Director, Event Planning & Project Management
About The Position
The Director, Event Planning & Project Management serves as the operational leader and process architect for the MLS/SUM event portfolio. This role is responsible for overseeing a team of Event Managers who directly lead tentpole and large-scale events, while establishing the strategic frameworks, governance models, and project management infrastructure that ensure consistent, scalable, and high-performing execution across the department. This individual will not serve as the day-to-day producer of events such as MLS All-Star or MLS Cup, but rather as the senior leader overseeing the managers responsible for those events — providing direction, accountability, integration, and executive-level oversight. The Director will also lead cross-functional enterprise initiatives that extend beyond individual events, ensuring alignment across departments including Commercial, Marketing, Communications, Competition, Finance, Legal, and Operations. This role requires a disciplined project management mindset, strong leadership presence, and the ability to build repeatable systems that elevate performance year over year.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s Degree required
- 8+ years of progressive leadership experience in large-scale event planning, operations, or live production
- Minimum 5+ years managing full-time employees, including managers or senior-level staff
- Demonstrated experience leading leaders and overseeing complex, cross-functional initiatives
- Proven track record building operational systems, governance models, or scalable planning processes
- Strong leadership presence with proven ability to manage and develop leaders
- Advanced project management expertise with demonstrated success building scalable systems
- Experience overseeing large-scale, high-visibility event portfolios
- Exceptional organizational and operational planning skills
- Strong financial acumen with experience managing multimillion-dollar budgets
- Ability to operate at both strategic and tactical levels
- Excellent executive communication and presentation skills
- Proven ability to drive cross-functional alignment in complex organizational environments
- Strong decision-making capabilities in high-pressure, high-visibility settings
- Willingness to travel extensively (6–10 days for marquee events) and work long hours, including weekends, during events and peak periods.
- Proficiency in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
Nice To Haves
- Experience overseeing globally recognized tentpole events
- Experience building or scaling event operations within a growing organization
- Knowledge of Soccer or sports
Responsibilities
- Lead, manage, and develop a team of Event Managers who oversee MLS All-Star, MLS Cup, and other major properties.
- Establish clear performance expectations, accountability structures and templates, and development plans for direct reports.
- Serve as escalation point and strategic advisor to managers throughout planning and execution cycles.
- Foster a culture of ownership, operational discipline, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
- Drive succession planning and capability building within the Events team.
- Provide executive-level oversight across the MLS/SUM event portfolio, ensuring alignment with league priorities, commercial objectives, and brand standards.
- Oversee strategic planning milestones for tentpole events, ensuring managers maintain clear workback schedules, stakeholder alignment, and budget discipline.
- Review and guide event strategy, production plans, staffing models, and execution frameworks without directly owning day-to-day production.
- Identify portfolio-level risks, resource gaps, and interdependencies across events.
- Standardize planning cadences and reporting structures across all major properties.
- Design and implement scalable project management frameworks across the department, including: Master planning timelines Stakeholder matrices RACI models Budget tracking tools Risk mitigation protocols Post-event reporting templates
- Establish governance structures for cross-functional initiatives, ensuring clarity of ownership, deliverables, and decision-making pathways.
- Lead enterprise-wide planning processes for large-scale initiatives that intersect multiple departments.
- Build documentation standards and institutional knowledge systems to improve efficiency and year-over-year performance.
- Drive continuous improvement by evaluating post-event insights and operational data to refine processes.
- Lead complex cross-functional initiatives beyond event execution, ensuring alignment, accountability, and milestone delivery.
- Ensure commercial partner activations and league initiatives are operationally integrated across all major events.
- Oversee portfolio-level budget strategy, including forecasting, financial tracking, reconciliation, and cost-efficiency planning.
- Review and approve major vendor engagements, contracts, and agency scopes of work.
- Ensure financial accountability across managed events.
- Drive operational consistency in vendor selection, contracting processes, and payment workflows.
- Provide onsite oversight at marquee events, serving as strategic lead and escalation point for critical operational decisions.
- Support Event Managers in maintaining cross-functional alignment during live event execution.
- Lead special enterprise initiatives as assigned by the Vice President, Events.
- Contribute to long-term departmental strategy and organizational design.
Benefits
- comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
- a $500 wellness reimbursement
- generous Holiday and PTO schedule to promote work-life balance
- career and professional development
- on-the-job training, feedback, and ongoing educational opportunities
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
