Lancashire Cricket Club is one of the UK’s leading sports and entertainment venues. Alongside elite domestic and international cricket, Emirates Old Trafford hosts major concerts, conferences, hospitality, and a 250-bedroom hotel, welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
As Operations Director, you will play a pivotal role in the Club’s future growth, leading all operational functions across Emirates Old Trafford and the Club’s new training ground at Farington. This is an opportunity to shape the operation of one of the country’s most diverse venue businesses, balancing commercial performance with exceptional customer experiences, operational excellence, and regulatory compliance.
The Impact You’ll Make
You will provide strategic leadership across all operational functions, overseeing facilities, maintenance, engineering, housekeeping, stadium events, safety and security, guest services, and the operational delivery of the Club’s conference, hospitality, and hotel business.
You will drive operational performance by improving customer service, maximising profitability, controlling costs, and ensuring the Club consistently delivers against its commercial objectives.
You will lead the operational planning and delivery of major sporting events, international fixtures, concerts, and conferences, ensuring every event is delivered safely, efficiently, and to the highest standards.
You will take ownership of the Club’s compliance framework, maintaining key operating licences and building strong relationships with local authorities, emergency services, and regulatory bodies to ensure the venue continues to operate safely and effectively.
Working closely with senior leaders across the business, you will develop high-performing teams, improve operational standards, and create an environment where collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement underpin every aspect of the operation.
Your Skills and Experience
- Proven senior operational leadership experience within a stadium, major venue, live events, hospitality, or complex facilities environment.
- Strong experience managing both facilities operations and customer-facing services across large, multi-functional venues.
- A proven track record of delivering operational excellence while improving commercial performance and controlling costs.
- Strong knowledge of health and safety, venue licensing, compliance, and risk management.
- Experience leading large, multidisciplinary teams and building a high-performance culture.
- Excellent stakeholder management skills with the ability to work effectively alongside regulators, emergency services, suppliers, and senior colleagues.
- Strong commercial awareness, financial management, and budget ownership.
- A calm, decisive leadership style with the ability to perform under pressure in a fast-paced operational environment.
If you’re looking for an opportunity to lead the operation of one of the UK’s most iconic sporting venues and play a key role in its future growth, we’d love to hear from you. Click the apply button to find out more.
The Executives in Sport Group are retained on behalf of Lancashire Cricket Club to appoint an Operations Director. All direct applications and CV’s will be forwarded to The Executives in Sport Group.
We ask that applicants complete our diversity monitoring form. You are not obliged to answer any of these questions but the more information you supply, the more effective our monitoring will be.
Diversity Monitoring Form – Lancashire Cricket Club – Operations Director – Fill in form
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Please note that due to the volume of applications received, we are unable to provide specific feedback on unsuccessful applications.
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