Venue Manager

About Us

Good music, fast drinks, high volume, and Connie’s NYC pizza by the slice. Heartbreaker is Melbourne’s iconic late-night dive bar, where top-tier service standards meet high-octane rock ’n’ roll culture. As the team undergoes an exciting transformation, we are seeking an experienced, resilient, and business-savvy Venue General Manager to take the reins. If you are a hands-on leader who knows how to drive financial success while maintaining a rock-solid venue culture, this is your stage.

About the Role

As the Venue General Manager, you are fully responsible for driving operational excellence, financial performance, and a welcoming late-night environment.  You will lead, mentor, and develop the team, manage labour and cost of goods, oversee daily venue mechanics (from cellar maintenance to ambience control), and maintain direct, transparent communication with senior management and owners. You are the operational backbone of the venue, leading from the front during service while keeping back-of-house admin sharp and compliant. Your key responsibilities will include:

• Recruiting, onboarding, coaching, and developing the bar and floor team.
• Driving morale, conducting performance reviews, and building a positive, inclusive team.
• Expertly balancing labour, monitoring cost of goods and completing end-of-month accounts (stocktakes, purchases, cash balances) to maximize business returns.
• Maintaining meticulous attention to detail when it comes to venue lighting, music, temperature, product quality, and guest interactions
• Delivering fun, friendly, and memorable late-night experiences.
• Overseeing line cleaning, gas pressures, draft system maintenance, stock rotation, wastage control, end-of-day POS reconciliations, and reporting.
• Strict enforcement of Victorian liquor licensing laws, venue security, closing times, WHS safety regulations, and incident reporting.
• Maintaining regular, structured F&B reporting and open lines of communication with venue owners and senior leadership.

About you

To be the perfect Heartbreaker Venue Manager, you will have prior experience in a comparable role within a hospitality business where you’ve used your good time management and organisational skills and shown excellent leadership. You’ll also have:

• Strong leadership experience managing a high-volume, late-night bar or hospitality venue.
• Experience running a P&L including labour, stocktake, cellar management, and POS systems.
• Confidence, be calm under pressure, and able to inspire a team by leading by example.
• A passion for cocktails, wine, spirits, and beers, and the ability to educate staff and guests.
• Exceptional stamina, organizational skills, and a flexible operational style for high-volume late-night service.
• Current Victorian RSA certificate and First Aid certificate.

About the Process:

Ready to lead the team at Melbourne's favourite late-night haunt?

If you’re ready to take ownership of Heartbreaker and drive its next chapter, click APPLY NOW with your resume and a brief cover letter outlining your leadership style.