Operations Manager, Arts & Entertainment

MARI is a global events and experiences company with a portfolio of premium live properties across sports, art, and entertainment. These include the Madrid and Miami Open tennis tournaments and Frieze, a leading voice in contemporary art, as well as Barrett-Jackson, the Premium U.S. Collector Car Auction Company. MARI delivers unforgettable live experiences that connect people, inspire audiences, and shape culture.

Working Conditions:

Permanent, London Chiswick Park and Hyde Park Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm

What You'll Do:

Responsible for the designated elements of operational planning and delivery for predominantly Hyde Park Winter Wonderland with some other contribution to other MARI events.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

• Acting as an operational planning lead for Hyde Park Winter Wonderland as part of the HPWW Operations team.
• Supporting the Operations Director on the hiring and management of several temporary freelance event staff.
• Working closely with the Senior Event Director and Operations Director in developing, publishing, delivery and the overall strategy of the emergency planning and statutory event documentation (EMP, Crowd Dynamics Plans, Risk Assessments).
• Developing detailed standard operational planning documents, including emergency plans, major incident development plans, crowd modelling and others as requested by the Operations and/or Event Director in order to maintain the safety of HPWW.
• Scoping event requirements, tendering, negotiating supplier contracts and brokering multi-year deals.
• Managing the budget and forecasting of specific suppliers.
• Nurturing relationships with contractors, sponsors, clients etc, and being the contact for selected operational suppliers as specified by the Operations Director.
• Acting as operational lead for the design and live event delivery of either Event Control Centre or Gates operations.
• Supporting the Operations Director during the live event with regards to signage, crowd dynamics, site utilisation and capacity and ways to continually improve and fully utilise the operations team and other available resources of the event.
• Leading on the Incident Reporting process, managing and recruiting the Incident Reporting team for the event and working closely with the MARI Corporate Health and Safety team as well as the designated event safety supplier.
• Managing incoming information regarding incidents recorded at the event and establishing processes to collate information required for statutory reporting, claims defensibility and data analysis.
• Building on a culture of operational excellence within the team, with the aim of continuous improvement, through engagement and working through lessons learned effectively.
• Developing training courses and documentation for use by suppliers, operators and staff to ensure that they understand their job roles and responsibilities during the event.
• Supporting the Operations Director with multi-agency partnerships as and when required, including helping to plan and deliver tabletop exercises and debrief activities.
• Managing the invoicing and post-event reconciliation of suppliers.
• Conducting post event debriefs of above staffing departments, collating feedback and actioning for the next year’s event.
• Assisting with business modelling and research for new proposed MARI events, including summer events and other Winter Wonderland events in other territories.
• Some pre-production/on-site assistance with other MARI events within the portfolio including selected summer events.

Unusual Challenges or Circumstances:

Regular evening and weekend work and travel to events in line with the MARI portfolio, including Hyde Park Winter Wonderland and Hampton Court Palace Festival. Outside of event travel there will be a requirement to travel for meetings as part of the role.

You Have These:

Knowledge and Experience:

• Experience of managing the operational delivery of large-scale outdoor events.
• Experience of managing contractors and staff.
• Experience of operational planning and writing event plans.
• Experience of working with Safety Advisory Group members including the emergency services.
• Experience of detailed budget management.
• Experience of working in an Event Control Room environment desirable.
• Experience of gates and accreditation operations desirable.

Skills & Abilities (Personal and Professional):

• A strong, positive leader with the ability to persuade and influence.
• Ability to handle pressure, stay calm and show leadership in dynamic circumstances.
• Ability to manage and prioritise tasks to meet tight deadlines, and strong organisational skills with the ability to multitask in a dynamic working environment.
• Enthusiastic, self-motivated and proactive.
• A good-humoured manager that can motivate staff and contractors under difficult conditions.
• Ability to build long lasting working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to be commercially aware and solutions focused.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills and a clear and professional writing style.
• Working knowledge of MS Office software, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.
• Experience or understanding of Computer Aided Design (CAD), Sketch-up of Visio for site map design is desirable.

Qualifications and Training:

• A Level 3 Health and Safety qualification or a Level 5 Crowd Management qualification.
• First Aid at Work qualification.
• Full, clean UK driving licence.