Associate Director, Experiential

Job Description

Who We Are

Horizon Sports and Experiences (HS&E) was created to provide a differentiated and comprehensive approach for clients engaging in sports and experiential marketing. With a fully-integrated service model, HS&E includes a core focus on IP creation and monetization, strategic advisory and consulting, media rights, sponsorship, sales, and experiential strategy and activation – transforming marketers' ability to more seamlessly and effectively leverage their brand assets, content, and engagement strategies to drive increased growth.

What You’ll Do
 

The Associate Director will be responsible for overseeing the development, planning and execution of experiential activations and global corporate hospitality programs on behalf of brand clients. The Associate Director will build and maintain relationships based on trust and collaboration across all appropriate executive levels, properties, vendor partners and partner agencies with the fundamental objective to deliver best in class client experiences. The Associate Director will also contribute to the professional growth of team members.

The ideal candidate is passionate about delivering exceptional hospitality and consumer experiences, with an in-depth understanding of white glove service, event production and project planning.  

40% - Account and Project Management

• Own planning, program development and execution of large-scale sports and entertainment events

• Develop yearlong activation plan based on client objectives and contractual deliverables
• Demonstrate full understanding of requirements to develop and implement global hospitality programming such as creative development, vendor selection and management, logistical planning, guest management, accommodations and travel coordination, onsite execution, troubleshooting and decision making
  • Provide detailed oversight and delegation of program components including communications, production, hospitality, staffing and measurement
  • Responsible for maintaining effective communication with internal stakeholders, inter-agency teams, partners and vendors, drafting executive summaries to ensure information quality, consistency and timeliness
• Manage the financial projections and execution of all agreements and contracts, ensuring all billing and payments are properly executed through the finance team
  • Develop planning materials and execution guides that are delivered on time, within budget and held to the highest standards
• Lead internal team, on-site staff and partners at events

20% - Strategic Planning and Business Development

• Assist in new business generation by driving organic growth with current event partners
  • Leverage expertise, creativity and industry research to recommend new ways to iterate and improve events year over year
• Work across the broader Events team and agency to identify new opportunities where experiential and hospitality may deliver new business opportunities
  • Champion creative ideas by developing clear, polished presentations to sell-in concepts and recommendations

20% - Relationship Management

• Build trusted rapport with client leadership, inter-agency teams, partners and vendors by managing overall relationships, expectations and troubleshooting any conflicts that may arise
• Keep Vice President updated on the status and timing of deliverables, client and team health

20% - Staff Development

• Manage the professional development of each direct report
  • Set career development goals, track performance, and hold team members accountable
  • Work with team members to improve skill sets and remove barriers to effectiveness
  • Provide constructive performance feedback in real time
  • Identify training needs for improved performance
• Monitor team’s workload and notify Vice President if additional staff support is necessary
• Oversee hiring and onboarding for new team members
• Contribute, build and maintain positive and dynamic culture across the agency

Who You Are

• Passionate about delivering first-class global experiences  
• Proven experience assuming a leadership role for assigned work including setting priorities and effectively delegating
• An innovative thinker able to translate creative ideas into persuasive presentations
• Team-spirited, solutions-oriented and collaborative to achieve business objectives
• Exceptional verbal and written communication and experience managing junior team members<