Sample Job desecription for Technical Director

[Steven]

So, I've been given the pleasure of hiring my own replacement. We're a church of 5,000+ with four campuses. We are looking to hire a technical director to oversee all sound, video, and lighting for all of the campuses. It will primarily be a management role, but obviously technical knowledge and expertise is required. We've never formally had a "technical director" role, so there is no formal job description. I got this job over the course of four years, just adding duties as they were needed.

Do any of you have a sample job description I could look at? I found a few online, but I would prefer some actual working documents. I've got to run to staff meeting now, but I wanted to post this before I forget. I'll be back with more details in a few hours.

[petereit]

You already wrote it:

We're a church of 5,000+ with four campuses. We are looking to hire a technical director to oversee all sound, video, and lighting for all of the campuses. It will primarily be a management role, but obviously technical knowledge and expertise is required.

That pretty much tells me everything I need to know about the position.

[Steven]

Unfortunately, two lines of generic text isn't going to cut it

[petereit]

Why not?

(I'm not just being facetious, I work in HR. These are the kinds of questions I ask my staff all the time.)

[Esoteric]

Sounds like a good description to me. Where do I send my resume? *lol*

Mike

[twj]

Sounds like something I'd like to apply for. Tell me about your church, it's facilities maybe a little more detail of what is expected. That's if you are still looking to fill the position.

For a job description you might include what hours are expected and the people skills needed. Managing a volunteer staff is different than managing a paid staff. Is this person expected to recruit and train, too?

[Pastor Ryan]

Church Info - How many services per week? What Times? Is this individual going to have an office at one of the campuses, have a home base, or roam over all of them evenly. Are any of the campuses remotes, satellites, start ups, etc. How many on staff, who would I report to, who reports to me. What kind of church are you, Baptist, Methodist, Assembly, Non-Denom, etc. How big is your media team, how many volunteers do I need to manage, or am I managing staff only?

Video - We use X# of cameras in each of services, What kind of Media Room/Master Control facilities do you have. Will they need any background in live multi cam switch setting. Are any of your campuses one where they would need knowledge of how to set up and tear down a multi camera set up. How do you record the service? Is it posted on your web site? What kind of video editing software do you use. Mac or Windows. Is your church willing to accommodate on video editing software, for instance I am an Avid guy, say you guys use Final Cut, if I come there, will you buy Avid so that my skills could more easily be utilized, etc. Will this individual travel on Mission trips and film, edit, etc. Do you have a Video Engineer?

Audio- What size boards, how many mics, Pro tools, Analog Board, Digital board, recording, etc. Do you have an on staff FOH Engineer?

Lighting - Moving Lights, ETC Lighting? Martin Lighting? Lighting Board or Computer? Do you have a lighting Engineer?

Graphics - Would I be designing logos, and Sermon series graphics, do you have a graphic designer?

Sets - Are sets built regularly for sermon series, would I be the one building them, helping with them, designing them, etc.

Web - Do you have a Webmaster, will this be my job as well? What software are you using for your web site? Is it a CMS?

IT - Do you have an IT director or is that something that will be part of this job? Do I need to be able to manage some of these issues and make the decision on whether IT problems can be resolved in house or need to be out sourced.

I am a big fan of the more detailed the better quality of candidates you will get for what you specifically need.

I am sure I am leaving out a lot of information as well.

Think about the specifics of the job and list them out...the tings candidates must have ie (Video Editing experience, knowledge of live mixing, video editing, team leadership, strong spiritual walk) Things you would like for them to have ie (Final Cut experience, Adobe Creative Suite Expert, working with Sony HV cams, Pro Tools Knowlege) College degree, number of years of work experience in related field, etc.

[Pastor Ryan]

Here is a pretty good example I came across, these are the kind of descriptions I like to read.

Highlands Fellowship Church in Abingdon, VA. is a multi-site, multi-venue church with four locations. We are currently looking for a Full-Time Media Director. The primary responsibilities include the creating, producing, filming and editing of video projects. This individual must be able to multi-task, a good communicator, strong work ethic, proven track record and able to work abnormal work hours. A downloadable Expression of Interest packet is available online at www.highlandsfellowship.com > Serve> Employment.

Primary Responsibilities:
• Filming and editing video projects (performing video recordings such as testimonies and worship videos)
• Producing and creating motion graphics, message openers/bumpers for use during services as well as video media for special events and advertisement (including mailers, flyers, promotional DVD’s, etc)
• Overseeing the live video for Sunday morning services and preparing video recordings for archive and for use online
• Continuing Education in the field of video technology
• Oversee and manage internal IT network for employees, ensuring updates, planning ahead, and overseeing new equipment being placed online.
• Oversee training of employees on how to properly use IT tools to be more efficient
• Oversee graphic design, layout of the website and keeping web fresh with updated information.
• Work with personnel to implement branding of Highlands Fellowship graphically, design bulletins, series graphics, mailers and advertising pieces.

[Steven]

Thanks Ryan, that's the kind of feedback I was looking for.

I think some of the things you mentioned are best discussed in an interview (even a phone or email interview), but most of the things you mentioned are things I would also look for, and have included in the first draft below.

This is a first draft that I put together, and I totally jacked most of it from a dozen or so listings on various staffing websites, as well as my own job description. Feel free to pick it apart, comment, complain, edit, insult, or congratulate me on any part of it.

We're a church of 5,000+ with four campuses, located in Southern California. We are looking to hire a technical director to oversee all sound, video, and lighting for all of our campuses. We currently have four weekend English services two Spanish, and a midweek service. This is intended to be primarily be a management role, but technical knowledge and expertise is required. The Technical Director has overall responsibility for the sound, video, lighting and media aspects of our weekend services at all campuses, as well as other special events.

Specific Duties:
Leadership

• Spiritual Leadership—It is important to note this position is more than a “gig.” Worshiping God with all that we have is imperative, no matter the role. In addition to technical responsibilities, the Technical Director is responsible for setting the spiritual tone for the Technical Arts Ministry. The Technical Arts volunteers must be spiritually prepared in addition to technically prepared for their role in worship. All team members will be required to take an attitude of ownership and responsibility which must be first demonstrated by the Technical Director. Positive, humble, cooperative, and willing attitudes are more valuable than knowledge or skill. Additionally, the Technical Director and Tech Teams are to participate in weekly worship regularly.
• Recruit, train and coordinate a pool of audio/visual volunteers. While expertise in audio and lighting issues is a must for this position, the emphasis is on empowering others to develop their skills, not doing everything yourself. The Technical Director should fully staff the needed positions and then be prepared to fill in, train, and troubleshoot when necessary.
• Supervise and develop the part time technical staff.
• Joyful cooperation with pastors and ministry leaders at Sunrise.
• Professional completion of time-sensitive tasks related to weekly events and services.
• Provide technical leadership and training during the development of new church campuses, and provide ongoing training and advice once campuses are grounded. Campus technical needs are the responsibility of the campus pastor, but they will often require your input.

Weekend services and events

• Manage and maintain a high degree of quality in the execution of sound, video, and lighting for the weekend worship services.
• Schedule and coordinate volunteers for weekend services. This includes volunteers serving as sound and lighting technicians, IMAG, media presentation, and those videotaping and recording weekend services. There is a live feed of the morning services to several in-house areas, as well as use of recordings at our off-site campuses.
• Work with both inside and outside personnel/volunteers to create thematic stage designs which are visually engaging and appropriate to the variety of services we offer.
• Oversee video production projects. While filming and editing capabilities are a definite plus, we do have volunteers and staff who are capable in this area as well.

Financial oversight

• Responsible for oversight of the annual technical budget.
• Maintain, purchase and coordinate installation of technical related equipment as needed in all areas of facility.

Communications
Though we have a part time IT staff who handle most of our IT concerns, this position will also include general oversight of the campus computer systems. This will only require a small portion of the Technical Director's time each week.

• Help in resolving basic desktop computer issues for staff.
• Oversee IT-related issues and staff; making determination if they are outsources to our IT vendor or can be resolved by our in-house IT staff.

Other

• Attend all regularly scheduled staff prayer and planning meetings.
• Assist staff member and volunteer leaders with day to day technical needs.

The Technical Director should primarily work through other individuals and teams, whether paid or volunteer staff. It is assumed that the above responsibilities will be performed with that style in mind.

I'm still trying to decide whether or not I should include time breakdowns (20% this, 30% that, 10% here there etc), but, as you all know, schedules and workloads change due to seasons and other unpredictable problems, so the percentage breakdown won't be very accurate. I do know that IT will take up very little time, as we have a very dedicated part-time staff who take care of the majority of issues. All I do for IT is sign Purchase Orders and handle super-huge problems. It take about 30 minutes of my time each week.

We also have a graphic design team, so this position doesn't even require knowledge of Photoshop/PowerPoint/Media Shout (though it would certainly be a plus).

The name of our church is Sunrise Church, we're non-denominational, though we do loosely associate with the Conservative Baptist Association (mostly out of respect for historical tradition). We are located in Rialto, CA.

[prochlea]

I'm still trying to decide whether or not I should include time breakdowns (20% this, 30% that, 10% here there etc),

you might put it on there, but with a caveat that they are only rough estimates and workload changes throughout the year.

overall i think it looks pretty good.

[Pastor Ryan]

Looks great, that is probably one of, if not the most detailed, thorough, and specific Media Director Jobs Descriptions I have ever seen.

I really like the content and the look of it.

I might make mention of Web needs if you have any.

One thing I changed when I came on staff at my church I think most if not all churches should consider is getting rid of the "Tech Team" tag, I kind of felt bad for the team here when I cam in. All the other volunteers were part of a ministry, and referred to as ministry volunteers and such.

So the very 1st, and I mean very 1st thing I changed was the name our ministry.

We became the Media Ministry.

My team became Media Ministry Volunteer Team.

Their badges changed from Technical Team to Media Ministry Team Member.

I stressed to them that they are serving in ministry and how big an honor it is and what a great service they provide to our church.

Just something to consider....maybe something for another post...

[Steven]

The official title is "Technical Arts Ministry," complete with ministry vision statement, mission statement, purpose statement, logo (that I hate) and slogan (that I love). Mostly, "tech team" is a colloquialism that we use to refer to "those tech guys."

I will correct it in the job summary.

The technical director doesn't have to do any work on the web/graphic design end of things, we have another set of staff who handle that.

[Also, if any of you are personally interested in the position... svaladez@sunrisechurch.org]. In a few days I'll put up an "official" ad in the classifieds forum.