Hospitality Venue Manager - LA28 Olympics & Paralympics

This role oversees all hospitality activities within an assigned Olympic competition venue and serves as the day-to-day lead and primary point of contact for hospitality operations. It involves analysing venue capacities to help determine ticket allocations and hospitality space requirements, supporting management in ongoing discussions with LA28 hospitality and venue teams, and coordinating venue planning and communication with internal teams and external partners. The role leads the planning, preparation, and delivery of hospitality experiences in partnership with LA28, venue operators, production agencies, caterers, entertainment providers, staffing partners, and internal On Location teams.

• Own day-to-day hospitality operations and represent the hospitality and event production functions within broader LA28 venue operations.
• Establish and maintain strong working relationships with LA28 representatives, venue owners and operators, event stakeholders, service providers, emergency services, and other relevant partners, and support management in ongoing discussions with LA28 hospitality and venue teams.
• Lead venue-related project management across planning, site visits, pre-set-up, set-up, Olympic-period operations, dismantling, damage reporting, and final handback of hospitality spaces.
• Develop and maintain venue operating plans, action trackers, schedules, processes, policies, procedures, and other operational documentation, while monitoring key dates, milestones, deliverables, dependencies
• And risks and escalating issues and decision points to the Group Director and senior leadership as appropriate.
• Coordinate and facilitate venue meetings, production meetings, site visits, operational planning sessions, and cross-functional working groups, preparing agendas, materials, updates, and action items.
• Collaborate with venue partners and production agencies to implement hospitality products and experiences in accordance with approved standards, LA28 requirements, contractual obligations, and budget parameters, and coordinate with caterers, entertainment providers, hospitality staffing agencies
• And other vendors to ensure readiness and consistent service delivery throughout the event.
• Support planning for hospitality spaces, including review of venue layouts, operational requirements, guest flows, staffing needs, and related venue analysis, including analysis of venue capacities to help determine ticket allocations and hospitality space requirements
• Manage venue-related vendor relationships and monitor compliance with contracts, agreed plans, deliverables, and event requirements.
• Assist with budget development, manage venue-related expenditures, track the venue P&L, update financial forecasts when decisions affect the budget, and provide clear and timely status reporting to the Group Director on progress, risks, decisions, and support needed.
• Lead, train, and support the on-site venue team in partnership with internal stakeholders, support the development and delivery of venue management training, and ensure the venue team is prepared for event-period responsibilities
• Interview, hire, train, schedule, direct, and evaluate venue staff as needed, addressing complaints and resolving performance or operational issues in partnership with the Group Director.
• Anticipate operational challenges, troubleshoot issues quickly, develop practical, win-win solutions that protect the guest experience and broader event objectives, produce post-event debriefs, lessons learned, and final venue reports, and perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned
• Which may change at any time based on business and event needs.

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
• At least five years of experience in large-scale events, sports events, venue operations, event management, event production, or a related industry.
• Demonstrated success managing and delivering complex projects or events with multiple stakeholders, workstreams, deadlines, and operational dependencies.
• Experience leading teams and inspiring people from varied backgrounds in demanding, fast-paced environments.
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to use dashboards, reporting tools, and other data to monitor progress and support decision-making.
• Able to work in-office during the planning phase and able to shift to the venue site during the delivery phase; this is mandatory.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.
• Experience with collaboration and project-management tools such as Airtable, Microsoft Teams, and SharePoint.

• Academic focus on event management, sports management, hospitality, or a related field.
• Experience working in a stadium, arena, temporary venue structure, or other large-scale venue environment.
• Established relationships with venue owners or operators are strongly preferred.
• Olympic, international sporting event, or comparable large-scale event experience is a plus.
• Excellent written, verbal, interpersonal, negotiation, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Highly organised, process-oriented, detail-focused, and able to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Strong judgement, critical-thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Comfortable communicating complex information clearly and concisely to senior leaders and cross-functional partners.
• Self-motivated, resourceful, adaptable, and able to work with minimal supervision.
• Calm, positive, and solutions-oriented under pressure.
• Able to lead with professionalism, respect, gratitude, and an unwavering commitment to service excellence.
• Willing and able to travel as required and work extended hours, evenings, weekends, and holidays during critical planning and event periods.

• Will begin in-office and shift to the assigned hospitality venue during Games time.
• Hospitality venue locations may include Inglewood, Long Beach, Carson, Downtown LA, Exposition Park, Anaheim, the Valley, and Pasadena.

TKO also services and partners with major sports rights holders through IMG, an industry-leading global sports marketing agency, and On Location, a global leader in premium experiential hospitality.