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Overview

The Events & Hospitality Department leads the strategic planning and execution of Major League Soccer and Soccer United Marketing's event portfolio, delivering hundreds of enterprise-wide events annually. The portfolio includes marquee tentpole moments such as MLS All-Star Week, MLS Cup, MLS NEXT tournaments, Leagues Cup, the Mexican National Team U.S. Tour, Concacaf competitions, MLS Rivalry Week, Michelob Ultra Campeones Cup, and additional SUM/international properties. Beyond event execution, the department drives cross-functional initiatives including B2B and hospitality programming, executive meetings, press announcements, competition events, and enterprise-level strategic projects that advance league growth, commercial performance, and brand positioning.

Position Summary

The Director, Event Planning & Project Management serves as the operational leader and process architect for the MLS/SUM event portfolio. This role is responsible for overseeing a team of Event Managers who directly lead tentpole and large-scale events, while establishing the strategic frameworks, governance models, and project management infrastructure that ensure consistent, scalable, and high-performing execution across the department.

This individual will not serve as the day-to-day producer of events such as MLS All-Star or MLS Cup, but rather as the senior leader overseeing the managers responsible for those events - providing direction, accountability, integration, and executive-level oversight.

The Director will also lead cross-functional enterprise initiatives that extend beyond individual events, ensuring alignment across departments including Commercial, Marketing, Communications, Competition, Finance, Legal, and Operations. This role requires a disciplined project management mindset, strong leadership presence, and the ability to build repeatable systems that elevate performance year over year.

Responsibilities

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, manage, and develop a team of Event Managers who oversee MLS All-Star, MLS Cup, and other major properties.
• Establish clear performance expectations, accountability structures and templates, and development plans for direct reports.
• Serve as escalation point and strategic advisor to managers throughout planning and execution cycles.
• Foster a culture of ownership, operational discipline, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Drive succession planning and capability building within the Events team.

Portfolio Oversight & Governance

• Provide executive-level oversight across the MLS/SUM event portfolio, ensuring alignment with league priorities, commercial objectives, and brand standards.
• Oversee strategic planning milestones for tentpole events, ensuring managers maintain clear workback schedules, stakeholder alignment, and budget discipline.
• Review and guide event strategy, production plans, staffing models, and execution frameworks without directly owning day-to-day production.
• Identify portfolio-level risks, resource gaps, and interdependencies across events.
• Standardize planning cadences and reporting structures across all major properties.

Project Management Infrastructure & Process Building

• Design and implement scalable project management frameworks across the department, including:
• Master planning timelines
• Stakeholder matrices
• RACI models
• Budget tracking tools
• Risk mitigation protocols
• Post-event reporting templates
• Establish governance structures for cross-functional initiatives, ensuring clarity of ownership, deliverables, and decision-making pathways.
• Lead enterprise-wide planning processes for large-scale initiatives that intersect multiple departments.
• Build documentation standards and institutional knowledge systems to improve efficiency and year-over-year performance.
• Drive continuous improvement by evaluating post-event insights and operational data to refine processes.

Cross-Functional Enterprise Leadership

• Lead complex cross-functional initiatives beyond event execution, ensuring alignment, accountability, and milestone delivery.
• Ensure commercial partner activations and league initiatives are operationally integrated across all major events.

Financial & Operational Oversight

• Oversee portfolio-level budget strategy, including forecasting, financial tracking, reconciliation, and cost-efficiency planning.
• Review and approve major vendor engagements, contracts, and agency scopes of work.
• Ensure financial accountability across managed events.
• Drive operational consistency in vendor selection, contracting processes, and payment workflows.

Onsite Executive Leadership

• Provide onsite oversight at marquee events, serving as strategic lead and escalation point for critical operational decisions.
• Support Event Managers in maintaining cross-functional alignment during live event execution.

Additional Responsibilities

• Lead special enterprise initiatives as assigned by the Vice President, Events.
• Contribute to long-term departmental strategy and organizational design.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree required
• 8+ years of progressive leadership experience in large-scale event planning, operations, or live production
• Minimum 5+ years managing full-time employees, including managers or senior-level staff
• Demonstrated experience leading leaders and overseeing complex, cross-functional initiatives
• Proven track record building operational systems, governance models, or scalable planning processes

Required Skills

• Strong leadership presence with proven ability to manage and develop leaders
• Advanced project management expertise with demonstrated success building scalable systems
• Experience overseeing large-scale, high-visibility event portfolios
• Exceptional organizational and operational planning skills
• Strong financial acumen with experience managing multimillion-dollar budgets
• Ability to operate at both strategic and tactical levels
• Excellent executive communication and presentation skills
• Proven ability to drive cross-functional alignment in complex organizational environments
• Strong decision-making capabilities in high-pressure, high-visibility settings
• Willingness to travel extensively (6-10 days for marquee events) and work long hours, including weekends, during events and peak periods.
• Proficiency in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.

Desired Skills

• Experience overseeing globally recognized tentpole events
• Experience building or scaling event operations within a growing organization
• Knowledge of Soccer or sports

Total Rewards

Major League Soccer offers a competitive starting base salary of $115,000 - 140,000, based on individual qualifications, market financials, and operational business needs. We are committed to providing a Total Rewards package that attracts, supports, engages, and retains talent. Our benefits package includes comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, a $500 wellness reimbursement, and generous Holiday and PTO schedule to promote work-life balance. We also prioritize career and professional development, offering on-the-job training, feedback, and ongoing educational opportunities.

Major League Soccer believes in the value of in-person collaboration to support teamwork, creativity, and connection. Employees in this role are expected to work a four (4) day in-office schedule, with the flexibility to work remotely one (1) day each week, based on business and department needs.