Director, Ticketing - FIFA World Cup 2026

Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership
• Programme Ownership: Lead the planning, development, and delivery of the ticketing and hospitality programme across all phases of the FIFA World Cup project, from initial briefing to post-event debrief.
• Team Lead: Day-to-day management of core ticketing team of 4 who are responsible for central management of all ticketing operations.
• Client Liaison: Serve as the point of contact for the client on all ticketing-related matters, translating client objectives into actionable operational plans while ensuring strict adherence to FIFA regulations and protocols.
• Guest Experience Strategy: Define and implement guest journey mapping and ticket distribution strategies that integrate seamlessly into the broader event ecosystem, ensuring alignment with both FIFA standards and bespoke client requirements.
• Project Governance: Drive project governance including timelines, workstreams, milestones, reporting, and tracking.
• Cross-Functional Coordination: Collaborate with leads from other operational verticals (e.g accreditation, transport, accommodation, F&B) to deliver a cohesive and exceptional guest experience.
• Vendor Management: Oversee engagement and coordination with third-party tech suppliers, e nsuring alignment on deliverables, SLAs, and service excellence.
• Budget & Reporting: Manage programme budget, track expenditures, raise POs, and produce financial updates and reconciliation reports as required.
• Ticketing Systems & Operational Delivery
• Platform Management: Lead the configuration, testing, and rollout of ticketing systems (e.g, ticket order management, guest portals, allocation tools) in partnership with internal teams and external tech suppliers.
• Inventory Management: Maintain detailed oversight of ticket inventory, allocations, contingencies, and real-time tracking, and reporting to support both strategic and operational decision-making.
• Compliance & Documentation: Ensure all ticketing processes comply with FIFA protocols, GDPR, and relevant legal/regulatory requirements. Maintain up-to-date documents, guest communications, delivery schedules, and operational playbooks.
• Issue Management: Lead troubleshooting and escalation workflows for ticketing issues - both pre-event and live, ensuring rapid and transparent resolution for clients and guests.
• Reporting & Audits: Produce regular operational reports and post-event audit documentation to support transparency and accountability.
• Onsite Operations & Stakeholder Management
• Main contact: Act as senior ticketing contact on-site during tournament which includes managing extended ticket operations managers based in the US who will be supporting during tournament time
• Issue resolution: Managing issues with ticket delivery, guest changes, last-minute coordination, guest services, and real-time issue resolution.
• Venue team support: Coordinate closely with hospitality teams at stadiums to implement last- minute operational changes swiftly and effectively.
• Cross-functional role: Represent ticketing interests in cross-functional meetings and escalate issues as appropriate to senior leadership.
• Contingency plans: Develop, document, and implement contingency plans to address critical risk areas such as technical failures, last-minute ticketing adjustments, and access control problems.
• Responsiveness: Manage support teams during onsite emergencies, ensuring minimal disruption to guest experience and operations.
• Team mentorship: Lead, mentor, and manage junior ticketing and guest services staff, fostering cla

Benefits

Additional Information

THE-TEAM operates at the epicenter of sports, music and entertainment, serving talent, brands and properties on a global scale. Our brands and properties division works with iconic brands and rights holders, supporting business growth through all marketing disciplines. We're a trusted partner to every major league, team and venue, building meaningful connections between brands, properties and fans. Headquartered in Los Angeles, THE-TEAM's presence spans 28 countries and more than 70 cities, including New York, London, Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Madrid, Mexico City, Toronto, Paris and Sydney. For more information, please visit the.team . Contract Type: Fixed-Term Contract (until August 2026) We are seeking seeking an experienced Ticketing Director to oversee and lead end-to-end ticketing operations and guest management for a major football hospitality programme for FIFA World Cup 2026. Based in London, with travel to the United States required during the tournament, you will be responsible for overseeing the end-to-end ticketing process - from planning and allocation through to on-site delivery-while also leading the set-up, deployment, and ongoing management of a bespoke ticket and guest management system. This is a unique opportunity to play a key role in one of the world's biggest sporting events, working with global stakeholders, VIP clients, and internal teams to deliver a seamless guest experience.

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