Venue Project Manager

About the Role

We are recruiting Venue Project Managers to join a dedicated, full-time team embedded in our client’s Masterplan function in Riyadh. The team will support the planning and delivery of large-scale, multi-venue entertainment events in Saudi Arabia. You will lead one assigned venue and run it as a project in its own right, from concept to close-out. Your venue could be one of:

• A competition arena
• A fan zone
• The festival site
• A hospitality venue

You will be the venue lead across every discipline, from design and build to F&B, guest experience, vendors, and dealing with the landlord and authorities. You will hold one integrated venue plan, write the venue schedule and critical path yourself, report what is late or at risk, and raise problems early with a recommended fix. This is a hands-on producing role. The grade reflects your seniority and judgement, not the size of a team you supervise. You will lead a venue team as the structure expands, but we are looking for a project manager who personally produces the venue programme, critical path and readiness evidence.

Key Responsibilities

Venue Leadership

• Lead your assigned venue as a project in its own right, from concept through build readiness, handover and close-out.
• Act as the venue lead across every discipline, including planning and design, build and installation, operational readiness, programming hosted at the venue, F&B, guest experience and on-site vendors.
• Lead a venue team as the structure expands.

Integrated Venue Planning

• Hold one integrated venue plan that covers every discipline.
• Personally produce the venue programme, critical path and readiness evidence.

Stakeholder and Authority Liaison

• Manage relationships with the landlord, building operator and relevant authorities.
• Coordinate on-site vendors so that delivery stays on track.

Reporting and Escalation

• Report venue status, risks, outstanding decisions and required-by dates.
• Escalate issues early, with clear options and a recommendation.

Requirements

• At least 8 years of relevant experience, at Senior Manager level.
• Experience across at least two live event seasons.
• A proven record of personally leading a named venue or site end to end (planning, build and operational readiness) on an event of comparable scale, with accountability across all disciplines. Only experience where you personally produced the work counts towards the requirement.
• Experience leading a venue team.
• Experience of liaising with landlords, building operators and authorities.

Ideal Background

• A venue manager or site delivery manager from major sporting or festival events.
• Stadium, arena or festival site delivery experience.
• Saudi venue and permitting experience (municipality, Civil Defense) is a strong advantage.

Languages

• Professional English is required.
• Arabic is preferred.

Working Conditions

• Full-time and exclusive: you will be dedicated to the client for the full contract term, with no other clients or projects.
• Working options: work remotely on Riyadh hours (Sunday to Thursday), with travel to Riyadh and event locations as directed, or be based at the client’s office in Riyadh.
• Staggered start: start dates depend on the number of venues confirmed.

Benefits

• A monthly contract with a minimum term of 6 months, as part of a 14-month engagement that may be extended by up to 3 months
• Flexible working, with a remote option on Riyadh hours
• End-to-end ownership of a major venue, from concept to close-out
• A senior, hands-on role in a dedicated specialist team embedded with a major client
• Valuable experience on large-scale, multi-venue entertainment events in Riyadh