ABOUT BUDDIES
Buddies in Bad Times, known to friends as Buddies, is a queer organization: for us queerness is a political/aesthetic orientation, more than (just) an identitarian subcategory, our queerness is oppositional, disobedient, and centres and celebrates otherness and radical outsiders.
ROLE
This is the role that makes the room work. From each ticket inquiry to the last call, the patron-facing experience (managers on duty, security, bar, hosting, coat check, and volunteer) runs through you. You are the operational centre of gravity for both nightlife events at our bar, Tallulah’s Cabaret (the home of Buddies Nightlife) and the theatre’s hosting culture.
Real accountability comes with that: for your team, the standards they hold, the cash and inventory behind the bar, and what it actually feels like to walk into a Buddies show or a nightlife event. You will have the systems in place to make it run well and the judgment to handle what the systems don’t cover.
The person we’re looking for has serious bar and hospitality experience. You are equally comfortable behind a spreadsheet and behind a bar. Buddies is a charity, and the paperwork isn’t optional. You bring the floor credibility and the organizational discipline to hold both.
This role reports to the artistic director (ted witzel) on an interim basis. Buddies is in the process of hiring a new senior leadership position, and this role will transition to report to that person upon their arrival.
WHAT YOU’LL DO
● Run the patron-facing team: hire, schedule, train, and manage bar, hosting, coat check,
MODs, and security; lead performance management, set standards, and be the
communications hub for your teams.
● Own the bar: oversee inventory, ordering, reconciliation, and AGCO compliance at Tallulah’s Cabaret; manage purchasing within budget and ensure the bar is staffed and stocked for every event.
● Hold the guest experience: set and maintain service standards across the full patron journey; own the ticketing inbox; brief staff before every door; develop and document hosting protocols.
● Manage the money and the paperwork: track budgets and expenditures for Tallulah’s Cabaret/Buddies Nightlife and theatre hosting; oversee daily sales reporting and financial reconciliation; maintain the scheduling records, incident reports, and HR documentation that keep a well-run charitable venue defensible.
● Keep things safe and compliant: oversee Manager-on-Duty protocols and coverage, health and safety standards, and incident documentation; liaise with security on event safety planning and support building wide emergency preparedness.
WHAT YOU BRING
Required
● 3+ years experience managing a team in a bar, nightlife, hospitality, or live events environment
● demonstrated ability to provide full-cycle people management for hourly or casual staff
● experience with bar inventory management and/or liquor service operations
● experience maintaining accurate records and documentation in a regulated or compliance-oriented environment
● comfort with administrative diligence: incident reporting, scheduling records, inventory
documentation, and financial reconciliation
● Smart Serve certification, or willingness to obtain prior to start
● strong organizational and communication skills; comfort holding multiple operational threads simultaneously
● availability for evenings and weekends as the primary working schedule
● alignment with Buddies’ values — this is a queer organization and this role serves queer community
Strongly Preferred
● experience in a venue or organization with both bar and front-of-house operations
● familiarity with cash handling procedures, POS systems, and daily reconciliation
● familiarity with the documentation requirements of a non-profit or charitable organization (HR records, financial controls, audit trails)
● experience with performance management and progressive discipline
● budget management or financial reporting experience
● experience with ShowPass, TouchBistro, or similar ticketing/POS platforms
Assets
● experience in a non-profit, arts, or community-oriented organization
● familiarity with AGCO compliance, Security Guard licensing, and Smart Serve policies
● Standard First Aid certification
● experience supporting accessibility in a venue or public-facing context
HOW TO APPLY
We prioritize applications from folks from equity-deserving groups, including those who identify as Indigenous, racialized, Trans, Nonbinary, Queer, Disabled, Neurodiverse, MAD and intersections of those identities. Submit your application at this link by Monday, April 27 at 10:00 AM ET.
https://airtable.com/appcFwu4Cm7O57xQV/pagAzw1Tje0epFjWV/form
Please submit your cover letter and resume as a single PDF. In your cover letter, make sure to address the following:
● Your experience with full-cycle people management — hiring, onboarding, scheduling,
performance management, and offboarding hourly or casual staff.
● Your relationship with administrative work and paperwork — how you approach documentation, record-keeping, and the organizational diligence that keeps a venue running.
● Your hospitality and bar experience — the environments you’ve worked in and the scope of what you’ve managed.
● Your experience with financial planning, budgeting, or financial reporting.
We anticipate at least two rounds of interviews. First-round interviews will be held on the afternoons of May 2, 5, and 6 with Kristina Lemieux (Director of Finance & Development) and Al Thomas-Hall (Senior Manager of Nightlife and Hosting). Second-round interviews will take place after May 11 with a broader team and compensation will be provided for second-round interviewees.
Our goal is for the successful candidate to start as soon as possible in June, with an overlap period with the outgoing Senior Manager of Nightlife and Hosting.
Applicants invited to the second round may be asked to provide additional work samples or complete a paid work assignment.
Accessibility
We are committed to inclusive, low-barrier recruitment. If you require accommodations at any point in the application or interview process, please submit them in confidence to
hiring@buddiesinbadtimes.com. This email is monitored by Sue Balint, Director of Artistic Planning.
Established in 1979, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is Toronto’s leading destination for artistically rigorous alternative theatre and a world leader in developing queer voices and stories for the stage. Buddies offers a year-round program that includes a full season of queer theatre, new works festivals, artist residencies, and intergenerational training and education initiatives.
Like its ambisextrous namesake Tallulah Bankhead, Buddies’ in-house bar does it all. It’s throbbing club nights and community tap dance lessons. High-concept drag and low-stakes open mics. Go for pre-drinks but stay late for the post-show discourse — you might even spark that next collaboration. With local brews and sober options that aren’t an after-thought, Tallulah’s is the come-as-you-are bar for old friends, new lovers, partiers, poets, and curious passersby.
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