Head of Event Services - Sport Travel

Head of Event Services

Sportsworld - Destination Sport Group

This is a hybrid role based in our Teddington office, you must live within a commutable distance.

As part of Destination Sport Group, Sportsworld specialise in the design & delivery of international travel & hospitality programmes for spectators, governing bodies, sponsors, media & corporations at major international sporting events. With over 40 years' experience of working at prestigious events such as The Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, Wimbledon and The Championships, Sportsworld has earned an international reputation as one of the UK's leading events management, corporate hospitality, and sponsorship services providers, delivering memorable guest experiences at the world's most talked about sporting and cultural occasions.

As a result of another year of growth, Sportsworld are looking for a Head of Event Services to join the existing senior leadership team to be responsible for day-to-day operations and deliver outstanding hospitality events, build and maintain strong client relationships and support the continued growth of the business.

This is a broad and varied role covering various sports, events and destinations but on a typical day you would expect to:

• Line manage the events team and be responsible for its day to day operations including ensuring events are adequately staffed taking into account team annual leave and peaks/ troughs throughout the calendar.
• Coach, develop, motivate and upskill members of the team.
• Be responsible for end-to-end delivery of multiple exceptional event experiences across the globe from event strategy, budgeting and preparation through to completion and evaluation.
• Work with the Chief Operating Officer (COO) to set, manage and monitor KPI's.
• Oversee client documentation both pre- and post-event, ensuring its accuracy, promptness and delivery is to the highest standard and up to date information is communicated to all relevant stakeholders.
• Work closely with 3 rd parties including accommodation, transport and event providers to contract and deliver both domestic and international events.
• Be the main event contact for clients, suppliers and internal stakeholders alike to provide the top level of service.
• Attend regular meetings with clubs and federations.
• Maintain strong relationships with both existing clients and suppliers while looking to grow business opportunities and form new relationships.
• Manage relevant health and safety and sustainability plans and initiatives.
• Liaise closely with both internal and external stakeholders to fulfil event requirements.
• Support with the preparation and delivery of client proposals and tenders.
• Update, develop and refine current processes to ensure efficiency.
• Accurately record and process data to ensure compliance with ISO standards.
• Manage all event costings whilst having a clear understanding of the required profitability and identifying cost saving efficiencies.
• Provide proposed event and product budgets including forecast and post event reconciliations working closely with the finance team.
• Generate, maintain and expand new and existing supplier and partner relationships.
• Lead commercial negotiations with suppliers and manage relationships with key suppliers.

To be successful within this role, our ideal candidate will:

• Have previous working experience in a similar role within the events, travel, or sports industry.
• Have a proven track record of working in a high-energy, multi-level, project-based environment with emphasis on timelines and delivery.
• Have previous project and event management experience at a senior management level, to include planning and delivering hospitality facilities and overseas programmes.
• Have previous line management experience including remote management and successfully mentoring and developing team members.
• Demonstrate a passion for sport travel and events with the desire to successfully execute large scale events across the globe by achieving sales and profit targets for Sportsworld.
• Possess excellent knowledge and understanding of tour operating, corporate hospitality and group travel outside of the UK.
• Demonstrate the ability to establish strong rapport and build solid interpersonal relationships both internally and externally to stakeholders through various means including face to face and remotely.
• Possess outstanding negotiation skills with a proven track record of developing supplier relationships.
• Be a self-starter with the ability to adapt, multi-task and prioritise workload while working across multiple events.
• Demonstrate outstanding communication and interpersonal skills both written and verbal with the ability to communicate to those at all levels.
• Be solutions oriented with the ability to think analytically, and problem solve - usually to tight deadlines and in pressured situations.
• Have the ability to work on complex projects spreading across multiple departments and stakeholders.
• Demonstrate commercial and financial acumen, with knowledge of risk management, profit & loss and budgets.
• Be computer literate with strong hands-on knowledge of Microsoft Packages including Excel and Outlook.
• Show a strong work ethic and can-do attitude.
• Be willing to travel both domestically and internationally for work purposes including on the ground operations, event fulfilment and client meetings.

So if you are looking for your next challenge, please get in touch we'd love to hear from you!