The Virginia Distillery Co., a single malt whisky distillery located half an hour south of Charlottesville, Virginia, is seeking a Guest Experience Manager.

It’s a very exciting time to join our fast-paced team where you’ll have the opportunity to wear many hats, work within a passionate close-knit group, and support our rapid national expansion. We work hard to bring our category-defining American Single Malt Whisky to market. Our distilling operations started in November of 2015, and 2020 marked the first year we launched our own flagship whisky brand, Courage & Conviction. We are data driven. We think big. We stay positive. And we have fun (there’s really good whisky).

The person in this position will supervise the day-to-day operations of the Visitors Center, maintaining excellent guest experiences and operational efficiency while building and expanding on company goals through strategy development and execution of direct-to-consumer and private event programs with focused attention on brand experience and revenue generation. This position will be responsible for all Visitors Center part-time employee activities, consumer programming and local marketing support for hospitality and tourism items. This position is full-time, Thursday through Monday. The ideal candidates will have had experience managing a tasting room or tour program focused on a by reservation model. Daily access to the distillery in central Virginia is required.

Specific Responsibilities:
• Manage Visitors Center guest experience and operations. Support vision for world-class brand experience through execution of on-site consumer activities.
• Manage revenue, goal and budget tracking for all Visitors Center operations and programs.
• Develop and implement consumer programming, including specialty tours, tastings, private events programs, and club programming to maximize revenue. Utilize assigned revenue and operations expense targets. Tour content and training will be led by the Education Manager.
• Lead local Virginia tourism and hospitality outreach to develop partnerships with complementary businesses.
• New hire recruitment and coordination of training with Education Manager support for all consumer-facing team members.
• Responsible for employee scheduling, payroll reporting, tip reporting and other items related to managing Visitors Center part-time employees. Ensuring the accurate reporting of employee hours.
• Prep Visitors Center for daily opening and closing, including whisky bottle tracking, cash drawer preparations, and banking deposits. Managing whisky inventory includes internal whisky transfers to and from Visitors Center.
• Maintain supplies; work with team to manage orders as needed.
• Ensure delegation and maintenance of cleaning schedules, including equipment maintenance schedules and cleanliness of all active and storage spaces. Communicate maintenance and general items to Site and Facilities team for repair.

• Run and review reports on weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis to share with Management.
• Lead Virginia ABC compliance standards and overall best practices for all operational items.
• Expert on Microsoft Office applications and retail systems such as Shopify and POS.
• Awareness and adherence to company goals. Act as communicator of goals to part time Visitors Center staff and assist linking part-time staff to larger team staff through culture development.
• Willingness to work evenings, weekends, and holidays.
• Lead efforts to create a positive, passionate, and knowledgeable team in support of positive guest and employee experiences.
Qualifications and Desired Experience:
A bachelor’s degree in marketing, hospitality or a related field is required. Experience may substitute for education at the discretion of the hiring manager.

• Demonstrated excellence and experience in club management or similar direct-to-consumer programs is required alongside marketing of these experiences; three or more years of experience is ideal.
• Experience managing staff for at least three years is required; experience in hospitality and the spirits, wine or beer industry is required.
• Experience tending bar or with mixology is preferred as well as knowledge of and passion for whisky.
• Ability to stand for continuous periods throughout the day. Ability to lift 30 lbs.
• A people-person who understands and can support the pursuit of a world-class guest experience.

Compensation
This is a salaried full-time position with benefits and is eligible for participation in our bonus and Employee Equity Program. This role reports to our Visitors Center in Lovingston, VA Thursday through Monday.