CTC: 10 LPA
Location: Mylapore, Chennai
Working Days: Monday to Saturday
Working Hours: 10 am to 7 pm
Festivals From India is hiring for their client, Ashvita's, who is seeking an experienced and highly organised Projects & Operations Manager to oversee the day-to-day execution of the gallery’s projects, exhibitions and operations.
The Manager will serve as a key link between the gallery team and the Director/CEO, ensuring that priorities are clearly translated into action and that projects move from planning to completion smoothly, on time and within budget.
This role is for someone comfortable taking ownership, managing people and processes, solving problems proactively and holding teams accountable for delivery.
The ideal candidate will bring strong project management, team management and operational skills, along with an understanding of the pace, detail and complexity involved in running an art business and delivering exhibitions.
About Ashvita’s Fine Art & Collectibles:
Established in 2002 by Ashvin E. Rajagopalan, Ashvita’s is a diversified art business specialising in Indian Art and collectables. Headquartered in Chennai, Ashvita’s conducts museum-quality exhibitions and operates ashvitas.com, a premier online auction house. Ashvita’s provides a vast range of art services that include private acquisitions and sales, wealth management, valuation, conservation, archival services, display and art logistics. Ashvita’s works with select individual collectors, corporate collections, and institutions. Ashvita’s has developed cultural programming and events with critics, art historians, and artists, including public talks, film screenings, performances, studio visits and workshops. Our education department is focused on audience engagement across schools and colleges, as well as on publishing in-depth books on Indian Art.
Over the last 20 years, Ashvita’s has increased its footprint to provide its services nationally with offices in Chennai, Mumbai, and New Delhi. Ashvita’s works with a global network of art professionals to be able to provide one-stop solutions for art collectors.
Please note:
- The vetting process for this role comprises 2-3 rounds of interviews and may be followed by a brief assignment.
- Festivals From India is hiring for this role on behalf of our client.
- This is an on-site, full-time position in Chennai.
Essential Qualifications:
- Master’s degree in any relevant discipline such as Arts, Fine Arts, Art History, Cultural Management, Business/Management, Hospitality, Events, Communications or a related field.
- Candidates with strong relevant professional experience in gallery, museum, cultural, events or project-based environments may also be considered.
- Professional-level written and verbal communication skills, with expertise in English
- Knowledge of at least one vernacular Indian language is ideal; Tamil preferred
Essential Experience:
- 8+ years of professional experience, ideally in operations, project management, gallery management, cultural organisations, events, hospitality or another fast-paced, project-driven environment.
- Experience managing or coordinating teams and working across multiple functions.
- Competency using IT systems, particularly Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
- Proficiency with project management and productivity tools such as spreadsheets, task-management platforms and shared documentation systems.
Key Personal Attributes & Skills:
- Ability to create project management structures, systems, and processes and follow through both personally and with team members
- Good time management skills with a proven ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure
- A proactive approach to problem-solving with strong decision-making skills
- Strong attention to detail and good observation skills
- Strong judgement and ability to identify what can be resolved independently and what needs to be escalated.
- Good writing skills and an understanding of how to approach diverse stakeholders
- Ability to navigate uncertainty and remain agile in a dynamic environment where priorities may evolve.
- Ability to manage teams and oversee human resource requirements
- Ability to work effectively, both independently and as part of a team
- Ability to produce clear, coherent creative briefs and project reports
- Ability to organise a daily workload by priorities.
Key Roles/Responsibilities:
1. Project & Exhibition Management
- Translate project objectives and leadership priorities into clear workplans, timelines, responsibilities and deliverables.
- Develop and maintain project schedules, ensuring that milestones are tracked and deadlines are met.
- Coordinate across teams including curatorial, sales, collections, communications, design, logistics and administration as required.
- Identify dependencies, bottlenecks and risks early and ensure timely resolution.
- Ensure projects are delivered to the expected standard, within agreed timelines and budgets.
- Drive post-project reviews and identify learnings and improvements for future projects.
2. Team Management & Coordination
- Act as the key operational layer between the wider team and the Director/CEO.
- Run regular team and project meetings, ensuring that priorities, responsibilities and deadlines are clearly understood.
- Set meeting agendas, track action points and follow up with team members on deliverables.
- Monitor team capacity, workloads and competing priorities, escalating issues where required.
- Ensure accountability for deadlines while fostering a collaborative and solutions-oriented working environment.
- Support team members in resolving operational challenges and coordinate across functions when responsibilities overlap.
- Provide regular updates to the Director/CEO on project progress, key risks, delays and decisions required.
3. Budget & Resource Management
- Work with relevant team members and leadership to establish project budgets and resource requirements.
- Track project expenditure against approved budgets and flag potential overruns proactively.
- Coordinate vendors, suppliers, contractors and external partners as required for projects and exhibitions.
- Ensure that procurement and operational decisions are aligned with agreed budgets and organisational priorities.
- Maintain appropriate project documentation, quotations, approvals and records.
4. Gallery Operations
- Oversee the smooth day-to-day functioning of the gallery from an operational and project-delivery perspective.
- Establish and improve systems, processes and workflows that enable the team to work more efficiently.
- Ensure that operational requirements for exhibitions, events, installations, travel, logistics and other gallery activities are planned well in advance.
- Coordinate across teams to ensure that information flows effectively and decisions are acted upon.
- Identify recurring operational gaps and develop practical solutions rather than relying on ad-hoc fixes.
5. Leadership & Problem Solving
- Take ownership of issues and drive them towards resolution rather than simply escalating them.
- Exercise sound judgement on priorities, timelines, resources and operational decisions.
- Anticipate challenges and put contingency plans in place for critical projects.
- Escalate matters to the Director/CEO when leadership intervention or a strategic decision is required.
- Maintain a high level of discretion when dealing with sensitive organisational, financial, artist or client-related information.
Pay: ₹1,000,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person
