Director - Major Events Operations

The Director, Major Events Operations is the second-in-charge to the Executive Director, Major Events and provides senior leadership across the planning, readiness and delivery of public realm event operations throughout Qiddiya City. The role translates the Major Events strategy into coordinated city-wide operating plans, ensuring that public spaces, city services, temporary event infrastructure and operational partners are integrated, safe, guest-focused and ready for delivery.Acting on behalf of the Executive Director when delegated, the Director leads cross-functional coordination, drives decisions and escalations, and provides operational assurance from early planning through live event delivery, demobilisation and post-event review.Deputy Leadership and DirectionAct as the principal deputy to the Executive Director, Major Events, providing continuity of leadership and representing the function in delegated forums, workshops and operational decision-making bodies.Support the definition of the Major Events operating model, priorities, annual programme and resource plan, converting strategic direction into clear workstreams, accountabilities and delivery milestones.Lead, coach and coordinate assigned Major Events team members and consultants, setting expectations, monitoring performance against agreed deliverables and resolving delivery constraints.Prepare concise executive briefings, recommendations and decision papers on readiness, risks, dependencies, budget and operational performance.Public Realm Event Operations PlanningLead the development and integration of public realm event operations plans for city-wide and district-level activity, covering waste and cleansing, public realm readiness, temporary structures, wayfinding and signage, guest services, accessibility, security interfaces, emergency interfaces, welfare, logistics and event support services.Establish event-specific concepts of operations, operating procedures, deployment plans, service schedules, resource assumptions, zone plans and escalation protocols appropriate to event scale and risk.Ensure plans address the complete event lifecycle, including build-up, testing, event days, transition between sessions or events, breakdown, reinstatement and close-out.Maintain clear scope boundaries between City Operations and asset or venue operators. Coordinate city-side interfaces and dependencies without assuming responsibility for the direct operation of venues or individual assets.Integrated City Coordination and GovernanceCoordinate planning across City Operations, districts, venues and assets, mobility, security, emergency services, technology and telecommunications, facilities management, public realm, utilities, guest experience, commercial, procurement and external stakeholders.Establish and manage governance routines, integrated planning workshops, action trackers, decision logs, interface registers and reporting cycles that support timely closure of cross-functional issues.Confirm ownership of interfaces and hand-offs between permanent city operations, temporary event overlays, venue operations and third-party delivery partners.Escalate material decisions, unresolved dependencies and changes in scope to the Executive Director with clear options and recommended actions.Readiness, Assurance and Risk ManagementDevelop and manage an integrated operational readiness framework, including readiness criteria, evidence requirements, assurance reviews, testing, rehearsals, simulations, inspections and go or no-go recommendations.Own the consolidated Major Events operational risk, issue, dependency and opportunity process for assigned events, ensuring accountable owners, mitigations, due dates and escalation thresholds are defined.Challenge plans for practicality, capacity, resilience, accessibility, guest impact, health and safety, security, environmental performance and continuity of essential city services.Ensure lessons from exercises, previous events, benchmarking and post-event reviews are incorporated into revised plans and standards.Live Event Delivery and CommandProvide senior operational leadership during event periods and, when delegated, lead the city-side event operations function within the agreed command, control and communication structure.Coordinate public realm operational deployment, monitor service performance and city conditions, resolve cross-functional issues and maintain an accurate common operating picture for leadership.Ensure incidents, service failures and emerging risks are logged, triaged, escalated and communicated through approved protocols.Oversee orderly demobilisation and public realm reinstatement, confirming defects, outstanding actions, service recovery needs and hand-back requirements.Commercial, Procurement and Partner ManagementDefine operational scopes, service requirements, performance standards and evaluation inputs for consultants, suppliers and event delivery partners supporting public realm operations.Support procurement planning, tender evaluation, mobilisation and contract governance, working with Commercial and Procurement to protect programme, quality, value and accountability.Monitor supplier readiness and delivery against contractual obligations, service levels and event requirements, escalating shortfalls and coordinating corrective action.Validate operational budget assumptions, forecasts, change requests and cost pressures for assigned workstreams, providing recommendations to the Executive Director.Continuous Improvement and Capability BuildingDevelop repeatable standards, templates, playbooks, checklists and reporting tools that strengthen Qiddiya City's Major Events capability and support consistent delivery across the event portfolio.Build strong working relationships with internal functions, government entities, emergency services, operators, promoters and delivery partners.Support workforce and volunteer integration by defining operational roles, deployment requirements, briefing needs, supervision arrangements and welfare interfaces for public realm operations.Lead structured post-event reviews, capture evidence-based lessons and convert agreed improvements into accountable actions for future events.RequirementsEducationBachelor's degree in Event Management, Operations Management, Business, Engineering, Facilities Management, Hospitality or a related discipline.Postgraduate qualification in a relevant field is desirable.Relevant professional certification in project, programme, event, safety, risk or emergency management is advantageous.ExperienceSenior leadership experience in planning and delivering complex, high-profile events, festivals, sporting events, entertainment destinations or city-scale operations.Demonstrated experience leading public realm or city-side event operations across multiple functions, suppliers and stakeholder organisations.Proven experience acting as a deputy or senior operational lead, with authority to coordinate teams, make time-critical decisions and represent executive leadership when delegated.Experience developing operational plans, readiness frameworks, command-and-control arrangements, testing and rehearsal programmes, and post-event improvement plans.Strong commercial and supplier-management experience, including scope development, procurement support, mobilisation, performance management and budget oversight.Experience in Saudi Arabia or the GCC, and familiarity with large-scale destination or giga-project environments, is desirable.Preferred BackgroundMajor event organising committees, destination or city operations, event promoters, venue or precinct operators, government event authorities, integrated facilities management, or specialist event operations consultancies.Delivery exposure to both planned major events and live operational environments requiring multi-agency coordination and rapid issue resolution.