketing, acknowledgments, listings, and recognition, maintaining consistency with advancement practices and stewardship expectations.
• Act as a key administrative partner in donor engagement by recording interactions, tracking follow‑up, and supporting acknowledgment and stewardship workflows.
• Apply a development‑minded lens to all audience communication and service, supporting donor cultivation and retention.
• Use CRM data to personalize audience and donor experiences, manage preferences, and contribute to long‑term relationship‑building strategies.

Ticketing, Data Management & CRM Integration

• Oversee all ticketing setup, maintenance, reporting, and reconciliation, ensuring accuracy and timely delivery of information to leadership for planning and analysis.
• Produce timely sales, attendance, and performance‑level reports that support strategic decision‑making and cross‑departmental insight.
• Manage donations processed through the ticketing system and ensure accurate donor tracking.
• Play a leadership role in the organization’s transition to an integrated CRM system, merging patron and donor data to support a unified experience and enhanced organizational insight.
• Support implementation of new CRM, ticketing, workflow, and reporting systems that increase operational efficiency, strengthen data governance, and advance strategic‑plan objectives.
• Partner with the CAO to standardize processes, documentation, and data protocols that reinforce accuracy, alignment, and cross‑team collaboration.
• Utilize Monday.com and related tools to support transparent workflows, timelines, and accountability.

Audience Development & Outreach

• Lead the development and implementation of audience surveys, collecting data that measures audience growth, satisfaction, and alignment with The Cabaret’s commitment to Radical Hospitality, inclusion, and belonging.
• Collaborate with Marketing to design and execute outreach‑driven strategies and promotional campaigns to authentically invite and engage new audiences in mutually meaningful ways.
• Develop, steward, and grow group sales relationships with community partners, corporations, and affinity organizations, supporting expanded reach and community connection.
• Analyze data dashboards, CRM insights, and audience feedback to identify trends and inform audience development strategies, service enhancements, and new opportunities.

Education & Community Engagement Support

• Partner with the Artistic team to coordinate ticketing and front of house support for educational programs, community partnerships, student engagement opportunities, and outreach activities.

Administrative & Cross‑Team Collaboration

• Serve as an active member of the Advancement and cross‑departmental teams, contributing to planning conversations and institutional alignment.
• Maintain organized, efficient, and welcoming administrative and box office environments.
• Serve as the primary liaison with phone, voicemail, and communication service providers.
• Support Advancement initiatives and organization‑wide priorities as needed.
• Participate in biweekly donor moves‑management meetings and biannual SMART‑goal evaluations as part of institutional rhythms that support strategic accountability.
• Contribute to cross‑training efforts across Advancement, FOH, and Box Office to increase organizational resilience and operational flexibility.
• Support staff culture that nurtures internal leadership, collaboration, and values‑driven excellence.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

Required

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 7+ years of progressively responsible experience in guest services, advancement, hospitality management, guest experience, theatre administration, or related fields.
• Demonstrated success supervising staff or volunteers, managing high‑density service environments, and coordinating complex operational systems.
• Exceptional interpersonal and relationship‑building skills, with the ability to warmly and effectively engage audience members, donors, sponsors, and VIP guests.
• Ticketing software experience and expertise.
• Strong belief in The Cabaret’s mission, vision, and values, with a passion for the performing arts.
• Excellent communication skills—clear, empathetic, and aligned with The Cabaret’s values.
• Strong organizational habits with sharp attention to detail, the ability to manage multiple priorities, and a commitment to accuracy in a performance‑driven setting.
• Comfort working evenings and weekends during performance periods.
• Commitment to cultural equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Preferred

• Experience with Office 365/Outlook.
• Experience with CRM/database management (The Cabaret currently uses Bloomerang).
• Understanding of philanthropic practices and the donor stewardship cycle.
• Strong hospitality instincts and a desire to genuinely “Deliver the WOW.”

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

• Ability to be physically engaged/active for extended periods during shows (work host stand, etc.).
• Frequent use of computer, phone, and office equipment.
• Occasional lifting (up to ~20 lbs.) for event support.
• Moving through theatre spaces to greet donors and sponsors as needed.

THE CABARET’S VALUES IN THIS ROLE This position exemplifies The Cabaret’s core values by:

• Delivering the WOW by orchestrating flawless, detail‑obsessed audience and donor experiences that surprise, delight, and raise the bar for what Radical Hospitality feels like at every touchpoint.
• Practicing Radical Hospitality by anticipating patron and donor needs, resolving concerns with warmth and urgency, and ensuring every interaction feels personal, celebratory, generous, and human.
• Welcoming Everyone by creating inclusive and accessible experiences, stewarding processes that honor differences, and ensuring all audiences and donors feel truly seen and valued.
• Lifting Each Other Up by modeling empathetic leadership, supporting volunteers and staff with clarity and kindness, and fostering a collaborative, communicative, ego‑free front‑of‑house culture.
• Doing the Right Thing by stewarding data, systems, and relationships with integrity, communicating transparently, and making thoughtful, ethical decisions that strengthen long‑term mission impact.

The Cabaret offers a competitive total compensation package and fosters a culture that supports flexibility, well‑being, and balance - including planned flex time during high‑intensity performance periods. We welcome everyone and are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. The salary range for this role is $65,000 to $71,500 plus benefits.