Chief Sports Complex Officer (CSCO)

Black Pearl has been given an exclusive mandate to help recruit for a Chief Sports Complex Officer for a landmark sports and leisure destination in the GCC region.

This is a senior executive appointment responsible for providing the strategic, operational, and commercial leadership of a large-scale, multi-venue complex. The destination accommodates diverse sporting activities, hospitality services, academies, community programmes, and major events.

The successful candidate will lead the complex’s long-term development, strengthen its commercial performance, maintain world-class operational standards, and deliver exceptional experiences for athletes, members, guests, partners, and the wider community..

Responsibilities:-

Strategic Leadership

• Develop and execute a multi-year strategy positioning the complex as a leading regional sports, leisure, and events destination.
  
• Identify new opportunities to expand memberships, programmes, events, partnerships, sponsorships, and hospitality offerings.
  
• Lead transformation initiatives that strengthen the destination’s brand, market position, and long-term sustainability.
  
• Translate strategic priorities into measurable operational and financial plans.
  

Operational Excellence

• Provide executive oversight across all venues, sports facilities, academies, hospitality operations, guest services, and event functions.
  
• Ensure effective coordination between specialised sporting activities and supporting commercial and operational teams.
  
• Maximise the use, performance, and availability of facilities and assets.
  
• Maintain the highest standards of safety, security, compliance, service quality, and operational readiness.
  
• Ensure major events and daily operations are delivered safely, efficiently, and consistently.
  

Commercial and Financial Performance

· Take ownership of the complex’s overall financial and commercial performance.

· Deliver agreed revenue, profitability, utilisation, and customer-experience targets.

· Review pricing, membership structures, programme performance, and commercial partnerships.

· Identify opportunities to improve revenue generation, operational efficiency, and return on assets.

· Establish strong performance controls and reporting mechanisms across the organisation.

Stakeholder and Partnership Management

· Build trusted relationships with government authorities, sports federations, strategic partners, sponsors, event organisers, and community stakeholders.

· Represent the complex in high-level meetings, major events, industry forums, and partnership discussions.

· Strengthen the destination’s contribution to regional sporting, tourism, leisure, and community-development objectives.

· Negotiate and manage commercially valuable partnerships and long-term agreements.

People Leadership and Organisational Development

· Lead and inspire a large, multidisciplinary workforce across sporting, operational, hospitality, commercial, and corporate functions.

· Build a high-performance culture centred on accountability, safety, collaboration, service excellence, and continuous improvement.

· Develop senior leaders and establish effective succession and talent-development plans.

· Ensure the organisational structure and capabilities support the complex’s future growth.

Requirements

• At least 15 years of progressive leadership experience, including substantial experience in a senior executive or C-suite position.
  
• Proven leadership of a large sports resort, multi-sport complex, leisure destination, major venue group, or similarly complex operation.
  
• Demonstrated responsibility for multiple venues, significant annual revenue, large teams, and diverse operational functions.
  
• Strong exposure to specialised sporting operations such as equestrian sports, motorsport, shooting, water sports, sports academies, or comparable disciplines.
  
• Proven success in developing strategy, improving operational performance, growing revenue, and leading organisational transformation.
  
• Strong commercial and financial acumen, including budgeting, revenue optimisation, pricing, partnerships, and asset utilisation.
  
• Experience managing high-profile sporting, corporate, community, or entertainment events.
  
• Established credibility in managing senior government, federation, sponsor, partner, and board-level stakeholders.
  
• Experience in the Middle East or another culturally diverse and relationship-driven market is highly desirable.
  
• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, sports management, hospitality, leisure management, or a relevant discipline; a master’s degree or executive qualification would be advantageous.
  
• Excellent English communication skills. Additional regional or international language capability would be an advantage.
  

Leadership Attributes

The ideal candidate will demonstrate:

• Strategic vision combined with strong operational discipline.
  
• A commercially driven and results-oriented approach.
  
• High emotional intelligence and cultural awareness.
  
• Confidence in leading large and diverse teams.
  
• Strong decision-making and crisis-management capability.
  
• A visible, pragmatic, and guest-focused leadership style.
  
• The ability to engage credibly with boards, government entities, federations, sponsors, and international partners.
  

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