Director of Event Readiness and Planning

About:

The Rolex SailGP Championship is the most exciting racing on water, where anything can happen in short, adrenaline-fueled battles between national teams at iconic stadium destinations worldwide. Top athletes fly in identical high-tech F50 catamarans faster than the wind, at speeds approaching 60 mph. Founded in 2018, SailGP is one of the world's fastest-growing sports and entertainment properties, now in its fifth season.

SailGP also races for a better future, championing a world powered by nature. In 2020, SailGP set a new standard as the first climate positive sports and entertainment property and began delivering actions and innovations that advance the global adoption of clean energy. Underpinning the organization's purpose-driven agenda is a diversification of the league, with the goal of immediately progressing gender equity and inclusivity.

SailGP is a global organisation with defined values that shape the culture of its team - deliver quality, break boundaries, make an impact, stand together and strike a balance.

Summary:

As SailGP continues to scale globally, we are introducing a new role to serve as a central hub for end-to-end planning and readiness across our international event portfolio. Reporting directly to the COO, the Director of Event Readiness & Planning will play a vital role in ensuring that all regional teams and central functions are aligned to a unified 'One Event Plan' - driving consistency, accountability and execution excellence.

You will be the COO's key partner in maintaining cross-functional momentum, surfacing key risks and ensuring SailGP events are delivered efficiently, on time and to the highest standard. This role requires someone who is deeply organised, resilient under pressure, unafraid to challenge and skilled at bringing people together.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and lead the central event planning and readiness framework that aligns all events and departments into a unified delivery model.
• Act as the COO's right hand to monitor delivery progress, highlight emerging risks, and drive issue resolution across central and regional teams.
• Own and maintain a cross-functional event and Championship roadmap and reporting structure - clearly mapping out timelines, milestones, and interdependencies.
• Facilitate regular readiness reviews , driving alignment and transparency across planning teams, whilst providing solutions for improvement.
• Partner with Event teams, Commercial, Operations, Broadcast, Marketing, Ticketing and Experience teams to ensure delivery remains on track across all workstreams .
• Design and implement tools and processes for tracking, accountability, and real-time visibility into event delivery status.
• Identify, track, and help resolve critical risks and issues , escalating appropriately to leadership with solution-oriented thinking.
• Support the COO in the strategic coordination of resources (including budget) , and help ensure the business is structured to deliver effectively and efficiently.
• Champion the principles of collaboration, accountability, and clear communication across the organisation.
• Support the design and execution of post-event debriefs , identifying lessons learned and embedding continuous improvement into future event planning.
• Foster a culture of ownership, detail orientation, and delivery excellence across the organisation.

Key Expectations:

• Role models SailGP Values and pioneers a positive culture
• Leads by example and demonstrates their commitment to diversity and inclusion through their words and actions
• Challenges the status quo, embracing a mindset of continuous improvement and evolution propagating this with their teams
• Encourage and empower the delivery of work that will leave an impact on SailGP and align with Better Sport, Better Planet
• Translates SailGP's strategic objectives into SMARTER objectives and goals for their teams enabling, empowering and coaching them to deliver
• Engage in high level thinking to drive the team and SailGP forward influencing others in the process
• Exercise key problem solving skills and serve as advisor to multiple areas of the business
• Strategise constructively with key stakeholders and team managers to work towards the bigger picture
• Embraces the power of feedback, recognising its importance in building high performing teams and evolution for SailGP
• Commercially impactful, assessing stakeholder areas and considers all variables to form commercial decisions

About You:

• Proven experience in a senior planning, PMO, or operational delivery role across major sporting events or live global operations.
• Comfortable getting stuck in and being hands-on when needed - this role requires someone who's just as happy rolling up their sleeves and problem-solving on the ground as they are operating at a strategic level.
• Deep understanding of multi-stakeholder event environments, with the ability to manage complexity and drive alignment across regions and departments.
• Strong leadership presence - confident, assertive, and highly collaborative.
• A strategic thinker with an eye for detail and a strong sense of urgency.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, able to bring people on the journey while holding them accountable.
• Strong experience with programme and readiness tools - dashboards, trackers, risk logs, RACI matrices, etc.
• Comfortable in fast-paced, entrepreneurial environments where agility is key.
• A bias for action, able to balance the long-term picture with day-to-day priorities.
• Experience in international sport, event production, or league operations strongly preferred.

Location:

SailGP HQ in London, United Kingdom. Hybrid working model with a minimum of 3 days per week in the London Office.

This role may have some event travel.

SailGP is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace committed to building a team culture that celebrates diversity, equity and inclusion.