Chief Operations Officer

Flex Type Hybrid - This role is considered hybrid, which means the employee will work a portion of their time on-site from our Orlando, FL location, and the remainder of their time remotely if desired.

Who We Are

Solomon Group is a well-established, fast-expanding live event, themed attractions, exhibits, and environments production company. For over a decade, SG has delivered stunning exhibitions and events for a dazzling array of clients, from major sports leagues to broadcast networks, themed attractions, and museums across America. Fusing innovation with imagination we create live events and experiences at the intersection of technology and art, always aiming to inspire and entertain. We are now embarking on a strategic initiative to refine our multiple lines of activity into a collection of unique brands - each effectively a business unit.

The Opportunity

Solomon Group is seeking a dynamic and experienced operations executive to join our C-Suite. This is a senior executive role, reporting directly to the CEO. If you are experienced in the world of live events, Museums and attractions, or AV Integration, and operationally oriented to your core, seeking a challenging and exciting new role, read on. You will operate from our Orlando Studio, with regular travel to our New Orleans Headquarters and client locations around the US. As Chief Operating Officer, you will be responsible for implementing strategy and seeking new, exciting ways to grow our organization, business units, and operations that result in high-level performance. In addition, your role encompasses leading diverse teams, developing and implementing sustainable business practices, complementing the skills of fellow executives, and fostering a vibrant and inclusive workplace culture conducive to creativity and mutual respect.

To succeed in this role, candidates should be high-performing leaders committed to delivering our clients authentic, world-class museum and fabrication experiences. While maximizing project profitability and client satisfaction. Possess exemplary leadership skills to oversee our highly diverse business units' performance and structure. Continually assess and optimize each unit's health, including project profitability, budgets vs. actuals, staffing and timelines, and EBITDA. The ideal candidate will champion and lead our internal team development to achieve maximum performance, grow leadership, developing inclusive staff training programs in partnership with HR that aligns with the Solomon Group’s strategic direction, management methodology, and human values.

Leadership

• Supports the planning, evaluation, and execution of Solomon Group’s current and future operations by making decisions with full awareness of options and trade-offs, providing transparent, accurate, and informed context to the CEO and other executive team members about the state of the business, challenges, and action plans. The focus is on profitability.
• Implementing Solomon Group’s management structures, reporting processes, operational procedures, and quality controls to assess and support current and future goals.
• Provide strategic leadership guidance to managers of the business units, empowering leaders to succeed through clear communication and close collaboration
• Champion the company’s goal-setting methodology and performance measurement, monitoring key metrics at every level and optimizing continually
• Building and keeping trust and credibility with the executive team, direct reports, team members, partners, clients, vendors, and the Solomon Group’s Board.
• Pursuing personal professional development opportunities for the staff for continuous learning and growth of skills (e.g., leadership programs, conferences, training, certifications, networking events) across the organization.

Financial

• Contribute to the efficiency of bottom-line profitability, continually optimizing smooth and cost-effective operations, for both current projects and future ones.
• Creating forecasts at regular intervals to project future outcomes
• Developing tools to monitor and manage overhead, cost of goods and project results
• Ensuring timely reporting of budget variances in each aspect of operations
• Assuring that job costs and project performance are compiled, monitored, and reported with actionable remedial recommendations in case of variances
• Ensuring strict adherence to budgets, providing timely, clear and informed context to the executive team, CEO and Board in the event of any budget deviation
• Managing company compliance with laws, regulations, tax codes and reporting rules

Human Resources

• Serve as a collaborative leader with the Human Resources department aligning initiatives, that exemplify company values in interactions with colleagues and other stakeholders:
• Supporting innovative training programs for onboarding new team members and developing new career advancement opportunities for current staff
• Fostering a constructive working environment and company culture that connects and motivates teams, regardless of location and whether work is in-person or remote
• Supporting business unit leaders to help them ensure that their teams continually grow in their skills and capabilities
• Executing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the company, developing safe, sustainable, and positive paths to excellence for all

Ideal experience and qualifications

• 10+ years of executive leadership in people-oriented, service-focused organizations, ideally within experiential tech, themed exhibition, and event production industries.
• Proven experience and success in managing and leading diverse teams involved in live events and exhibitions combining creative and technical capabilities
• First-hand knowledge of the challenges of being a “client-facing” representative of the company with a positive values-driven reputation and track record in the industry
• Extensive general management skills beyond the operational domain is welcome, including experience and knowledge of finance, strategy, growth, and leadership