Event Operations Manager

Gate 8 Melbourne; Melbourne; On-site; AUD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Gate 8 Melbourne is seeking an Event Operations Manager to oversee planning and delivery of corporate and not-for-profit events. You will be hands-on in the room, coordinating with the Hospitality Manager and Head Chef to ensure seamless events from setup to post-event reporting.

You’ll lead rostering, manage vendors, and maintain high service standards across meeting rooms, a bar/restaurant, auditorium and workshop spaces. Flexibility for early starts, evenings and weekends is required.

Qualifications

• Hands-on hospitality experience and high service standards.
• Strong communication and relationship-building with teams, clients and tenants.
• Very high attention to detail and proactive issue resolution.
• Excellent presentation sense for corporate spaces and events.
• Experience with rostering, vendor management and stock ordering.
• Proficient in Word and Excel for planning and reporting.

Responsibilities

• Confirm inclusions, AV, room setups, staffing and rosters, vendors, stock orders and bump in/out.
• Create event collateral like name tags, menus and signage.
• Be in the room for events, supervise and deliver hospitality.
• Work closely with Head Chef, back of house and front of house teams.
• Perform post-event reporting and client follow-up.

Skills

Hands-on hospitality

Team builder

Client relationships

Attention to detail

Presentation

Rostering

Tools

Word

Excel

Job description

Gate 8 is a premium corporate office in East Melbourne, home to around 400 tenants, from for-profit businesses to not-for-profits. The building has several hospitality and event spaces, and there is something on most days of the week.

We are looking for an Event Operations Manager who loves seeing an event come together, from planning the details with the Hospitality Manager through to the last chair going back into place. You will be hands-on, in the room, and the person clients trust to make it all go smoothly. Our standards are high, and every event, whether it is corporate catering or a 100+ guest conference, needs to be seamless and memorable.

You will report to the Gate 8 Hospitality Manager, who looks after sales and confirms bookings. Once an event is confirmed, you will work with the Hospitality Manager to plan the event, be solely responsible for event delivery, with support from our Event Coordinator.

About our events and space

Our events are mostly corporate, and many of our clients make repeat bookings. One week you might be hosting breakfasts, lunches and corporate catering, and the next a seminar, a training session, a product launch, a conference or a dinner for over 100 guests.

You will work across all of our hospitality spaces: meeting rooms, a community workshop, event space, our bar/restaurant and the auditorium.

Hours depend on what is booked. Most events are Monday to Friday, with some weekend bookings, and we have busy peak periods. We need someone who is flexible with early starts, evenings and weekends, and we manage rosters so you get appropriate time off.

A typical day in this role

Your day is shaped by what is booked, and it is common to have more than one event in a day. That might be breakfast, lunch and corporate catering, or breakfast, dinner and corporate catering, or lunch and dinner.

On an event day, you set up early, brief the team and catch up with the Head Chef. Then you are in the room while the event is on, looking after the client and supporting the team. Between events you reset the space and check in with clients, and you finish the day with your post-event reporting. If something goes sideways, you sort it quickly and calmly, and the client barely notices. For smaller events you may be the only team member allocated, so you are comfortable managing the event on your own.

Some days are event free. These are your planning days: client calls, rosters, vendors, stock orders, event collateral and bump in and bump out plans, plus a hand for the Gate 8 Hospitality Manager when they need it.

The main things you will own

• Confirming inclusions, AV, room set ups, staffing and rosters, vendors, stock orders and bump in / bump out
• Putting together event collateral, including name tags, menus and signage
• Being in the room for events, supervising and getting hands-on with the hospitality delivery
• Working closely with the Head Chef, back of house and the front of house team
• Post-event reporting and follow up with clients where needed
• Supporting the Gate 8 Hospitality Manager, including leave cover and overflow

What we are looking for

• Hands-on hospitality experience, with high service standards and an understanding of the service levels a corporate setting expects
• A team builder and great communicator who builds very effective relationships with the team (front and back of house), clients and tenants
• A lateral thinker with very high attention to detail, who anticipates what a client needs and resolves issues without fuss
• An eye for presentation, because spaces need to look on point
• Experience with rostering, vendor management and stock ordering
• Solid Word and Excel skills

You will fit right in if you are

• Hands-on and happy to pitch in wherever the team needs it
• Immaculately presented, because personal presentation at a corporate standard matters to our clients and to us
• Reliable and proactive, the person who does the groundwork that sets the day up for success rather than leaving it to the last minute, and who the team knows will arrive prepared and switched on
• Calm under pressure and ready to take ownership

Requirements

• Full Australian working rights
• RSA (or willingness to obtain)
• Flexibility to work across event schedules, including early starts, evenings, weekends and peak periods

Why this role matters

Our events are built on reputation and repeat business, and how well an event is delivered on the day is what keeps clients coming back. If you enjoy being at the centre of it all, this is the role for you.

We’re open to an immediate start, or a start on Tuesday 12 January 2027.

If you start before Christmas, you’ll have a few weeks with the team before our end-of-year closure from approximately 23 December. We reopen on Monday 11 January 2027. Please note that as you won’t yet have accrued annual leave, the closure period would be leave without pay.

If you’d prefer to start in the new year, your start date will be Tuesday 12 January 2027. This gives you a well‑earned end-of-year break, and you can join the team refreshed and ready for a strong start to the year.