Senior Director, Tour Operations

Responsibilities

The Senior Director of Tour Operations leads the strategy and execution of all operational aspects of P  events across national tours, ensuring consistent, high-quality delivery at every stop.

• Lead the planning and execution of all tour operations, ensuring consistency and quality across events.
• Establish and evolve operational standards, processes, and playbooks to support scalability.
• Serve as the senior on-site operations leader for marquee events and key weekends.
• Oversee all phases of event execution, including load-in, event days, and load-out.
• Ensure readiness across logistics, staffing, scheduling, and contingency planning.
• Act as the primary escalation point for operational challenges and real-time decision-making.
• Oversee arena builds, back-of-house layouts, and venue integration across all events.
• Partner with Competition and Livestock teams to ensure safe and efficient livestock operations.
• Lead strategy and execution for dirt operations, vendor management, and venue compliance.
• Oversee key operational functions including catering, credentialing, and access control.
• Partner on security planning with internal and external stakeholders to ensure safe event environments.
• Lead and develop a high-performing operations team across full-time and event-based staff.
• Build scalable staffing models to support a multi-market touring schedule.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and operational excellence.
• Manage relationships with key vendors across logistics, production, and event services.
• Partner with Procurement to negotiate contracts and optimize cost, quality, and performance.
• Continuously evaluate and improve vendor strategy across tours.
• Own tour operations budgets, including forecasting, cost control, and reconciliation.
• Identify efficiencies while maintaining event quality and consistency.
• Support long-term planning for infrastructure and operational investments.
• Ensure adherence to safety standards, regulatory requirements, and venue policies.
• Lead contingency planning for operational risks, including weather and logistics disruptions.
• Perform additional duties as assigned.

Strong understanding of live event production, including show flow, timing, and in-venue execution within sports or entertainment.

• Ability to lead teams and deliver high-quality live events in fast-paced, high-pressure environments.
• Strong organizational skills, with the ability to oversee multiple events and priorities while maintaining consistency.
• Sound judgment and decision-making, especially when navigating real-time challenges during live events.
• Clear and effective communication, with the ability to collaborate across production, operations, broadcast, and leadership teams.
• Detail-oriented with a focus on accuracy and execution quality.
• Collaborative approach, with the ability to work effectively across teams and functions.
• Comfortable adapting to change and prioritizing in a dynamic, live-event environment.
• Bachelor’s degree in Event Management, Operations, Sports Management, Business, or a related field or equivalent professional experience.
• Relevant certifications or specialized training in event operations, safety, or logistics are a plus.
• 8+ years of experience in live event operations, touring productions, sports operations, or large-scale logistics.
• Proven experience leading complex, multi-market event operations.
• Strong understanding of venue operations, temporary builds, and large-scale logistics.
• Experience leading teams and managing vendors in fast-paced environments.
• Ability to travel extensively and work non-traditional hours aligned with event schedules.

TKO is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws regarding non-discrimination in employment. TKO makes employment decisions based on merit and qualifications, without considering an employee’s or applicant’s race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other basis prohibited under federal, state or local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the Company has facilities.

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