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Navan Events is bringing together its meetings and events businesses under a unified, technology-enabled operating model. We are building a scalable managed-services organisation that combines Navan technology with deep event expertise. The Manager, Event Operations will lead the Australia Event Operations function, with responsibility for team performance, client delivery, operational standards and commercial outcomes, while working within the strategic direction set by the executive leadership.
Based in Sydney and reporting to the Director, Event Travel, this leader will oversee an organisation responsible for event travel, event planning, venue sourcing, supplier contracting, registration, attendee management, event production, onsite delivery, and reconciliation. They will establish globally consistent standards while enabling regional teams to respond effectively to local clients, markets, and suppliers.
The work- Lead operational risk management, compliance, duty of care, incident escalation, financial controls and business continuity planning across the function.
- Establish scalable service, staffing, and delivery models that improve profitability without compromising client experience.
- Establish standards for delivery quality, supplier management, contracting, budget control, reconciliation, risk management, and service recovery.
- Serve as primary contact and resolution lead for critical account challenges and delivery risks.
- Partner with Product and Engineering to automate manual workflows, improve client visibility, and ensure new products are operationally ready and adopted successfully.
- Lead an organisation comprising travel and event professionals across Australia.
- Build a high-performing team across Australia. Accountable for commercial, client, operational, and people outcomes
- Surface performance and operational issues early, explain their commercial implications, and give leadership clear recommendations for resolving them. Communicate change to the organisation with transparency, clarity, and confidence.
- Drive M&E business growth. Partner with Sales and Customer Success, qualify opportunities, define service scope and pricing, and ensure new business is operationally ready. Accountable for delivering contracted commitments and retaining profitable revenue.
How success will be measured
Success means delivering on what the Sales team sells and creating an operational flywheel that brings customers back and retains revenue. It will be measured through:
- Gross margin, operating expense, and forecast performance
- Client retention, satisfaction, and service quality
- Employee engagement, retention, development, and succession readiness
- Team utilisation, productivity, and cost-to-serve
- Adoption of common platforms, processes, and reporting
- Cross-functional alignment and stakeholder collaboration
Requirements:
- 12+ years in meetings and events, corporate and group travel operations.
- Proven experience in leading Corporate Travel and/or Event Management organisations.
- Strong knowledge of venue sourcing, supplier contracting, registration, attendee management, event production.
- Sound knowledge of event registration, attendee-management and event-management platforms.
- Excellent understanding of the corporate travel environment, with expert knowledge of GDS systems, fares and ticketing, NDC and group contracting. Sabre experience preferred.
- Experience supporting organisational integration, improving operating models, and delivering operational change.
- Great commercial acumen, proven success managing budgets, expanding revenue, and maximising overall business profitability.
- Proven background overseeing intricate, large-scale event portfolios, encompassing multi-city logistics or high-capacity delegate travel.
- Evidence of building high-performing teams and credible succession pipelines.
- Ability to cultivate cross-functional alignment and collaborate effectively with senior stakeholders.
Navan uses AI-assisted Automated Employment Decision Tool (Metaview) to assist with evaluating resumes against job qualifications for this role. All final decisions are made by human recruiters and hiring managers.
Human oversight: Metaview does not automatically reject candidates or make final hiring decisions. Our recruiters and hiring managers review all outputs and make the final hiring decision regarding every application.
Your rights: If you prefer to have your application reviewed without AI assistance, you may request a human evaluation by entering your email here. Your decision to do so will not affect how your candidacy is evaluated.
Please refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about our processing of personal data, and your rights.
Skills Required
- Proven experience in events and group travel operations, including group travel logistics
- People leadership experience, ideally within a regional or multi-market team
- Strong working knowledge of GDS systems and travel booking processes; Sabre preferred
- Experience managing large, complex event programs, including multi-destination or high-volume attendee movements
- Knowledge of event management platforms such as Cvent
- Commercial acumen with a track record of driving revenue and profitability
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
- Ability to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously
- High attention to detail and strong organizational capability
What the Team is Saying
What We Do
Navan (Nasdaq: NAVN) is the leading all-in-one business travel, payments, and expense management platform that makes travel easy for frequent travelers. From finding flights and hotels to automating expense reconciliation, with 24/7 support along the way, Navan delivers an intuitive experience travelers love and finance teams rely on. See how Navan customers benefit and learn more at navan.com.
Why Work With Us
At Navan, we’re never satisfied with the status quo, and we know breakthrough ideas come from diverse perspectives. We are committed to cultivating a workplace that reflects the diversity of the customers we serve while fostering leadership and innovation.
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Navan Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
In-person connections is the foundation of Navan, the connections forged through face-to-face interactions improve company culture and what we can achieve together. We operate on a hybrid working model, which we define as four days a week in-office.
