Director of Operations, New Museum Openings
About the role
The Director of Operations, New Museum Openings at Museum of Ice Cream leads the full opening lifecycle of new locations, from design-phase partnership through stabilization. This role requires strong systems orientation and hands-on experience with multi-site openings.
Responsibilities
Partner with Development, Design, and Construction from lease signing forward to represent operational inputs in the design process.
Translate concept and brand intent into practical site-level operating plans that achieve company-wide goals.
Own the opening operating plan, including readiness checklist, cross-functional workstreams, escalation paths, soft opening plan, and go-live readiness review.
Ensure each new location is ready across staffing, training, facilities, BOH, inventory, F&B, retail, ticketing, technology, guest flow, safety, and site leadership.
Lead pre-opening walkthroughs, operational audits, mock service, and soft-launch execution; identify and drive operational risks to closure before doors open.
Co-own the pre-opening people plan with the People team, Talent Acquisition, and L&D.
Champion a field-first opening culture where the team feels prepared, supported, and equipped to deliver from day one.
Lead the post-opening stabilization window with a clear 30/60/90 plan and agreed-upon exit criteria.
Partner with the Regional Director of Operations on a clean handoff, including open-issue log, training gaps, SOP variances, performance trajectory, and remaining available to support post-handoff.
Build and evolve the MOIC opening playbook, with scalable frameworks that make every opening repeatable regardless of city or format.
Lead post-opening retrospectives and convert lessons into stronger playbooks.
Drive clear ownership, timelines, decisions, and accountability across all opening stakeholders.
Track post-handoff performance to validate stabilization quality and feed lessons back into the playbook.
Requirements
7 to 10+ years of operations experience in multi-site hospitality, entertainment, experiential retail, food and beverage, or high-volume guest-facing environments, with proven end-to-end openings experience (multiple openings strongly preferred).
Experience partnering with Development, Design, and Construction teams during the design phase of new locations.
Demonstrated partnership with People, HR, and Talent functions on hiring, onboarding, and training readiness for new sites.
Strong field operations background — you understand how strategy translates into daily execution, with deep working knowledge of staffing, training, guest flow, labor planning, BOH operations, safety, inventory, systems, and site-level readiness.
A genuine love of play, human connection, and hospitality as a craft — you see operational excellence as the foundation for guests to experience joy and wonder, not as an end in itself.
Calm, hands-on leadership in ambiguity and pressure, with strong written and verbal communication, organization, follow-through, and stakeholder management.
High ownership mindset with a strong bias toward action and accountability.
Ability to travel up to 70%, with surge to 85%+ during active opening windows. Temporary relocation may be required during opening periods.