Associate Director of Products

As Associate Director of Projects, you will lead Crush's project team — setting the standard for how every project is planned, budgeted, staffed, and delivered — while personally owning a select portfolio of Crush's most complex client programs. You are the bridge between leadership and the production floor: the person the team looks to for direction, and the person leadership trusts to keep every project on time, on budget, and on brand. When the stakes are highest, you're in the room — and when the team needs a call made, you make it.

The ideal candidate is a seasoned producer and a natural people leaderready to lead a team of event and production managers — solutions-oriented, energetic, positive and confident, with the determination, resourcefulness and fastidious attention to detail that experiential work demands. You bring the judgement to make high-stakes calls independently, and the leadership presence to develop a team that can do the same.

This role carries two jobs at once: leading the project team day to day, and running your own projects from pre-production through close-out. You'll balance hands-on delivery with the bigger picture — resourcing, standards, margin, and team growth.

You'll work alongside a talented, focused and passionate team that values creativity and precision in every project. As Associate Director of Projects, you'll shape how Crush plans, budgets, and executes — and help build the project function for the studio's next stage of growth. 

Role & Responsibilities

The responsibilities of this role include but are not limited to:

Team Leadership & Development

• Directly manage Crush's Event Managers (including contract and NYC-based team members) — setting priorities, providing direction, and removing roadblocks
• Hold regular 1:1s, set clear goals, and deliver ongoing feedback and annual performance reviews
• Coach and develop team members toward their next level; build a bench that can lead projects independently
• Partner with the Director of Operations on hiring, onboarding, and role design for the project team
• Serve as the primary escalation point across all active projects — stepping in on sensitive client situations, budget risk, or on-site issues
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and craft that reflects Crush values

Project Management

• Build and own the project timeline from kickoff through event close-out
• Maintain the client facing deck and internal playbook on each project, along with other core project documents
• Lead weekly internal project meetings - manage weekly meeting agendas, facilitate program development, capture and assign action items, identify questions for leadership
• Create and assign all tasks via digital platforms; hold the team accountable to deadlines, identify potential issues and help find solutions as needed 
• Budget Ownership
• Manage the project budget by tracking, forecasting, and monitoring costs against all project budget categories and internal targets
• Manage budget reconciliation and invoicing
• Advise leadership on pricing, margin, and scoping decisions during the proposal phase
• Conduct venue site checks and produce key updates for active projects
• Capture detailed notes, measurements, and site photos and share findings to inform design, production, and budgeting. Identify logistical considerations including access points, load-in paths, power availability, and venue restrictions
• Production documentation
• Maintain and update essential production documents including Run of Show, call sheets, COIs, inventory checklists, venue details, pack lists, tasks lists, strike plans, and related program documentation
• Partner with the design team and production teams to create build and production packages to document and guide the production process
• Ensure post-project closeout and wrap report - analyzing wins and key learnings, and feeding lessons learned into studio-wide process improvements
• Internal communication - 
• Brief the creative and design teams at kickoff; relay client feedback and approvals immediately
• Coordinate with Operations/Finance on invoicing schedules, expense approvals, and reconciliation
• Participate in weekly Crush-wide project status meetings with clear updates on each active project – flagging cross-project resourcing conflicts and opportunities where necessary
• Manage Production Coordinator or Event Coordinator when assigned, including the support of onboarding new team members

Team Workload & Project Support

• Balance workload and project assignments across your Event Managers; flag capacity gaps and resourcing conflicts to leadership early
• Review your team's project budgets, timelines, and client deliverables at key milestones; step in when something trends off track
• Bring clear updates on your team's projects to the weekly Crush-wide status meeting
• Advise leadership on freelance or contract support needs for your team's projects
• Partner with the Director of Partnerships on opportunity handoffs so Event Managers start each project with clear scope and expectations

Event Planning & Management

• Lead and manage the development of the guest experience, balancing various factors - setting and environment, client goals, on-site considerations, budget, and demographic research
• Develop creative programming ideas in order to spark engagement and interaction with guests
• Provide creative writing and concepting to support project development
• Provide creative support in various tasks 
• Write copy for presentations, creative treatments 
• Write copy and provide direction for guest-facing signage 
• Research and coordinate with small and local businesses across various US markets, in order to execute personalized or interactive moments for events- including speciality programming contractors (e.g. embroiderers, calligraphers, etc) DJs, entertainment. 
• Determine project support needs. Negotiate, contract, and manage production vendors as needed including but not limited to: AV, florists, photographers, catering, trucking and shipping, local labor, and convention center services.
• Brief vendors on creative direction, logistics, and timelines; serve as their primary day-of contact during all on-site activities
• Manage project storage units and inventory 

Production Strategy & Planning

• Identify production needs to support the production of experiential events and custom environments from concept through execution and closeout - working with production team members to create production timelines, game plans, and solve for various event logistics
• Initiate project planning and build production approaches that align scope, timing, budget, and staffing needs 
• Own production priorities across multiple concurrent projects, balancing deadlines, deliverables, resources, and team bandwidth 
• Lead internal and external conversations related to production objectives, milestones, risks, and execution planning throughout all phases of a project
• Identify labor and project needs for schlepping, moving, production assistance. 
• Direct on-site vendors and labor crew — assign tasks, manage call times, enforce breaks, and resolve issues in real time
• Manage post-event shipping, returns, resale, and inventory logging in Crush’s tracking system
• Act as a mentor for members of our production team, stepping in as needed as a secondary escalation point across projects, feeding into studio-wide process improvements
• Partner with leadership on refining studio-wide production processes, templates, and best practices

Financial Stewardship

• Advise leadership on pricing, margin, and scoping during the proposal phase
• Set and enforce budgeting standards across the project team, from estimate through reconciliation
• Coordinate with Operations/Finance on invoicing schedules, expense approvals, and project financial reporting
• Track project profitability across the portfolio and surface trends and learnings to leadership

Process, Standards & Studio Strategy

• Partner with the Director of Operations to refine tools and systems (Airtable, Monday.com, Clockify, and related platforms), as well as project management standards — templates, playbooks, timelines, and documentation — and keep them current
• Lead post-project wrap reviews and turn key learnings into studio-wide process improvements
• Participate in leadership planning sessions, contributing the project team's perspective on capacity, growth, and priorities
• Partner with production and design leads on build and production packages, timelines, and production approaches across projects

Work Schedule, Locations & Travel

• Denver Staff - This position is based in the office with working hours of 9-5 MT, with flexibility to work from/home most Mondays and Fridays as projects and studio work allow.
• Travel estimated every 4-8 weeks 

Qualifications

• Exceptional communication skills, able to manage needs across multiple stakeholders — clients, internal teams, and external partners, including at the executive/senior-client level
• 8 years of experience in event, experiential production, or design/production industries, including 2–3 years directly managing event or project managers (1:1s, performance reviews, development)
• Demonstrated ownership of complex $250K project budgets from proposal through reconciliation, with strong financial literacy tracking actuals in real time
• Experience negotiating and managing vendor, fabricator, and rental house relationships and contracts
• Ability to calculate material orders using square footage, design measurements, and material sizing
• Ability to research and propose production solutions without firsthand experience, using historical references, critical thinking, and outreach research
• Experience working in physical labor-intensive environments 
• Proficiency with Airtable, Monday.com, or comparable project tracking tools
• Proven ability to independently manage multiple concurrent projects and vendor relationships without close oversight, and to serve as the primary on-site decision-maker during install, execution, and strike