Director, Guest Experience - FIFA World Cup 26
On Location
Date: 15 hours ago
City: Raleigh, North Carolina
Contract type: Full time
Who We Are
On Location is a global leader in premium experiential hospitality, offering ticketing, curated guest experiences, live event production and travel management across sports, entertainment, fashion and culture. On Location provides unrivaled access for corporate clients and fans looking for official, immersive experiences at marquee events, including the Olympic and Paralympic Games, FIFA World Cup 2026, Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four, and more. An official partner and/or service provider to over 150 iconic rights holders, such as the IOC (the Milano Cortina 2026 and Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games), FIFA, NFL, NCAA, UFC, WWE, and PGA of America, the company also owns and operates a number of its own unique experiences. On Location is a subsidiary of TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO), a premium sports and entertainment company.
The Role And What You’ll Do
We are looking for a creative and highly organized Guest Experience Director to support and report to the VP Guest Experiences. As Guest Experience Director, you will shape and deliver the end-to-end hospitality experience across all 16 host cities of the FIFA World Cup 2026. Your scope will include oversight and management of such areas as hospitality gifting, guest experience staff and external vendor management, hospitality entertainment, omnichannel communication, content recommendations, service mapping, and post-tournament reporting. You will also oversee access control strategy, ensuring accurate guest tiering, zone control, and appropriate staff allocation across all hospitality areas. You will be managing third party supplier and vendor ensuring high level service delivery as per assigned scope. You will manage the cross-functional working groups to ensure seamless alignment and premium service delivery at every phase of the guest journey.
Key Responsibilities
On Location is a global leader in premium experiential hospitality, offering ticketing, curated guest experiences, live event production and travel management across sports, entertainment, fashion and culture. On Location provides unrivaled access for corporate clients and fans looking for official, immersive experiences at marquee events, including the Olympic and Paralympic Games, FIFA World Cup 2026, Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four, and more. An official partner and/or service provider to over 150 iconic rights holders, such as the IOC (the Milano Cortina 2026 and Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games), FIFA, NFL, NCAA, UFC, WWE, and PGA of America, the company also owns and operates a number of its own unique experiences. On Location is a subsidiary of TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO), a premium sports and entertainment company.
The Role And What You’ll Do
We are looking for a creative and highly organized Guest Experience Director to support and report to the VP Guest Experiences. As Guest Experience Director, you will shape and deliver the end-to-end hospitality experience across all 16 host cities of the FIFA World Cup 2026. Your scope will include oversight and management of such areas as hospitality gifting, guest experience staff and external vendor management, hospitality entertainment, omnichannel communication, content recommendations, service mapping, and post-tournament reporting. You will also oversee access control strategy, ensuring accurate guest tiering, zone control, and appropriate staff allocation across all hospitality areas. You will be managing third party supplier and vendor ensuring high level service delivery as per assigned scope. You will manage the cross-functional working groups to ensure seamless alignment and premium service delivery at every phase of the guest journey.
Key Responsibilities
- Support VP Guest Experience with delivery of the overall Hospitality Program across all 16 venues
- Manage selected Guest Experience Staff vendors
- Align guest experience and guest journey with FIFA brand standards and On Location’s hospitality tiers across global and local audiences
- Translate the plan into actionable timelines, KPIs, and an operational model within budget parameters
- Oversee the execution of hospitality services across stadiums, lounges, and fan zones in all host cities.
- Deliver access control system across all 16 venues
- Develop a zoning model to assign staff effectively to serve each guest category
- Work together with marketing and communications teams to synchronize messaging strategy across all channels: email, app, SMS, social media, print, and on-site communications
- Work together with marketing and communications teams to ensure consistent messaging across city experiences, stadium operations, and digital touchpoints.
- Establish a clear, cross-functional model and assign ownership across all phases of the guest journey
- Ensure all functions are synchronized around key journey milestones and guest experience standards
- Support with development and delivery of the gifting program
- Support with development and delivery of the staff uniforms program
- Develop post-match communication plans, feedback collection, and tactics to convert guests into repeat customers.
- Minimum 7 years of experience in VIP hospitality across major sporting events
- Proven project management skills
- Proven ability to conceptualize and deliver large scale projects with multiple workstreams
- Experience working in the cross functional environment
- Experience working in multi-venue or international events
- Strong collaboration and communication abilities
- Fluent in English; Spanish and/or French are a strong asset
- Willingness to travel frequently across the USA, Mexico, and Canada.
- Experience with major sporting or international cultural events
- Background in VIP hospitality, production, or brand activations
- Travel will be required across USA, Canada and Mexico
- Fixed Term Position
- Non regular working hours
- Willingness to work on weekends
- Hybrid system
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