Director, Guest Experience

New York Racing Association•New York, NY

1d•$120,000 - $130,000

About The Position

NYRA is seeking a Director, Guest Experience to lead the strategic vision and operational execution of world-class hospitality at Belmont Park and Saratoga Racecourse. This visionary leader will shape how fans connect with NYRA across every touchpoint—from arrival to departure—creating experiences that drive deeper engagement, loyalty, and return visitation. As the senior leader of the Guest Experience department, you will oversee admissions, ushers, tours, and guest services operations across both premier venues, ensuring seamless service delivery and brand consistency. You'll lead a team of supervisors and individual contributors, providing strategic direction, performance management, and resource allocation to achieve departmental goals. This role serves as the primary liaison between Guest Experience and cross-functional partners including operations, marketing, facilities, and F&B, ensuring integrated, fan-first strategies across the organization. The ideal candidate is an innovative hospitality leader who combines strategic thinking with operational excellence, a passion for elevating guest experiences, and proven ability to build high-performing teams. You'll bring experience scaling guest service operations in sports, entertainment, or hospitality venues, with a track record of driving measurable improvements in guest satisfaction and operational efficiency.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in hospitality, business administration or a related field or equivalent amount of education and work experience in a related field.
Able and willing to work flexible hours, including evenings, weekends, and holidays.
Strong public speaking skills and experience, comfort with speaking in front of audiences ranging from 10 to 500 people.
Demonstrated ability to proactively create solutions to problems and situations before and after they arise with little or no supervision.
Strong leadership and personnel management experience with the ability to coach, mentor and motivate a diverse workforce.
Leading and developing high-performing teams (10+ direct/indirect reports)
Performance management, coaching, and talent development
Conflict resolution and employee relations
Strategic vision and long-term planning
Guest experience strategy development and implementation
Large-scale guest services operations (high-volume venues)
Crowd management and flow optimization
Crisis management and incident response
Executive-level communication and reporting
Cross-departmental collaboration (operations, marketing, F&B, facilities, security)
Vendor and partner relationship management
Guest feedback analysis and reporting
Net Promoter Score (NPS) and satisfaction metrics
CRM and database management
Workforce management systems
Ticketing and admissions platforms
Microsoft Office Suite (advanced Excel, PowerPoint)
Data visualization and reporting tools

Nice To Haves

Strongly preferred 6 years of guest or event service experience in a managerial capacity in stadium or arena management.
Strongly preferred 6 years of experience in sports and entertainment facilities.
Bilingual capabilities ideal (Spanish preferred)
Experience with union environments

Responsibilities

Lead the Guest Experience management team through coaching, strategic guidance, and resource support to drive excellence across all guest-facing operations.
Monitor and coach frontline staff across all departments to ensure adherence to NYRA's guest service philosophy and brand expectations.
Motivate event staff by creating a positive working environment and culture where employees are stimulated and inspired to do exceptional work.
Facilitate a coaching and counseling program that maintains consistency of effort among event staff. As well as identify and develop event staff into specialized supporting roles.
Oversee development and distribution of guest-facing and employee materials including accessibility guides, fan guides, event staff handbooks, and operational resources.
Ensures that the department is in full compliance with collective bargaining agreement, and any state or federal labor laws.
Meet with event operations departments to resolve Guest Experience needs and requirements on a per-event basis.
Oversee workforce planning and staff deployment for all events, balancing service excellence, safety requirements, and cost management objectives.
To maintain emergency preparedness, the Guest Experience Director must have a solid understanding of all applicable safety regulations and security procedures for the racecourses.
Ensure that event plans and layouts support the highest standards of accessibility and ADA regulations.
Conduct comprehensive pre-event briefings for Guest Experience leadership and frontline staff, aligning teams on service standards, safety protocols, and event-specific procedures.
Provide on-site leadership during events to coordinate response to guest incidents including injuries, lost children, ejections, seating issues, and emergency situations.
Anticipate guest issues by consistently supervising crowd flow and service issues.
Work with the Event Operations Department to develop and/or implement staffing levels and budgets for each event.
Develop and maintain event staff depth charts for all Guest Experience event staff.
Direct payroll reconciliation for Guest Experience staff and complete departmental reporting to support financial tracking and compliance.
Prepare, present, and manage the Guest Experience annual budget, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and fiscal responsibility.
Other Duties as Assigned.