Escape Tech Jobs

We're currently hiring a Prop Maker for our escape room business in Salem, Oregon: a specialized fabrication role that designs, builds, and wires the puzzles our guests play. Our Game Master positions are filled right now, but we keep the full description of every role below so you can see how our team works and what we look for when an opening comes up.

What the Game Master job actually involves

Hosting escape rooms is the most visible part of the job, but it isn't the whole job. A Game Master keeps the entire operation running. Between sessions you'll be resetting and cleaning rooms, restocking supplies and tracking inventory, maintaining and repairing puzzles, and getting the space ready for the next group. You'll also spend real time in training, first learning our rooms inside and out and, as you grow, helping bring new team members up to speed.

If you're looking for a job where you sit and watch a screen, this isn't it. If you take pride in running a tight, well-kept operation and delivering a memorable guest experience, you'll fit right in.

Our mobile escape room

Alongside our two brick-and-mortar locations, we run a mobile escape room trailer that travels to guests: birthday parties, corporate events, festivals, and more. Game Masters at level 2 and above help run these mobile events, traveling to the site, setting up, hosting the experience, and packing down afterward. Team members who can tow the trailer take on additional responsibility at level 3 and earn our highest Game Master rates.

Who we look for in a Game Master

Our ideal candidate is exceptionally reliable, accountable, and punctual, with strong attention to detail. Because this is an entertainment business, excellent customer service and a genuine desire to engage with people are essential. You'll often make quick decisions and track several guests' actions at once, so staying composed under a little pressure goes a long way. There will be times you work as the sole employee on-site, without a supervisor present, so we need someone we can trust to run things independently.

Prior customer service experience is a plus. Other helpful skills: accurate typing and spelling, quick decision-making, and the ability to track multiple people's actions at the same time.

Our roles

Our Game Master roles form a three-level ladder: each level includes everything in the level before it, adds new responsibilities, and pays more. We also hire a Prop Maker, a specialized fabrication role that sits outside the Game Master ladder and designs and builds the puzzles themselves. Right now, Prop Maker is our only open position; the three Game Master roles are filled.

You're largely in control of how fast you move up. On your first day we'll hand you a clear checklist of exactly what "fully trained" means at your level and what unlocks the next one, so you always know what you're working toward. Training is fully paid, and most new Game Masters reach full independence within their first two weeks. Promotions aren't about seniority or waiting for an opening: as soon as you can demonstrate the skills of the next level, the raise lands.

Game Master 1Position Filled

$17-$19/hour

This is where every Game Master starts. You'll learn our rooms inside and out and run the whole operation: hosting games, resetting rooms, and taking care of guests from the moment they walk in.

What you'll do

• Hosting games: greeting and orienting guests, monitoring by video and audio, typing timely hints and clues, and taking the group's photo afterward.
• Resetting rooms accurately and making sure the rooms and lobby are ready for the next group.
• Cleaning and sanitizing rooms, lobby, and common areas.
• Restocking supplies and tracking inventory.
• Basic puzzle upkeep and wear-and-tear repairs: redrawing blacklight markings, remaking printouts, re-gluing pieces, and other fixes for things that are expected to degrade with normal use.
• Opening and closing the facility: placing the street sign, locking up, and preparing the space.
• Answering phones, fielding questions, and booking walk-in guests.
• Participating in your own training and, as you advance, helping train new team members.

You'll start at minimum wage during a short, fully paid training period while you learn our rooms and systems. As soon as you can run everything on your own (hosting solo, resetting quickly and correctly, opening and closing unsupervised, and handling whatever a group throws at you), your pay jumps immediately to $17-$19 per hour. The faster you get there, the sooner that raise lands, and Game Masters who complete training quickly start at the top of that range.

How you advance to Game Master 2

• Complete the full Game Master 1 checklist and run shifts solo at both locations.
• Show you can handle repairs beyond wear and tear, including puzzles that contain electronics.
• Complete training on our mobile escape room events.

Game Master 2Position Filled

$19-$23/hour

Game Master 2 adds the harder repairs and the road work. You'll fix what actually breaks, including our electronic puzzles, and take our escape rooms on the road.

Everything in Game Master 1, plus:

• Complex repairs beyond normal wear and tear: fixing what guests break and diagnosing failures that shouldn't happen from ordinary use.
• Repairing puzzles that contain electronics (wiring, sensors, relays), restoring them to exactly how they were designed. Designing and building new puzzles is our Prop Maker's work.
• Traveling to mobile escape room events and working them end to end: site setup, hosting the experience, and teardown.
• Working varied venues, including outdoor events in changing conditions.

How you advance to Game Master 3

• Prove yourself as a Game Master 2 across both locations and mobile events.
• Be able and licensed to tow the trailer, with a clean driving record.
• Show ownership and leadership: running the mobile program and helping train the team.

Game Master 3Position Filled

$25-$32/hour

Game Master 3 is our senior role, trusted to handle anything the business needs, the way an owner would. You'll own the mobile trailer program from marketing to towing, and help lead and train the team. You'll still handle repairs (everything a Game Master 2 does), but designing and building new puzzles is our Prop Maker's job.

Everything in Game Master 2, plus:

• Towing and driving the mobile escape room trailer to and from events.
• Marketing the mobile trailer: managing leads in our CRM, collecting leads at events, following up, and reaching out to event planners, schools, and companies.
• Helping lead the team and train new Game Masters.

Game Master 3 requires a valid driver's license, a clean driving record, and towing experience.

Prop MakerNow Hiring

$30-$35/hour

Prop Maker is a specialized fabrication role, separate from the Game Master ladder. It's the traditional theater and themed-entertainment craft: you design, build, and maintain the physical puzzles and props our guests interact with, combining woodworking and scenic fabrication with low-voltage electronics, from concept to installed and player-tested in a room.

What you'll do

• Designing and generating new puzzles and props, and modifying or extending existing ones, from concept to installed in a room.
• Woodworking, carpentry, and scenic fabrication for puzzles, props, and set pieces.
• Integrating and repairing low-voltage electronics: Hall and reed sensors, RFID readers, magnetic locks, relays, switches, and basic control circuits.
• Prototyping, durability testing, and ongoing maintenance and repair so props hold up to repeated player use.

Prop Maker is a hands-on maker role. We're looking for someone comfortable with both woodworking and low-voltage electronics. Experience in theater, film, television, themed attractions, museum exhibits, or escape rooms is a strong plus, and familiarity with COGS (cogs.show), the platform we use to control our props, is helpful. This role is not part of the Game Master pay ladder; it stands on its own.

Schedule

Game Masters: our hours follow our bookings. You'll be scheduled for coverage windows, a mix of on-call (you come in to run the bookings within your window) and set shifts, especially on weekends. We're open Tuesday through Sunday; evenings and weekends are required, and daytime availability is a plus. We do our best to accommodate outside schedules and time-off requests, apart from frequent weekend requests.

Prop Maker is a hybrid role with much more flexible hours. Most of the design and fabrication can happen on your own schedule, and a good deal of it can be done remotely, so you and your manager set hours around project deadlines rather than booking coverage. You'll need some on-site time for installation, testing, and repairs, but evening and weekend availability is not required.

Physical requirements

Game Masters: this role requires watching a screen for extended periods (sessions of an hour or more), and the ability to stoop, bend, and occasionally move objects under 50 pounds. Mobile events may involve outdoor setup and working in varied conditions.

Prop Maker: this is a workshop and installation role instead. Expect fabrication with hand and power tools and the ability to lift and move materials and props up to 50 pounds. There is little screen-watching and no game hosting.

Benefits and details

• Employee discount
• Flexible schedule
• Job type: part-time
• Work location: multiple locations in downtown Salem and North Salem, and you must be able to travel to both
• Schedule: Game Masters work a combination of on-call and shift work, with evenings and weekends required; Prop Maker hours are flexible

How to apply

Email your resume to escapetech@escapetech.rocks. We're currently hiring a Prop Maker; send along examples of things you've built or wired. Our Game Master positions are filled right now, but you're welcome to send your resume anyway. Tell us your availability and which level you'd apply for, and we'll keep it in mind for the next opening.