Director, Event Operations & Planning – Combat Sports

On Location•New York, NY

7d•$112,500 - $150,000

About The Position

The Director, Event Operations & Planning for On Location’s Combat Sports team plays a central role coordinating more than 10 functional areas that sell, deliver, and develop hospitality and VIP experience programs alongside UFC, WWE, Zuffa Boxing, and TKO. The role manages project planning, communication, execution, and accountability across internal teams and external partners, while supporting strategic growth initiatives from concept through completion. The position monitors project health against partner and functional-area milestones, tracks deadlines and deliverables, identifies risks and delays, and escalates issues when needed. It prepares status reports, maintains project communication plans, coordinates client-facing meetings and deliverables, and facilitates change requests while ensuring stakeholders understand impacts to schedules, partners, and finances. The role also builds and manages project management systems and tools, improves processes across teams, establishes operational quality practices, and promotes accurate data management. Success requires strong organization, follow-through, open communication, relationship building, adaptability, and the ability to motivate and align teams. The role anticipates project and client-side delays, helps resolve issues, and works effectively with people of different styles in a fast-paced, multi-time-zone environment. Occasional domestic travel to On Location offices may be required.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Event or Project Management.
Proven experience in event operations, event product building, project management, and project management tools.
Problem-solving ability, creative solutions, and strong communication skills.
Forward-thinking and strong planning skills, including the ability to anticipate scenarios and prepare project team members for different outcomes.
Ability to work in a fast-paced environment across multiple time zones and prioritize projects and deliverables as demands shift.
Ability to distill complex projects into simple, understandable methods; training experience is required.
Ability to lead project teams of varying sizes and guide them through completion.
Strong understanding of formal project management methodologies.
Experience managing large-scope projects.
Ability to complete projects in a timely manner.
Understanding of project management systems, including Airtable and Smartsheet.
Excellent PowerPoint capabilities.
Skills in accountability, adaptability, budget management, clear communication, creativity, decisiveness, delegation, forecasting, leadership, management, organization, problem solving, strategic thinking, and stress management.

Nice To Haves

Event management experience.
Internal and external client relations experience.

Responsibilities

Collect and evaluate project deadlines, milestones, and deliverables across functional areas.
Measure project health and summarize progress against milestones set by rights-holder partners or On Location functional areas.
Keep stakeholders on track with project requirements, deadlines, and schedules; identify risks and delays and escalate matters requiring executive attention.
Coordinate client-facing meetings, reporting, and project deliverables with partners and internal teams.
Prepare status reports by gathering, analyzing, and summarizing relevant information.
Establish and maintain project communication plans and ensure they are executed.
Facilitate change requests and communicate impacts to schedules, partners, and finances.
Serve as a central information and support hub for the team, supporting internal and external communication and relationship building.
Support Combat team strategic growth initiatives from concept through completion, defining concepts and processes with internal stakeholders and external clients.
Set and manage client expectations, develop detailed project plans, define project scope, and assign tasks to team members.
Build, manage, and train teams on project management systems and tools.
Improve alignment and efficiency across teams by integrating functions, defining better processes, and coaching and aligning teams and leaders.
Establish operational accountability practices, including checklists and quality assurance tests, and share best practices across event teams.
Ensure teams maintain data best practices across systems so accurate information reaches the appropriate teams.
Monitor project progress, establish timelines and deadlines, anticipate client-side delays, and inform teams of changes in client needs.
Anticipate and solve project issues and potential disruptions.
Maintain open and honest communication, form working relationships, and motivate team members.
Occasionally travel domestically to On Location offices as required.