Director of Security & Guest Protection

Director of Security & Guest Protection

About the role

The Director of Security & Guest Protection is the senior on-site leader responsible for physical security, protective operations, emergency readiness, guest privacy, incident management, and security-related vendor coordination for a confidential luxury hospitality campus. The property includes guest accommodations, private cottages, dining, spa and wellness facilities, event venues, outdoor activities, service roads, remote areas, and 24/7 operations.

This leader must combine disciplined security judgment with refined hospitality. The security program should feel discreet, calm, approachable, and reassuring while remaining operationally effective. Success requires strong planning, professional writing, executive communication, command presence, and consistent follow-through.

Location: On-site at a confidential 300+ acre luxury hospitality campus in the Franklin/Brentwood area, Tennessee

Employment: Full-time leadership role with flexible schedule and on-call responsibility

Reports to: Senior Property Leadership

Direct reports: Security supervisors, security professionals, and event or contract security as assigned

Schedule: Centered on business and operational planning hours, with flexibility for early mornings, evenings, weekends, holidays, major events, VIP movements, and emergencies. The role carries an on-call leadership responsibility and is not designed as a routine overnight shift-manager position.

Security leadership scope

The Director owns the security decision, risk assessment, documentation, escalation, interim safeguards, vendor coordination, and verification that security-related corrective work is completed. Facilities, Engineering, Information Technology, licensed contractors, and public authorities retain responsibility for technical diagnosis, repair, inspection, testing, and certification within their disciplines. You will support these functions in their work and in diagnosing property challenges.

Security program leadership

• Lead the campus physical-security and protective-operations program, including staffing, shift leadership, fixed posts, patrol strategy, overnight coverage, relief planning, escalation authority, and command structure.
• Maintain risk assessments, threat and vulnerability reviews, post orders, patrol plans, access rules, and security operating criteria for guest, employee, event, service, and remote property areas.
• Advise senior leadership on risks, staffing, protective measures, service impacts, costs, and operational tradeoffs.
• Maintain a calm, visible, approachable, and hospitality-centered security presence consistent with a luxury guest environment.

VIP and high-profile guest protection

• Own the tiered VIP and high-profile guest protection program and recurring guest-risk review process.
• Prepare advance plans when notice allows, including risk context, aliases, need-to-know distribution, arrival and departure routes, transportation, escorts, access considerations, staffing, and emergency contingencies.
• Coordinate with executive-protection agents, family offices, tour management, drivers, personal assistants, private staff, and law-enforcement partners.
• Implement discreet and proportionate protective measures that do not draw unnecessary attention to the guest or disrupt other guests.
• Enforce strict confidentiality, no-photography expectations, secure communications, and need-to-know handling of names, aliases, locations, schedules, and incidents.

Major events, logistics, and business continuity

• Review event resumes, production schedules, occupancy forecasts, transportation plans, vendor requirements, outdoor activities, and weather risks to identify security and continuity needs.
• Develop plans for access control, credentials, deliveries, staging, parking, valet flow, shuttles, traffic, vehicle and key control, road restrictions, guest movement, emergency lanes, and overnight asset protection.
• Establish the operating cadence for major events, including advance meetings, written plans, briefings, command-post rhythm, leadership updates, issue escalation, situation reports, and post-event debriefs.
• Preserve regular lodging, spa, dining, activity, farm, and guest operations while supporting large groups, productions, and high-profile programs.

Emergency management and fire/life-safety coordination

• Maintain and improve emergency plans for fire, medical events, severe weather, utility interruption, missing persons, bomb threats, suspicious items, active threats, demonstrations, hazardous conditions, and other credible scenarios.
• Lead the property's internal incident-command structure until public-safety authorities assume command, using disciplined communications, accountability, and clear decision authority.
• Coordinate fire-alarm and life-safety response with Facilities and Engineering, fire departments, alarm monitoring and service providers, inspection vendors, and property leadership.
• Ensure evacuation, sheltering, accountability, emergency access, radio discipline, public-address messaging, and responder reception are planned, trained, and exercised.
• Maintain an impairment and escalation log, establish interim safeguards, and verify that corrective work is closed by the responsible technical owner.
• Plan and facilitate tabletop exercises, silent drills, functional drills, and after-action reviews across departments.

Incident, investigation, damage, and corrective-action management

• Lead or oversee response to security, safety, guest, employee, vendor, vehicle, property-damage, theft, suspicious-activity, and conduct incidents.
• Ensure timely and objective documentation; preserve video, photographs, access logs, key records, witness statements, and other evidence; and maintain appropriate confidentiality.
• Apply clear leadership-notification thresholds and provide concise preliminary, follow-up, and final reports.
• For property or vehicle damage, coordinate estimates, responsible-party information, insurance or payment recovery, vendor access, repair status, and final closure documentation with Finance and Facilities or Engineering.
• Conduct root-cause analysis, assign corrective actions, track owners and due dates, and verify that controls are effective.

Security systems, vendors, and asset control

• Oversee operational use and governance of video surveillance, access control, electronic key management, intrusion and duress alarms, fire-panel awareness, radios, mass notification, visitor and vendor controls, and incident-reporting systems.
• Manage security-related vendor relationships, service calls, scopes, quotes, scheduling, site access, issue escalation, documentation, and completion verification.
• Partner with Information Technology and Facilities or Engineering on integrations, network dependencies, repairs, upgrades, maintenance windows, and system resilience without assuming their technical ownership.
• Maintain inventories, access permissions, audit trails, key and radio accountability, and appropriate retention of video and security records.
• Evaluate new security technology and present business cases, options, risks, costs, and implementation plans to leadership.

People leadership, training, and hospitality

• Recruit, onboard, coach, schedule, develop, and retain supervisors and security professionals who can deliver both safety and exceptional hospitality.
• Set standards for appearance, language, radio etiquette, guest assistance, de-escalation, emotional intelligence, privacy, discretion, and guest recovery.
• Maintain a documented training program covering emergency response, medical response, fire, severe weather, active threat, missing persons, aggressive behavior, VIP handling, systems, patrols, and incident reporting.
• Use scenario-based training, tabletop exercises, coaching, report review, and corrective instruction to build confident decision-making under stress.
• Manage performance, attendance, scheduling, overtime, succession, and supervisory development with People or Human Resources and operations leadership.

Governance, metrics, budget, and executive communication

• Develop and manage the security operating budget, staffing forecast, special-event costs, vendor spend, equipment needs, and annual priorities.
• Build dashboards and recurring reports covering patrol and post adherence, response and resolution times, incident quality, corrective-action closure, training, staffing, overtime, guest interaction, property damage, and emerging risks.
• Lead or actively support the property safety committee and convert incident trends into preventive actions, training, and policy improvements.
• Maintain current security plans, SOPs, emergency plans, maps, checklists, contact lists, post orders, decision trees, and executive briefs.
• Communicate clearly with executives, department heads, frontline teams, vendors, responders, guests, and external security partners.

What you will bring

• Eight or more years of progressively responsible physical-security, protective-operations, emergency-management, law-enforcement, military-security, hotel-security, corporate-security, or comparable experience.
• At least three years leading supervisors and a multi-shift security operation, with responsibility for staffing, performance, training, incident command, and service delivery.
• Demonstrated experience protecting a luxury hospitality, private estate, resort, corporate campus, healthcare campus, entertainment venue, mixed-use property, or similarly service-sensitive environment.
• Experience planning for VIPs, executives, celebrities, public figures, or other high-visibility individuals, including coordination with external protective teams.
• Strong command of emergency planning, incident command, evacuation and shelter operations, fire and life-safety coordination, and drills.
• Demonstrated ability to create professional security plans, SOPs, post orders, incident reports, diagrams, dashboards, and executive presentations.
• Working knowledge of video surveillance, access control, key management, alarms, radios, mass notification, visitor management, and security-reporting platforms.
• Strong judgment, discretion, service orientation, written communication, verbal briefing, and cross-functional coordination skills.
• Valid driver's license and ability to meet all background, licensing, and registration requirements applicable to the position.
• Ability to work on-site and adjust the schedule for evenings, weekends, holidays, VIP stays, major events, critical incidents, and emergencies.
• Ability to walk varied terrain, travel across the campus by approved vehicle or cart, work in changing weather, and respond to incidents throughout the property, including indoor, outdoor, remote, event, service, guest-facing, and back-of-house environments.

Preferred qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in security management, criminal justice, emergency management, hospitality, business, or a related field; equivalent experience is acceptable.
• ASIS Certified Protection Professional (CPP), Physical Security Professional (PSP), or comparable professional certification.
• FEMA ICS-100, ICS-200, IS-700, and IS-800 training; current CPR, AED, and First Aid certification.
• Prior hotel, resort, private-club, private-estate, executive-protection, or high-end event-security leadership.
• Experience managing vendor contracts, service-level expectations, budgets, capital requests, and security technology implementations.
• Tennessee security registration or the ability to obtain it; armed registration is preferred only if the final position requires carrying a firearm.

What success looks like

• Hospitality-centered security judgment that protects people and property without creating unnecessary friction or alarm.
• Strict discretion and confidentiality with guest, employee, incident, and operational information.
• Strong planning and writing that convert incomplete information into clear plans, maps, briefings, checklists, and executive recommendations.
• Calm command presence and timely decision-making during emergencies and high-pressure events.
• Cross-functional influence across Operations, Guest Services, Events, Food and Beverage, Transportation, Facilities, Grounds, People, Finance, and Information Technology.
• Ownership and closure: tracking issues through decision, assignment, repair or corrective action, verification, documentation, and final closeout.

Compensation

Anticipated base salary: $95,000-$110,000, depending on experience, certifications, final scope, and the total compensation package. Benefits, incentive compensation, relocation support, vehicle or phone allowances, and on-call expectations will be defined by the hiring employer.