Head of Event Operations

Leading international events business seeks a highly talented Head of Operations to join their team working across their leading expo business. The Head of Operations will be an experienced manager coaching and developing Operations Managers and Operations Coordinators in the delivery of their allocated events as well as planning their own events. They will be responsible for overseeing and executing their portfolio of events within an industry leading portfolio and will have complete operational management, including full budgetary control whilst maximising portfolio profitability.

Role Responsibilities:

• Develop a high-performance culture by championing best practices and professional development.
• Building a ‘one team’ ethos for all levels of the operational functions so that there is an expansion of career development, succession planning and opportunities across the teams as well as sharing of skills and best practice.
• Ensuring the team deliver a first-class service for each client.
• Manage and develop direct reports using KPIs to track performance.
• Recruiting and training new members of the team.
• Responsible for portfolio event delivery - with end-to-end accountability for operational management of all events including customer journeys and improving onsite experience.
• Maximising the profitability, sustainability, and quality of each event through effective budget management.
• Focusing on continuous improvement: learning from other events, customer feedback groups, industry technology.
• Project managing events and control costs to deliver within budget.
• Managing end-to-end delivery of events each year of varying size, format, and complexity across a range of geographies.
• Responsible for risk and compliance at events - ensure security plans are adhered to and that each event has a full risk assessment.

Profile Required:

• An established track record of delivering international, large scale and complex events and awards in the B2B or B2C space managing both large scale exhibitions (150+ stands) and multi stream conferences globally.
• Must have Expo experience – 1000 + Attendees.
• Technical experience from floor plan creation, rigging, health & safety, introducing creative flair to networking experiences.
• Demonstrable experience in collaborating successfully with partners ancillary to a large-scale event (could be the city, transport, party, or other partners).
• Extensive experience in team management/ line management experience for 4+ team members, able to demonstrate coaching and people development.
• Tangible examples of experience in implementing innovation and creativity for large scale international events over 6000+ people, 150+ stands, 120+, meeting rooms, 3+ conference stages.
• Experience in venue and supplier contracting and negotiation upwards of £2.5m.
• Confident decision-making, thought leadership and a focus on finding solutions and achieving results by taking accountability and ownership of decisions made.