Director of Events & Entertainment

All Career•Pine Mountain, GA

About The Position

The Director of Events & Entertainment is responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive entertainment vision that elevates the guest experience across the entire resort. This role involves continuously raising the standards of entertainment offerings by introducing fresh concepts, immersive experiences, and industry-leading programming. The Director will build a culture of creativity, excellence, and collaboration within the Events and Entertainment department. Key duties include designing, developing, and executing signature seasonal events, creating new annual traditions, and managing event concepts from ideation through execution. The role also supports social media and digital content creation, maintains a balanced annual events calendar, and acts as a leader for reinforcing the company's culture. Sourcing, negotiating, and managing relationships with external partners, ensuring operational consistency, and fostering a culture of hospitality, creativity, accountability, and continuous improvement are also critical. The Director will champion the company's specific culture with a focus on engagement, development, retention, and service excellence, create clear lines of responsibility for the management team, and oversee guest feedback and issue resolution. Fostering a culture of safety and ensuring regulatory compliance are also key aspects of the role. In terms of financial leadership, the Director will develop and manage multi-million-dollar operating budgets, prepare monthly forecasts, participate in strategic planning, manage labor flow between departments, identify opportunities for profitability improvement, and collaborate with Finance on forecasting and capital planning.

Requirements

Minimum 10 years of progressive leadership experience in hospitality, entertainment, event management, destination resorts, theme parks, or large-scale mixed-use operations.
Minimum 5 years in a senior leadership role.
Strong financial acumen with experience managing large operating budgets and capital expenditures.
Proven ability to build, develop, and lead high-performing leadership teams.
Excellent strategic planning, organizational, and decision-making skills.
Outstanding communication and presentation abilities.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management, Entertainment, Event Management, or related field preferred.

Responsibilities

Develop and implement a comprehensive entertainment vision that elevates the guest experience across the entire resort.
Continuously raise the standards of entertainment offerings by introducing fresh concepts, immersive experiences and industry-leading programming.
Build a culture of creativity, excellence, and collaboration within the Events and Entertainment department.
Design, develop, and execute signature seasonal events including holiday celebrations, festivals, themed weekends, concerts, and special activations.
Create new annual traditions that strengthen the resort’s reputation.
Develop event concepts from ideation through execution, including budgeting, logistics, staffing, programming, and post-event evaluation.
Support social media and digital content by creating visually engaging and shareable guest experiences.
Maintain a balanced annual events calendar that drives occupancy, repeat visitation, and community engagement.
Act as a steward and key leader for reinforcing our Lead with Love culture as well as provide leadership to inspire others to Create Memories Worth Repeating® for our guests.
Source, negotiate, and manage relationships with performers, production companies, entertainers, and vendors.
Ensure operational consistency across all guest touch-points.
Create a culture focused on hospitality, creativity, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Champion the Herschend Heartspitality culture with a focus on engagement, development, retention, and service excellence.
Create and support clear lines of responsibility for management team, including coverage and oversight throughout the day.
Review and follow up, when necessary, on all guest surveys, comments, social postings, etc. to ensure our NPS goals are achieved.
Resolve complex operational and guest service issues when necessary.
Foster a culture of safety for guests and associates.
Ensure compliance with all federal, state, and local regulations.
Develop and manage multi-million-dollar operating budgets and prepare monthly forecasts.
Participate in annual strategic planning and long-range business initiatives.
Manage the flow of labor between departments to support effective management of the labor budget and achievement of profitability goals.
Identify opportunities to improve profitability through process improvements, operational efficiencies, and strategic investments.
Collaborate with Finance on forecasting, capital planning, and long-term financial strategy.