Audio-Visual (AV) Manager

About the Role

CENTERS, LLC is a professional management firm specializing in facility, operation, and program management for higher education. The Manager - Audio-Visual oversees technology operations for the Mountain AV team, providing leadership for AV event support at Mountain Waves Arena and related AV-enabled spaces. This position works on-site at Pepperdine as part of a hybrid AV team serving the new Mountain at Mullin Park multi-purpose facility, opening in October 2026. The arena will serve as a state-of-the-art home for basketball and indoor volleyball teams, offering leading fitness and well-being resources for the Pepperdine community.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership for Mountain AV technology operations, event support infrastructure, and day-to-day AV service delivery.
• Drive team goals, review area objectives, and align AV operations, staffing, projects, and service priorities with client and CENTERS expectations.
• Oversee high-quality support for arena technology hardware, software products, audio-visual equipment, broadcast equipment, and live event technology.
• Configure, operate, test, and troubleshoot audio-visual, broadcast, graphics, routing, and event-related technology as needed to support event operations.
• Coordinate day-to-day operational logistics with direct reports, campus partners, vendors, and event stakeholders.
• Monitor service tickets, work output, event feedback, troubleshooting trends, and other operational data to support data-informed service improvement.
• Maintain and improve team operations handbooks, training manuals, guides, service procedures, frequently asked questions, and technical documentation.
• Identify and implement process, procedure, service, staffing, and/or system improvements in collaboration with leadership and key stakeholders.
• Hold team members, vendors, and partners accountable for following established procedures and representing CENTERS and the client professionally.
• Review, approve, and/or submit timely and complete administrative processes, including timesheets, status reports, assessments, and other routine procedures.
• Support events during regular business hours, evenings, weekends, and after-hours periods as required by the event schedule and operational needs.
• Develop and maintain strong partnerships with campus personnel, departments, contracted service providers, and external vendors to support current and future operational success.
• Serve as a day-to-day operational resource for high-profile events, urgent technology issues, resource conflicts, and time-sensitive event modifications.
• Coordinate temporary workarounds or escalation plans when critical technology is unavailable and communicate with stakeholders to support event readiness.
• Directly supervise assigned staff and/or student employees, including hiring support, onboarding, scheduling, training, work direction, performance feedback, coaching, accountability, timesheet approval, and coordination of day-to-day AV operations.
• Empower team members to take ownership of duties, projects, and problems; collaborate in flexible teams; and provide excellent, compassionate customer service.
• Other duties as required.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree preferred.
• Five or more years of experience supporting high-profile live events, audiovisual technology, event production, broadcast support, concert support, information technology, or a closely related area.
• Two or more years of experience leading a team.
• Experience and willingness to work flexible hours, including evenings, nights, and weekends.
• Certified Technology Specialist (CTS), CTS-I, CTS-D, Extron, Dante, or comparable professional audiovisual technology certifications preferred.

Skills & Abilities

• Excellent working knowledge of standard audiovisual hardware and software products, with the ability to support arena-specific audiovisual systems.
• Strong working knowledge of computers, applications, collaboration tools, project management tools, and technology systems in a networked environment.
• Strong leadership, supervisory, coaching, delegation, and accountability skills.
• Strong troubleshooting, problem-solving, and analytical skills; ability to identify problems, assess alternatives, and render consistent, logical decisions.
• Excellent written, verbal, interpersonal, and customer service communication skills.
• Ability to work under pressure, adapt to changing event conditions, and maintain professional service standards in visible client-facing environments.
• Excellent organizational skills, attention to detail, and ability to prioritize competing duties, deadlines, staffing needs, and event requirements.
• Ability to build productive relationships with colleagues, clients, vendors, students, guests, campus leaders, and external stakeholders.
• Familiarity with Extron-manufactured products and associated troubleshooting and maintenance preferred.
• Entrepreneurial spirit and enthusiasm for continuous improvement, operational excellence, and high-quality service delivery.

Work Environment and Physical Demands

• Work in a campus arena, event, office, control room, and AV-enabled facility environment.
• Non-smoking environment.
• Noise levels may be distracting or uncomfortable during events, rehearsals, testing, and live production activity.
• Evening, weekend, and after-hours work as required to support scheduled events, urgent technical needs, staffing responsibilities, and venue operations.
• Must be able to remain in a stationary position for extended periods and move throughout arena, campus, event, and technical support environments.
• Constant use of manual dexterity, finger dexterity, wrist-finger speed, visual color discrimination, depth perception, peripheral vision, and related visual acuity while operating or assessing technical systems.
• Occasionally reaches overhead and ascends or descends building levels, ladders, stools, lifts, platforms, or similar equipment as needed for event setup, inspection, and troubleshooting.
• Frequently lifts and carries items weighing up to 20 pounds; occasionally lifts, carries, moves, or sets up equipment weighing between 21 and 50 pounds or more with appropriate assistance and safe work practices.
• Must be able to discuss, converse with, and exchange accurate information with staff, students, faculty, vendors, clients, performers, guests, and other stakeholders.

Travel

Local and campus travel as required; occasional regional or national travel may be required for training, professional development, vendor meetings, multi-site coordination, or CENTERS business needs.