Head of Technical & Venue Operations

This role is based at a major new cultural and entertainment destination in Saudi Arabia-Jeddah — a landmark venue anchored by cinema and complemented by year-round cultural programming, live events, F&B, retail and hospitality, set within a prominent historic district.

The Venue is run by a dedicated Operating Company under a single-prime accountability model: an institutional client acts as principal and cultural mandate-holder; the Operating Company delivers all operating functions as one integrated system; and the Operating Company’s parent group provides corporate shared services (HR, IT, procurement, legal, risk & compliance, finance and government relations) as business partners.

Operations alternate between Normal Mode — Operating Company-led, year-round operation — and Festival Mode, in which the Client leads flagship event periods and the Operating Company delivers the venue. Responsibilities below apply across both modes.

Permanently based in Jeddah, with the flexibility and willingness to travel between Riyadh and Jeddah as required by the business operations.

Executive Director

Venue operations & readiness team, Event overlay & setup, Main Operations Centre (MOC), FM & AVL subcontractor coordination, CAFM / asset interface

Layer 2 — Technical Operations & FM, with venue & event operational readiness

Accountable for the technical integrity, operational readiness and asset reliability of the Venue — building systems, FM and AVL delivered through approved partners, plus venue and event operations and the Main Operations Centre — across all operating modes, ensuring safe, compliant and uninterrupted venue operations.

• Own venue operational readiness: overlay, setup, zoning, seating and mode-transition delivery in coordination with Programming & Activation.
• Coordinate the integrated FM and AVL obligations and the strict FM/AV boundary through Client-approved vendors and specialist staffing tiers.
• Oversee the CAFM regime (task and fault management, PPM completion, response/resolution by priority) and asset / lifecycle registers via the FM partner.
• Run the Main Operations Centre and real-time incident tracking during events and Festival Mode.
• Lead crowd and zone management, capacity modelling and venue-safety operations with the Head of Operations & Guest Experience.
• Manage supplier and contract performance, procurement of operational services and SLA governance (with Group Procurement).
• Deliver pre-event readiness checks, on-site standby and silent-maintenance protocols during performances.
• Ensure compliance with technical standards, statutory requirements and operational procedures.
• Monitor asset performance and lifecycle planning in coordination with FM partners.

• Executive Director;
  Head of Operations & Guest Experience (safety & crowd);
  Head of Programming & Activation (event delivery).
• Client-approved FM & AVL partners and specialist vendors;
  Group Procurement and IT / Cybersecurity shared services.
• Authorities for permits, safety and technical compliance.

• Venue readiness and on-time mode transitions / overlay delivery
• Critical-system uptime and zero Event-Mode failures
• FM/AVL SLA performance and asset-register accuracy
• Crowd-safety performance and supplier / contract compliance

• 12+ years in venue and major-event operations (e.g. Olympics, World Cups, large festivals), including overlay, MOC and crowd/zone management.
• Experience with in cultural destinations, entertainment venues or major visitor attractions is preferred.
• Strong FM / AVL vendor-coordination, CAFM and asset-management familiarity.
• Contract and supplier management expertise; technical or operations qualification; multilingual an advantage.