At
The IRONMAN Group, our purpose is clear: to inspire people to unlock their greatest potential through sport, pushing beyond limits to become the fullest expression of human achievement. Through our BE ICONIC vision, we are building the most loved brands, producing the world’s most inspiring events, and fostering deeply engaged communities that change lives. By 2028, we aim to empower over a million athletes to cross a finish line each year and inspire a billion people worldwide through the power of the human spirit. As part of our team, you’ll join a high-performance, caring culture where innovation thrives, communities are uplifted, and every achievement, big or small, is celebrated. You’ll help shape experiences that fill hearts, consume minds, and enrich souls. This is more than a job. It’s a chance to be part of a global movement, to lead from the front, and to leave a legacy. Together, we create moments that last a lifetime.
The IRONMAN Group is the world's largest operator of mass participation sports, delivering over 200+ events a year across 55+ countries thanks to a passionate global team. For more information, visit
www.ironman.com/about-ironman-group.
Position Summary
The Director, IRONMAN Group Experience is responsible for elevating and standardizing the end-to-end experience across all IRONMAN Group events. This role blends creative excellence and operational discipline to ensure athletes, spectators, partners, and VIPs experience the highest standard of IRONMAN branded moments.
Acting as the experience steward for North America/World Championship Events (and collaborating globally as needed), this role oversees all experiential components - from Run of Shows to podiums, banquets, ceremonies, expo and activations, and oncourse touchpoints - ensuring consistency, quality, and alignment with the IRONMAN brand.
The Director partners closely with the VP of Operations, Regional Directors, Athlete Services, Marketing, and on-site teams to define standards, provide creative direction, and ensure flawless execution at every event.
Requirements
Experience Leadership & Strategy
- Develop and oversee The IRONMAN Group experiential vision, standards, and guidelines across all North America events.
- Ensure all athlete, spectator, and partner touchpoints reflect a consistent, premium, and brand aligned experience.
- Collaborate with the VP of Operations and Regional Directors to integrate experiential principles into event planning and execution.
- Design and maintain a centralized library of experiential playbooks, scripts, templates, and ROS (Run of Show) frameworks.
- Support enterprise and functional strategic initiatives by translating business priorities into elevated, on-brand event experiences that drive impact, consistency, and differentiation
Event Experience Design & Execution
- Lead the overall creative and operational approach to the following but not limited to:
- Run of Shows (race week + race day)
- Podium + Awards ceremonies
- Banquets and ceremonial moments
- Expo and partner activation areas
- VIP experiences
- Emcee content, tone, and standards
- Race week and race day scripts
- Provide clear expectations, guidance, and oversight for functional teams (e.g., Athlete Services), ensuring they maintain ownership but deliver to elevated experience standards.
- Audit event experiences and introduce continuous improvements tied to brand consistency and athlete feedback.
Cross Functional Partnership
- Work collaboratively with:
- Operations Teams – to integrate logistics with experience design.
- Athlete Services – providing flow, presentation, and creative direction (e.g., podium, ceremonies).
- Marketing & Brand – ensuring visual identity and storytelling are consistent across touchpoints.
- Partnerships – supporting sponsor activations and VIP offerings.
- Event Production teams – ensuring technical execution of shows, scripts, and ceremonies.
- Lead coordination of event experiences that require cross department collaboration, ensuring clarity of roles, timelines, and deliverables.
- Work with stakeholders in other regions to build a connected community of experience professionals, sharing SOPs, frameworks, and best practices to drive consistency and elevate experiential standards across the IRONMAN Group.
Standards, Quality & Continuous Improvement
- Create and implement experience ROS and quality standards for ceremonies, activations, expos, and VIP spaces.
- Conduct post event reviews focusing on experiential elements; drive improvements and innovation season over season.
- Stay current with best in class consumer and live event experience trends to continually elevate IRONMAN’s standards.
Team Leadership & Vendor Oversight
- Provide guidance and direction to internal staff and cross functional contributors who execute experience elements.
- Manage external vendors, contractors, emcees, and creative partners involved in production, activations, and ceremonial experiences.
- Support training, onboarding, and upskilling of field teams on experiential execution.
People Management & Culture
- Foster a positive, collaborative, and high performance culture within the team.
- Provide leadership, coaching, and direction to team members involved in experiential delivery, whether direct reports or matrixed team members.
- Build a culture of creativity, continuous improvement, and athlete first thinking across the event ecosystem.
- Model IRONMAN’s BE ICONIC vision and promote inclusive behaviors that support teamwork, respect, and psychological safety on-site and off-site.
- Support onboarding, upskilling, and capability building of field teams and internal partners in experiential delivery.
- Encourage collaboration across regions and teams to strengthen cohesion, consistency, and shared ownership of the event experience.
Qualifications
Required:
- 8+ years of experience in event experience design, event production, live entertainment, or large-scale sports event operations.
- Strong combination of creative vision and operational execution capability.
- Proven experience developing and managing Run of Shows, scripts, ceremonies, and experiential activations.
- Excellent project management, communication, and cross functional leadership abilities.
- Ability to travel frequently, including weekends, to support event execution.
Preferred:
- Experience in endurance sports, mass participation events, hospitality, or entertainment production.
- Background in brand experience, creative direction, or live event programming.
- Familiarity with IRONMAN events and athlete expectations.
Competencies
- Creative leadership: Ability to bring memorable, brand enhancing experiences to life.
- Operational excellence: Detail driven, disciplined, and effective in complex environments.
- Influence & collaboration: Skilled at leading without authority across multiple teams.
- Brand stewardship: Strong understanding of visual, verbal, and experiential brand execution.
- Agility: Thrives in fast paced, dynamic, onsite environments.
- Problem solving: Quick thinking and adaptive in live event settings.
Success Measures
- Consistent delivery of elevated ceremonial and experiential standards across events.
- Strong partner and athlete satisfaction related to event experience.
- Increased consistency and professionalism in Run of Shows, ceremonies, VIP experiences, and activations.
- Clear, scalable experiential standards embedded across North America event operations.
The above declarations are not intended to be an “all inclusive” list of duties and responsibilities of the job described, nor are they intended to be such a listing of the skills and abilities required to do the job. Rather, they are intended only to describe the general nature of the job and are a reasonable representation of its activities.
We are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity, marital or veteran status, or any other protected class
