Director of Visitor Experience in Denver, Colorado at Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum

The Director of Visitor Experience is responsible for leading all front-facing operations that shape the guest journey across both Wings locations. This includes admissions, welcome center, museum store, group sales, tours, simulators, and membership sales and experience. This position oversees a staff of approximately 10 staff members including front of house staff, museum store management, and simulator operators.

This role ensures a seamless, engaging, and high-quality experience for all visitors by integrating service excellence, operational efficiency, and revenue-generating opportunities. The Director leads a team of full-time, part-time, and volunteer staff while driving consistency in service delivery, staffing, and performance.

Reporting to the Chief Experience Officer, the Director of Visitor Experience is part of a collaborative team charged with optimizing the guest experience and community impact. The Director provides area expertise as a representative of their department and brings a creative approach to problem solving skills at the leadership level.

This position plays a key leadership role in connecting the visitor experience to Wings’ broader mission:

To educate, inspire, and excite all people about aviation and space endeavors of the past, present, and future.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Visitor Experience & Operations

• Lead and continuously improve the end-to-end visitor experience across both locations
• Oversee daily operations of admissions, welcome center, museum store, group check-in, and simulators
• Ensure consistent, high-quality service standards across all visitor touchpoints
• Manage visitor flow, including school groups, events, and peak traffic periods
• Serve as escalation point for visitor concerns, ensuring timely and professional resolution
• Maintain strong floor presence to model and coach exceptional service behaviors
• Supervise volunteers and delegate front of house opportunities to the volunteers.
• Demonstrated experience in developing innovative initiatives resulting in high quality visitor experience

Membership Strategy & Experience

• Lead membership sales, engagement, and retention strategy in partnership with Development and Marketing
• Develop and implement front-line strategies to convert visitors into members
• Train and coach staff on effective membership selling and storytelling
• Ensure seamless integration of membership into the visitor experience (not transactional, but relational)
• Monitor and analyze membership performance metrics (conversion rates, renewals, upgrades)
• Partner with Development to support membership campaigns, promotions, and stewardship efforts
• Enhance member experience on-site, ensuring recognition, value, and consistency

Retail, Admissions & Revenue Operations

• Monitor and manage POS systems (Altru) and all admissions transactions
• Analyze sales, traffic, and revenue reports to identify trends and opportunities
• Ensure proper cash handling procedures and audit compliance
• Identify opportunities to increase per-visitor revenue through retail, memberships, and experiences

Group Sales & Program Support

• Oversee on-site group sales operations and check-in processes
• Support development and execution of group tours and on-site programs
• Ensure seamless coordination with Education, Events, and Guest Services teams
• Align group experiences with overall visitor experience standards

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, mentor and develop visitor services staff through an approach that assigns accountabilities and monitors and evaluates results.
• Create a culture of accountability, teamwork, and service excellence
• Manage staffing models, scheduling, and labor budgets to align with demand
• Recruit, hire, onboard, and performance manage staff
• Provide ongoing training in customer service, systems, and operational procedures
• Ability to resolve conflict in a professional and tactful manner.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with:
• Marketing (campaign alignment, visitor messaging)
• Development (membership and donor experience)
• Events (seamless guest experience during rentals/events)
• Education (group programs and school visits)
• Facilities (space readiness and safety)
• Ensure alignment between visitor experience and organizational brand and storytelling
• Outstanding communication, presentation and interpersonal skills with the ability to effectively interface with all levels of the organization including senior staff.

Strategy, Planning & Performance

• Contribute to organizational strategy, particularly under Elevate the Experience and Grow Sustainable Revenue strategic pillars
• Develop and manage evaluation and analysis of guest satisfaction to execute enhancements to the museum’s performance and efficiency.
• Develop and manage departmental budgets
• Establish KPIs for visitor satisfaction, revenue, membership conversion, and operational efficiency

Required Qualifications (Minimum Qualifications)

Education

• High school diploma or equivalent required
• Bachelor’s degree preferred in hospitality

Experience

• Minimum 5+ years of leadership experience in visitor services, hospitality, retail, or related field
• Experience managing teams, operations, and customer-facing environments required
• Experience with membership programs, retail operations, or admissions systems strongly preferred
• Experience in a museum, nonprofit, or cultural institution a plus

Skills & Competencies

• Strong leadership and team development skills
• Exceptional customer service mindset and conflict resolution ability
• Strong operational and organizational skills with attention to detail
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Analytical mindset with ability to interpret data and drive decisions
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Proficiency with POS/CRM systems (Altru preferred) and Microsoft Office

Compensation and Benefits

The hiring for this position is $80,000 - $90,000 annually. Final compensation will be determined based on relevant experience, education, internal equity, and market factors. This position is eligible for a discretionary annual bonus based on individual and organization performance.

Benefits Summary

• Company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Flexible Spending Account options
• Retirement plan with discretionary match
• Short-term disability and supplemental coverage options
• Generous vacation, sick and personal leave
• Potential annual bonus
• Membership to the museum and other museums

ADA/Working Conditions

Wings Over the Rockies® is an air and space museum and operates in a historic aircraft hangar environment. This role requires working in a dynamic, active setting that includes proximity to aircraft, operational equipment, and public guests.

This is a full-time position, generally requiring 40 hours per week. Work schedules will vary based on operational needs and will include regular weekend hours, occasional evenings, and holidays. Weekday hours may vary depending on programming, events, and organizational priorities.

The role requires the ability to stand and walk for extended periods, move throughout large indoor and outdoor spaces, and occasionally lift or move objects. The position may also involve working in varying environmental conditions, including temperature fluctuations typical of a hanger setting.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.

About Wings Over the Rockies

Wings Over the Rockies®, a Colorado-based non-profit organization and Colorado’s official Air and Space Museum, is committed to educating, inspiring and exciting all people about aviation and space endeavors of the past, present and future. Wings is one organization with two locations. Located in Denver’s historic Lowry neighborhood and established in 1994, the Museum features nearly 100,000 square feet of world-class historical and educational exhibits. In addition to more than 60 impressive aircraft and spacecraft, visitors discover exciting personalities, stories, and events about every aspect of aviation and space exploration. Exploration of Flight is located at Centennial Airport. Opened in 2018, it features 18,000 square feet of interactive experiences and, aviation-focused events. Visitors to the two locations come from all 50 states and more than 34 countries. For more information about Wings Over the Rockies, please visit WingsMuseum.org.

Disclaimer

This job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, or skills required. Wings’ reserves the right to modify, add, or remove duties and to assign other responsibilities as necessary to meet organizational needs.

Work schedules and hours may be adjusted based on other operation requirements.

Nothing in this job description creates an employment contract, expressed or implied. Employment with the Museum is at-will and may be terminated by either the employee or Wings at any time, with or without cause or notice, in accordance with applicable laws.