Guest Experience Manager
Vancouver Christmas Market 2026
Full-Time Contract | July 2026 – January 2027
For over 15 years, the Vancouver Christmas Market has been one of the city's most beloved holiday traditions, welcoming hundreds of thousands of guests to an authentic European-inspired Christmas experience in the heart of downtown Vancouver.
We are looking for an experienced, highly organized, and tech-savvy Guest Experience Manager to lead all guest-facing operations for the 2026 season. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment, enjoys solving problems in real time, and takes pride in creating exceptional guest experiences.
Reporting to the VP of Marketing & Guest Experience, you will oversee admissions, ticketing, guest services, attractions, group bookings, frontline staffing, and onsite guest flow. You'll play a key role in ensuring our operations run smoothly while continuously identifying ways to improve efficiency, service delivery, and the overall visitor experience.
What You'll Be Responsible For
- Leading all guest-facing operations, including ticketing, admissions, box office, guest services, attractions, and group bookings.
- Assist with recruiting, onboarding, training, scheduling, and supporting a seasonal team of approximately 25–35 staff.
- Managing guest flow, line management, capacity controls, and wait-time reduction strategies throughout the Market.
- Overseeing ticketing operations, admissions systems, scanning procedures, and daily reporting.
- Serving as the primary escalation point for guest concerns and service recovery.
- Supporting retail kiosks, merchandise operations, and guest information services.
- Collaborating closely with Operations, Marketing, Security, Vendor Relations, and Production teams to ensure seamless event execution.
- Monitoring attendance patterns, operational performance, and guest feedback to identify opportunities for continuous improvement.
- Developing and refining processes that improve workflow, efficiency, guest satisfaction, and team effectiveness.
What We're Looking For
Leadership & Operations
- 3–5+ years of leadership experience in events, hospitality, tourism, attractions, festivals, or other high-volume guest service environments.
- Experience with ticketing platforms and software such as ShowPass
- Proven experience leading, motivating, scheduling and developing frontline teams.
- Strong operational instincts and the ability to confidently manage multiple priorities in a dynamic environment.
- Very comfortable making decisions, taking ownership, and working independently.
- Calm under pressure with excellent judgement and problem-solving skills.
Technology & Systems
- Strong technology skills and confidence learning new systems essential
- Experience working with ticketing platform software, admissions systems, POS technology, reporting tools, inventory systems, or related operational software.
- Experience using scheduling software
- Comfortable troubleshooting technical issues and finding solutions quickly.
- Experience with time-slot-based events, capacity management, reservations, or large-volume admissions operations is considered a strong asset.
Guest Experience
- Passion for delivering exceptional customer experiences.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to build positive relationships with guests, staff, vendors, and stakeholders.
- Strong service recovery skills and the confidence to handle escalated guest situations professionally.
Organization & Initiative
- Highly organized with strong planning and time-management abilities.
- Detail-oriented while maintaining focus on the bigger operational picture.
- Proactive and solutions-oriented.
- Someone who naturally looks for ways to improve processes, guest flow, and team performance rather than waiting to be directed.
The Ideal Candidate
This role is perfect for someone who enjoys being out on the floor, understands how people move through a space, and can quickly identify opportunities to improve the guest experience. You'll be equally comfortable reviewing reports, troubleshooting a ticketing issue, coaching a team member, managing a guest concern, or redesigning a queue to improve flow.
We're looking for an operational leader who combines strong people skills with strong technical skills—someone who can see both the guest experience and the systems behind it.
Compensation & Perks
- Salary: $65,000 – $70,000
- Health benefits
- Hybrid work environment prior to Market opening
- Team events and staff appreciation activities
- Complimentary Vancouver Christmas Market tickets and drink vouchers for friends and family
- Tourism and attraction partner perks
Schedule Requirements
- Hybrid schedule during planning season, transitioning to primarily onsite operations as the Market approaches.
- Availability to work evenings, weekends, and holidays throughout the event season.
- Must be legally eligible to work in Canada.
If you're a strong operator, a natural leader, comfortable with technology, and passionate about creating memorable guest experiences, we'd love to hear from you.
Pay: $65,000.00-$70,000.00 per year
Application question(s):
- Do you have experience working large events?
- Do you have experience working with ticketing software such as Ticketmaster and ShowPass?
- Do you have experience in leading, training and scheduling teams?
- Are you comfortable working outdoors and evenings and weekends while the market is running, rain or shine?
Work Location: In person
