Vice President of Event Production & Business Operations

Overwatch Mission Critical•Austin, TX

22d

About The Position

Overwatch Mission Critical is seeking a Vice President to build and run the operating engine behind DCAC, allowing the President to focus on industry vision, strategic relationships, major partnerships, and other high-value work. The role combines live-event creative judgment with business discipline to build systems, manage budgets, set accountability, and develop a scalable team. The VP turns ideas into plans, aligns staff and vendors, protects the DCAC brand and economics, and delivers events without requiring the President to manage every detail. DCAC has grown beyond a single event to include U.S. and European conferences, On Tour events, executive gatherings, partner activations, veteran programming, and future formats. The VP will help grow the platform while preserving its distinctive community and experience, replacing last-minute heroics with planning and repeatable execution. The VP leads the event portfolio from concept through closeout; establishes operating calendars, planning cadence, decision structures, documentation, approval gates, and workflows; manages budgets, forecasts, cash flow, procurement, bids, change controls, and reconciliations; and leads operations and production staff. The role also manages vendors and venues, integrates programming across the attendee journey, owns production readiness and risk coordination, resolves routine operating matters independently, and leads post-event reviews and follow-through. The ideal candidate is a senior producer and operator who can move between creative briefings, budget reviews, venue walks, vendor negotiations, and executive meetings. They bring calm under pressure and add structure without making DCAC feel generic or overly corporate. The role’s performance is assessed across financial results, delivery readiness, event experience, operational scale, and team effectiveness.

Requirements

10+ years in live events, experiential production, brand activations, conferences, entertainment, agency production, or a related field, including meaningful leadership experience.
Experience owning complex, high-visibility, multi-vendor productions and multimillion-dollar or similarly complex budgets.
Strong command of budgeting, bidding, scopes of work, contracts, scheduling, staffing, production documents, and financial reconciliation.
Demonstrated ability to build operating systems and lead cross-functional teams through ambiguity, compressed timelines, and changing priorities.
Executive-level communication and judgment, including the ability to challenge ideas constructively.
Strong creative and experiential instincts; this is not a conventional conference operations role.
Calm, direct, resourceful, accountable, and emotionally intelligent.
Commercially sharp while protective of the attendee, partner, and team experience.
Able to move between big-picture thinking and precise execution, communicate bad news early, and thrive in an entrepreneurial environment.

Nice To Haves

Multi-city or international experience is strongly preferred.
Familiarity with registration platforms, CRM and sponsorship workflows, project management systems, and financial tools is helpful.

Responsibilities

Lead planning and delivery of DCAC USA, DCAC Europe, On Tour, VIP programs, dinners, golf, partner activations, and special experiences from concept through closeout.
Establish the annual operating calendar, planning cadence, decision structure, documentation, approval gates, and cross-functional workflows.
Build event budgets and forecasts; manage cash flow, procurement, bids, change controls, and reconciliations; protect margins while investing in the guest or sponsor experience.
Lead and develop operations and production staff; clarify ownership and expectations, balance workloads, and identify capability gaps across employees, contractors, agencies, and local partners.
Lead sourcing, negotiation, contracting, scopes of work, schedules, venue relationships, and supplier performance across production, security, transportation, registration, catering, talent, and staffing.
Translate content vision into a workable run of show and coordinate speakers, sponsors, creative, marketing, registration, hospitality, and production across the attendee journey.
Own production readiness, safety planning, insurance and compliance coordination, contingency plans, escalation paths, and go/no-go criteria; raise risks early with recommendations.
Resolve routine operating matters independently and present the President with decisions that include context, options, financial impact, a recommendation, and a deadline.
Lead after-action reviews, financial closeout, partner and attendee feedback, vendor scorecards, and follow-through on lessons learned.
Approve production decisions and vendor selections within delegated authority, approved event budgets, and spending thresholds.
Hold teams and partners accountable to scope, deadlines, quality, and communication standards.
Recommend stopping, changing, or reducing work when timing, economics, safety, or quality is at risk.
Set the production calendar, meeting rhythm, documentation standards, and readiness gates; escalate brand-defining decisions, major financial variances, strategic relationships, reputational risks, and commitments reserved for the President.