New Yorkers For Children

Art Director

• Directly manage the LaJoy Creative staff and contract/freelance staff; set performance expectations, coach for growth, and build bench strength as the firm scales
• Own the firm's overall event production standards and quality bar across all client engagements, ensuring consistency regardless of which team member is executing
• Design and continuously refine internal operating systems (project management, resourcing, vendor management, financial tracking) to support increasing volume and complexity of client work
• Lead staffing and resourcing decisions across concurrent client projects, balancing capacity, budget, and team development
• Serve as senior client-facing leader on the firm's most strategic or highest-visibility engagements, stepping in for key relationships and high-stakes moments
• Partner with the CEO on business development: scoping new opportunities, shaping proposals, setting pricing/budget parameters, and representing the firm in pitch and finalist conversations
• Own client retention strategy — identifying expansion opportunities within existing accounts and ensuring service quality drives repeat business and referrals
• Represent LaJoy Creative externally at industry functions, partner convenings, and speaking opportunities as an extension of the CEO's visibility strategy
• Bring established client and network relationships directly into LaJoy Creative's business pipeline, actively converting existing personal/professional connections into new engagements for the firm
• Identify, cultivate, and close new business opportunities by combining strong business acumen with a working knowledge of the events, hospitality, and mission-driven/nonprofit sectors
• Build and maintain a network of referral partners, industry contacts, and past clients that can be activated for repeat business, introductions, and co-marketing opportunities
• Track and report on business development activity and pipeline health as part of regular leadership reporting to the CEO
• Own event and departmental budgeting, including forecasting, margin management, and profitability review across the firm's active project portfolio
• Oversee vendor strategy at the portfolio level — negotiating master agreements, setting preferred-partner terms, and managing the firm's overall vendor risk and cost position
• Prepare contracts, scopes of work, and significant expenditures when delegated by the CEO
• Serve as a key thought partner to the CEO on organizational growth, capacity planning, and long-term operational strategy
• Lead hiring, onboarding, and team-building initiatives for the events and operations function as headcount grows
• Identify and champion process, technology, or staffing investments that improve margin, quality, or scalability

Director of Events & Operations