Event and Venue General Manager (Director)

LA28 Olympic & Paralympic Games; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

LA28 seeks a senior leader to oversee venue operations planning and delivery for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The role drives cross-functional collaboration, builds and leads teams, manages budgets and risk, and ensures venues are safe, accessible, and seamless for athletes and spectators.

You will coordinate with venue owners, authorities, and technical teams across multiple sites, delivering readiness plans and on-time execution through Games-time delivery.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience leading venue, event, or operations delivery for major, complex, live sporting or entertainment events at scale.
• Strong track record of building and leading senior, cross-functional operational teams to fixed deadlines.
• Excellent stakeholder and vendor management skills, coordinating many partners and functional areas simultaneously across multiple venues at once.
• Proven experience directing budgets, master schedules, and comprehensive risk registers across multiple concurrent operational programmes.
• Decisive, calm leadership and sound judgment when information is incomplete and the delivery timeline is genuinely fixed.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development, optimisation, and delivery of venue-based Event Operations plans, and lead Functional Areas to create the Event Operations Plan and other planning and delivery tools.
• Lead the venue team to achieve objectives, venue readiness, and deliverables for stakeholders and the venue owner/operator, including hiring, training, motivating, and leading a diverse, high-performing venue team.
• Build strong, productive, and respectful relationships with the venue partner and related stakeholders, serve as the day-to-day venue leadership contact, and manage the engagement process including meeting cadence, stakeholder site visits, venue planning, and operational readiness.
• Work closely with venue infrastructure, technology, and other technical teams to track deliverables.
• Manage venue service levels, identify risks, develop risk mitigation strategies, and leverage opportunities to create efficiencies and savings.
• Coordinate with venue owners, local authorities, and security representatives to manage the Venue Use Agreement (VUA), ensure compliance with contractual and operational requirements, and establish venue-specific working relationships.
• Prepare and deliver written and oral reports on venue status to senior leaders and stakeholders, tracking, reporting, and solving issues across planning, readiness, and operations phases.
• Manage venue operations supporting athletes, workforce, spectators, marketing partners, and media, focusing on a comprehensive, inclusive, fully accessible venue.
• Champion and embed LA28 values and behaviours into all facets of engagement, planning, and delivery.
• Perform other duties as required; the role will evolve over time and may include operational responsibilities during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Budget management

Risk management

Cross-functional collaboration

Decision making

Communication

Venue operations

Education

Bachelor's degree in sport management

Job description

About the Role

The role leads the planning and delivery of venue operations across multiple competition venues for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In the lead-up to the Games, it expands venue operations planning and readiness, building the plans, teams, and partnerships that turn each venue into a world-class field of play. The role oversees functions and stakeholders, manages budget and risk, and takes each venue from planning through Games-time delivery. It supports multiple venue sites and works with venue partners, local authorities, functional areas, and technical teams. The Games happen at venues, where athletes compete and the world watches; the role leads the teams and plans that turn sites into fully operational fields of play, holding the standard that keeps every competition day safe, accessible, and seamless.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate cross-functionally to lead the development, optimisation, and delivery of venue-based Event Operations plans, and lead Functional Areas to create the Event Operations Plan and other planning and delivery tools.
• Lead the venue team to achieve objectives, venue readiness, and deliverables for stakeholders and the venue owner/operator, including hiring, training, motivating, and leading a diverse, high-performing venue team.
• Build strong, productive, and respectful relationships with the venue partner and related stakeholders, serve as the day-to-day venue leadership contact, and manage the engagement process including meeting cadence, stakeholder site visits, venue planning, and operational readiness.
• Work closely with venue infrastructure, technology, and other technical teams to track deliverables.
• Manage venue service levels, identify risks, develop risk mitigation strategies, and leverage opportunities to create efficiencies and savings.
• Coordinate with venue owners, local authorities, and security representatives to manage the Venue Use Agreement (VUA), ensure compliance with contractual and operational requirements, and establish venue-specific working relationships.
• Prepare and deliver written and oral reports on venue status to senior leaders and stakeholders, tracking, reporting, and solving issues across planning, readiness, and operations phases.
• Manage venue operations supporting athletes, workforce, spectators, marketing partners, and media, focusing on a comprehensive, inclusive, fully accessible venue.
• Champion and embed LA28 values and behaviours into all facets of engagement, planning, and delivery.
• Perform other duties as required; the role will evolve over time and may include operational responsibilities during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Required Experience & Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in sport management or a complementary field.
• 8+ years of experience leading venue, event, or operations delivery for major, complex, live sporting or entertainment events at scale.
• A strong track record of building and leading senior, cross-functional operational teams to fixed, immovable event deadlines, holding a high delivery bar.
• Excellent stakeholder and vendor management skills, coordinating many partners and functional areas simultaneously across multiple venues at once.
• Proven experience directing budgets, master schedules, and comprehensive risk registers across multiple concurrent operational programmes.
• Decisive, calm leadership and sound judgment when information is incomplete and the delivery timeline is genuinely fixed.

Preferred Skills

• Direct experience delivering venues at an Olympic, Paralympic, or other major international Games.
• Familiarity with temporary overlay, infrastructure, and field-of-play operations at competition venues.
• A background coordinating sport, broadcast, security, accreditation, and commercial venue partners.
• A collaborative, co-creative approach to solving complex operational problems under demanding timelines.

Workplace

• No relocation assistance is provided for any position.
• Candidates based outside the Los Angeles area are welcome to apply if they are able to work on-site in LA; LA28 values talent from all geographic backgrounds.
• Available to work on-site in the Downtown Los Angeles-based office.
• The majority of work will be conducted in an office setting, requiring extended periods using computers, phones, and other office equipment.
• The LA28 office is an open floorplan working environment; employees must be able to work efficiently in an open cubicle environment.
• Hours of work may vary, including evenings, weekends, and holidays, especially during peak event periods.
• This role supports multiple venue sites, with travel across venues and to the Los Angeles-based office as required.

Benefits & Perks

• The opportunity to build and operate a competition venue for a once-in-a-generation Games.
• A collaborative, co-creative culture grounded in inclusion, integrity, and accountability.
• High-impact, highly visible delivery work with a lasting community legacy.
• Genuine professional growth alongside a diverse, world-class Games-delivery team.

About the Company

LA28 is committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process and will work with applicants who require an accommodation at any stage. LA28 is committed to fair and unbiased recruitment procedures, allowing all applicants an equal opportunity for employment free from discrimination on the basis of religion, race, sex, age, sexual orientation, disability, colour, ethnic or national origin, or any other classification as may be protected by applicable law. LA28 will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance and all applicable laws.