Head of Operations & Customer Service - Sports Travel

Head of Operations & Customer Service 

Sportsworld - Destination Sport Group

This is a hybrid role based in our Teddington office, you must live within a commutable distance.

As part of Destination Sport Group, Sportsworld specialise in the design & delivery of international travel & hospitality programmes for spectators, governing bodies, sponsors, media & corporations at major international sporting events With over 40 years’ experience of working at prestigious events such as The Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup and The Championships, Wimbledon Sportsworld has earned an international reputation as one of the UK’s leading events management, corporate hospitality, and sponsorship services providers, delivering memorable guest experiences at the world’s most talked about sporting and cultural occasions. https://www.sportsworld.co.uk/

The position is a crucial role accountable for delivering outstanding hospitality events, building strong new and existing relationships and support the growth of the business. The services that we offer include UK and overseas hospitality and tour, event consultancy, bespoke travel events and ancillary services

Sportsworld are looking for a Head of Operations & Customer Service to join our senior leadership team & take responsibility of the day-to-day operations. The key purpose of this role is to provide leadership, direction and support to the Operations Team. Peer to peer relationships will be essential in making this role a success, as will the ability to manage the teams workload, identify pinch points, and allocate assistance where needed.

No two days are the same in this exciting & broad role but on a typical day you will:

Team Management

• Be responsible for the day-to-day operations
•  Ensure the events are adequately always staffed, taking in to account annual leave and peaks and troughs of the business
•  Coach and develop members of the team
•  Allocate new accounts based on skill and workload
• Be an escalation point for operational difficulties and challenges
• Oversee team operations in person and / or remotely as required
  
• Prepare and implement ‘best practice’ processes and procedures, timelines and working schedules

Operations

•  Deliver multiple exceptional event experiences for key clients and customers simultaneously
• Take overall accountability, planning and strategic management for all events
• Tour operating for international package delivery – Flights, Accommodation and event services
• Lead account management and client liaison with a view to growing business opportunities
• Manage project health and safety and sustainability plans
• Be involved in incident and risk planning and reporting working with 3rd parties and MD
• Ensure all end-to-end admin requirements are fulfilled
• Support the preparation and delivery of some client proposals and tenders 
• Help to Identify cost savings and efficiencies 
• Generate, maintain and expand new and existing supplier and partner relationships 
• Lead commercial negotiations with suppliers and manage relationships with key suppliers 
• Attend regular review meetings with clubs/federations 
• Be integral to the development of the overall tour operating and travel strategy 
• Build strong relationships with the current tour operating management team, and the senior teams of the different divisions within the group 
• Be passionate about the success of sports and event travel and be committed to the successful execution of the overall sales and profit targets of Sportsworld.
• Lead and deliver any system changes and amendments that aid productivity. 
• Liaise with other DSG department heads maximising opportunities and streamlining processes where the businesses cross over/trade. 
• Identify risks to achieve forecast, flag and mitigate 
  
• Accurately process data to ensure compliance with ISO standards · 
• Oversee presales literature and post sales client communications ·
• Ensure client information is produced and forwarded on time to the highest standards whilst maintaining accurate and up to date information across all channels · 
• Refine existing & new processes

Financial 

• Manage all event costings whilst having a clear understanding of the required profitability 
• Set, manage and monitor KPI’s working with the COO 
• Providing proposed event and product budgets including forecast and post event reconciliations working closely with the finance team

To be successful within this role, our ideal candidate will:

• Have previous working experience in a similar role within the events, travel, or sports industry 
• Have previous experience working in a high-energy, multi-level, project-based environment with emphasis on timelines and delivery
• Demonstrate a proven track record of managing multiple workloads whilst maintain attention to the detail
  
• Have previous project and event management experience at a senior management level, to include planning and delivering hospitality facilities and overseas programmes
• Have previous team management experience, instilling positivity, enthusiasm and motivation to the team whilst under pressure
• Have excellent knowledge and understanding of tour operating, corporate hospitality and group travel operations 
  
• Have excellent ability to establish rapport with others and ability to build strong interpersonal relationships
• Have outstanding negotiations skills with the ability to grow and develop the relationships with our clients and suppliers
• Be a self-starter with the ability to adapt and multi-task
• Possess outstanding written and verbal communication skills
• Be solutions orientated with a strong work ethic & a can-do attitude 
• Possess commercial & financial acumen, with knowledge of risk management, profit & loss and budgets
• Be highly accurate with outstanding attention to detail & the ability to follow complex instructions under tight deadlines
• Demonstrate exceptional communication skills both verbal and written
• Be computer literate with experience focussed on Microsoft Office packages including Excel 
• Demonstrable record of business planning, development and strategy execution
  
• Have the ability to work closely with others at all levels both internally and externally in a highly professional and customer service-oriented manner
• Have flexibility to travel both domestically and internationally for work purposes 

So if you are looking for your next challenge, please get in touch we'd love to hear from you!