Categories
Venue Operations
Lighting Technician
Lighting techs hang, focus, patch, and operate stage and event lighting rigs — concerts, theater, fashion shows, corporate events, weddings. You hire by show or by week; IATSE Local 52 covers film/TV; venue and rental-house techs cover everything else. Glassdoor NYC lighting tech median total pay is $71K (range $58-89K) as of April 2026; Bentley Meeker (the dominant NYC event lighting house) pays $48-$70K and IATSE Local 52 wages are $24-$38/hr per CBA.
View briefing →AV Technician
AV techs set up and run audio, video, and lighting for events — patches, soundcheck, run-of-show calls, strike — across hotel ballrooms, conference centers, and corporate venues. Operators hire by event or by week, either through an in-house AV team, an outside rental house (PSAV/Encore is the dominant hotel embed), or IATSE Local 1 union labor for jurisdiction-covered venues. Hotel in-house AV runs $25-$45/hr; IATSE Local 1 covered work hits $35-$80/hr with double-time triggers per CBA.
View briefing →Housekeeper & Room Attendant
Room attendants clean guest rooms — strip linens, restock amenities, vacuum, sanitize — on a per-room or per-shift quota, plus the operational deep-clean of public areas. Every hotel hires them; staffing model and union status determine the cost structure. The HTC Local 6 IWA expires June 30, 2026, and the workload-grievance regime determines per-shift room counts (5-Star non-union typical 14-16 rooms / 8-hr shift; HTC contractually constrained to lower numbers at most master properties) — the IWA reset will move both wage scales and quotas.
View briefing →Janitor & Custodian
Janitors and custodians do the daily and overnight cleaning — bathrooms, floors, trash, light maintenance — that keeps a building presentable. Restaurants, hotels, offices, and event venues all hire them, either direct W-2 or via contract cleaning vendors. The April 2026 RAB negotiation closed with a 4-year deal adding $4.50/hr cumulative wage increase + 15% pension boost covering ~70K NYC commercial cleaners; the BLS 2024 median is $17.27/hr but real NYC commercial wages run $20-$28/hr in 2026.
View briefing →Laundry Attendant
Laundry attendants run the in-house laundry — sheets, towels, F&B linens, uniforms — load and unload washers and dryers, fold, and stage for housekeeping or banquet pickup. Hotels with on-property laundry, large banquet halls, and dedicated linen operations hire them. NYC laundry attendant pay runs $22-$30/hr; with the HTC IWA expiring June 30, 2026, every Nightrush hotel deal closing in 2026 should price in scenario risk — strike, ratification, or rollover all change the unit economics.
View briefing →Maintenance Technician
Maintenance techs handle the in-house fix-it work — minor electrical, plumbing, HVAC troubleshooting, equipment repair, painting touch-ups — that doesn't justify calling a licensed specialty contractor. Hotels, large restaurants, and venues with significant infrastructure hire one or more. NYC maintenance techs run $30-$45/hr; the HTC Local 6 IWA expires June 30, 2026 and the tradesman/maintenance classification is on the table — expect both wages and definitional language to move in the next CBA.
View briefing →Promotional Staff & Brand Ambassador
Promo staff and brand ambassadors work activations — sampling tents, pop-ups, conventions, retail demos, festival booths — as the face of a brand for a few hours or a few days. Brands hire them through agencies (NYC, Elev8, GoGo) or platforms (Wonolo, Instawork) for hourly bookings. NYC 2026 rates run $25-$45/hr with bilingual (Spanish/Mandarin/Portuguese) at +20-50% premium; NYS Freelance Isn't Free Act (FIFA Article 44-A, effective Aug 28, 2024) requires written contracts for any engagement over $800 with double damages plus attorney fees on default.
View briefing →Sound Engineer
Sound engineers mix live audio — front-of-house mix, monitor mix, system tuning — for concerts, theater, corporate keynotes, and any event where the audio matters. Hire one per show for clubs/theaters, per week for tour-grade work, or as house staff for venues with a permanent PA. ZipRecruiter NYC FOH engineer averages $44.20/hr or $91,942/year as of April 2026; per-show rates for a competent NYC FOH engineer at a 200-500 cap room run $400-$1,200.
View briefing →Stage Manager
The stage manager calls the show — cues lights, sound, video, and performers from a script and a headset, and manages the rehearsal-to-show pipeline. You hire one for any event with a run-of-show longer than a single block: theater productions, concerts, conferences, corporate keynotes, broadcast events. Broadway SM under AEA Production Contract earns $2,500+/wk; NYC corporate event SM runs $1,200-$1,900/wk plus per-diems; FIFA 2026 will tighten SM availability across the NY metro June-July.
View briefing →Other Team sub-areas
6 more in Team