Director of Event Operations, MotoGP

About the Role 

This is a Third-party contractor role.

As the Director of Operations your contribution to the organization will be to deliver an exceptional guest experience at established financial margins for all events assigned under your umbrella. 

Achieving this will require: 

• Empowering and developing a team of direct and indirect reports. 

• Managing your team within existing systems,
  technology, processes, and strategies while working collaboratively with department leaders to influence positive change. 

• Gaining a deep understanding of our company's intricacies and becoming familiar with the unique aspects of each event we organize.  

• Comfort with diving into and spending significant time on day-to-day tactical aspects of the team before you can focus the role on more strategic actions. 

• Adopting an authoritative and decisive leadership style when the situation requires. 

Performance will be evaluated on: 

• Team/employee
  experience feedback. 

• Guest experience feedback. 

• Financial delivery to budget. 

• Consistency in collaborating and supporting the global team. 

• Team and individual performance to department goals and initiatives. 

• Your capacity to actively engage in continuous learning and effectively apply constructive feedback. 

Core Responsibilities

Guest Experience and Event Management

• Responsible for the planning and on-site delivery through both direct actions and team management of 25+ events annually ranging from 200 to 12,000 guests per event beginning with event launch up to a year in advance of event date.
• Event planning and delivery includes but is not limited to:
  • Fulfillment (package shipping, ticketing, on-site pick-ups, etc.)
  • Transportation (sourcing, supplier management, scheduling, staffing, etc.)
  • Hotels (guest rooming lists, arrival experience, amenities, etc.)
  • Hospitality (food and beverage, branding, production, talent appearances, etc.)
  • Experiences (schedules, guest movements, talent appearances, staffing, etc.)
  • Safety & Security (local regulations, employee and guest safety, compliance, etc.)
  • Overarching On-Site Plan (travel, independent contractors, staff assignments, training, uniforms, accreditation, freight, etc.)
  • Overarching Guest Experience (advance and on-site communication, guest journey, etc.)
• Identifying opportunities in all facets of the guest journey to improve the guest experience, create efficiency, and to otherwise elevate our services, processes, and interactions with guests.
  • Lead and encourage team engagement to implement and focus on continuous improvement of the guest experience.
• Lead team engagement with internal processes for product (event) launches, guest communications, and guest services.
  • Identify and implement opportunities for collaboration, growth, and improvement.
• Develop meaningful relationships with other departments, vendors, and partners to support event planning and delivery.
  • Identify and implement opportunities for collaboration, growth, and improvement.
  • Identify and implement opportunities for economies of scale across events, partnerships, and teams.
• Drive and support strategic department initiatives for global alignment and progression.

Team Leadership and Personnel Management

• Lead a team of 2+ direct reports and 17+ indirect reports.
• Hands on career development and coaching of both direct and indirect reports.
  • Clearly establish and develop employees for succession in the business aligned to growth.
• Coaching others to coach and develop their reports.
• Focus on the team dynamic and encourage global collaboration.
• Ensure team is engaged and supporting overall department deliverables and not operating in a silo.
  • Collaboration with peers and other team leaders to cross utilize staff both in planning and on-site roles for a positive employee experience.
• Advocated for employees, removed obstacles, and ensures they have the tools/resources needed to be effective.
• Establish yourself as a trusted leader in the global team – model and hold all team members accountable to the expected behaviors and professionalism.

Financial Ownership

• Accountable for the operational budget of assigned events; equally holding your team accountable for budget management.
• Effectively oversee and manage the event budget by aligning it with sales projections or anticipated sales derived from historical data and run rates.
  • Collaborate with applicable overall budget owners to ensure team spending is appropriate to event margin targets.
• Collaborate across teams and departments to ensure financial reporting (forecasts, settlements, etc.) can be completed in a timely manner.
• Support and collaborate across teams and departments to create event budgets for future events leveraging insights from prior event settlements.

Requirements

Work Experience, Education, and Skills

• 8+ years’ progressive experience in event planning and management.
  • Significant live/sporting events experience preferred.
• 6+ years’ experience leading teams.
  • Must include development of full-time, direct reports.
• Direct experience owning and managing budgets of at least 70M USD combined or 8M USD singular.
  • Experience managing highly variable budgets or budgets to sales preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Hospitality Management, Business, Marketing, or related field.
• Proficient computer skills including but not limited to Excel, CRM software, and project management tools.

Interpersonal Skills and Traits

• Capable motivator and quick relationship builder.
• Strong initiative and self-direction.
• Ability to understand, react quickly, and motivate others to adapt to the changing organization environment.
• Decisive; comfortable taking calculated risk.
• Persuasive and clear communication skills.
• Positive and composed under pressure and in fast-paced environments.

Physical

• Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Extensive walking and standing for periods greater than 12 hours while at events.
  
• Full-time in-person based in the Barcelona office.
• Requires flexibility to work long hours and weekends, as needed, in addition to having the ability to travel up to 40% - targeted travel 18-25%.
  • Willing and eligible to travel internationally.
• Eligible to work in Spain.