Sports Operations Director

Hiring Now: Sports Operations Director

Work Location: BGC, Manila, Philippines

Compensation & Benefits: Negotiable based on experience and qualifications.

Position Overview

We are looking for a senior-level Operations Director to lead the overall business operations and strategic development of our sports business across Southeast Asia.

Following our Group's recent strategic investment in a leading sports league in the region, this role offers a unique opportunity to bring a fresh perspective, stronger commercial thinking, and new growth opportunities to the business. The ideal candidate will bring deep industry expertise, strong senior-level leadership experience, and an established network across leagues, federations, clubs, athletes, and commercial partners in the region.

The role will play a critical part in shaping the next stage of the league's development, driving operational excellence, commercial growth, and stronger engagement across the Southeast Asian sports ecosystem.

Key Responsibilities

1. Business Strategy & Overall Management

Develop medium- and long-term strategies and annual business targets for the platform's sports league business based on Philippine market realities. Manage departmental budgets and take end-to-end accountability for user growth, revenue generation, and commercial performance of the sports vertical. Build, organize, and lead a high-performing team.

2. Top-Tier Local League & Tournament Management

Engage deeply with leading Philippine sports leagues, tournaments, and governing bodies. Lead league assessment, rights negotiation, tournament acquisition, and end-to-end on-platform execution. Demonstrate strong understanding of competition formats, sponsorship structures, contractual rights, media and commercial requirements, and local regulatory frameworks to ensure effective league deployment on the platform.

From a league development and governance perspective, identify growth opportunities and design value-added cooperation proposals that support league expansion and improve commercial performance.

3. Industry Ecosystem & Stakeholder Relationship Management

Maintain high-level relationships with Philippine sports federations, league decision-makers, club management, head coaches, elite athletes, and other key industry stakeholders.

Cultivate international networks covering overseas sports clubs, athletes, leagues, and governing-body stakeholders, including organizations such as FIVB. Establish a high-quality domestic and international sports resource network to support rights opportunities, commercial activations, strategic partnerships, and athlete-content collaborations.

4. Commercial Negotiation & End-to-End Project Delivery

Lead high-stakes commercial negotiations covering league and media rights, sponsorship deals, merchandise, and athlete-related commercial collaborations.

Work cross-functionally with product, content, advertising, and commercial teams to design monetization models, including advertising, PPV, subscriptions, e-commerce, and other content-related revenue opportunities.

Conduct commercial due diligence, business risk assessment, partnership structuring, and contract negotiations, and drive major partnerships through to successful closure and execution.

5. Cross-Functional & External Stakeholder Collaboration

Align internal objectives across product, technology, content, marketing, and commercial teams to ensure effective execution of business initiatives.

Liaise externally with Philippine sports regulators, leagues, federations, commercial partners, and other key stakeholders. Provide local market insights, industry analysis, and actionable recommendations to senior leadership to support strategic business decisions.

6. Business Performance & General Management

Monitor key business and commercial KPIs, conduct regular performance reviews, and continuously optimize business strategies and execution plans.

Take on broader general management responsibilities, including flagship-event support, industry-summit engagement, strategic-partnership development, and other business-critical initiatives as assigned by senior management.

Qualifications

1. Deep Philippine Sports-League Industry Background

Extensive hands-on management experience across the full value chain of major Philippine sports leagues or tournaments. Intimate familiarity with the Philippine sports landscape, fan demographics, commercial mechanics, media and broadcasting rights, licensing frameworks, and relevant regulatory requirements.

2. Chief Executive Track Record at Tier-1 Leagues [Critical Requirement]

Served as a top-level executive / chief leader at a Philippine Tier-1 sports league (e.g. PBA, UAAP). Proven track record of leading league-level reforms, expanding league influence and footprint, and driving commercial revenue growth. Verifiable project outcomes and performance achievements will be validated during the interview process.

3. Global Vision & International Networks

Possess a strong international outlook with established and actionable connections to international sports leagues, athletes, overseas clubs, and global sports institutions, with demonstrated ability to facilitate cross-border partnerships and collaborations.

Preferred / Plus-Factor Qualifications

• Senior-level experience with the Philippine national sports federation or an international sports federation, such as FIVB;
• Prior experience in sports media rights acquisition, rights licensing, or commercial partnerships for streaming platforms, broadcasters, or digital sports platforms;
• Previous experience working with Chinese-funded enterprises, Chinese companies, or Chinese-led project teams.