Venue & Events Operations Manager

Bay Venues …. Haven’t heard of us? Not to worry; I bet you have heard of some of the venues we own or operate – the iconic Mount Hot Pools, Baywave, or Mercury Baypark to name a few. As the kaitiaki of multiple facilities in Tauranga Moana, we proudly offer a range of activities and experiences intended to put a smile on the dial of our community. 

Here at Bay Venues, we are all about ensuring we create memorable moments - and we do so intentionally through connection and fun with each other and our community. Our values of Manaakitanga (Service), Whakawhanaungatanga (Relationships), Kaitiakitanga (Caring) and He Toi Tangata (Excellence) are lived on the daily as we strive to enhance the wellbeing of the people we serve. It’s no small feat, but we know that when we facilitate connections and collaborate with others, great things will happen!

We are on the hunt for a dynamic and fast thinking leader with a minimum of 7 years leadership and relevant industry experience. The newly created Venue & Events Operations Manager role will oversee the planning, delivery and logistics teams to ensure activity within the venues is smooth and efficient. A professional and collaborative approach is a must to ensure we continue to deliver exceptional events, community sport and recreational customer experiences. 

As part of the events team who has overall responsibility for promoting, selling, planning, setting up/packing down and delivering events you would also work closely with both the community sport and activations team and Bay Audio Visual team in support of activity delivery. There is a requirement to collaborate widely with our clients and stakeholders including event promoters, hirers, and external contractors so experience in a like role is essential.

During events and other activities, the role will take charge of the venue requiring meticulous pre-planning, taking an active lead with ensuring health and safety legislation and venue regulatory compliance, prioritizing customer satisfaction, and leading cross-functional teams’ working together.

If you had worked with us over the last little while, here’s some of the things you would have been doing:

• Led the Venue Operations Centre for events.


• Oversee the event planning team to get ahead of the annual preparations for events and other venue activity.


• Work alongside Bay AV & external production companies to ensure seamless AV experiences every event


• Scheduled all the moving parts to pack in an exhibition and deliver a conference in two different venues on the same day.


• Supported the team with mid-week sports league activity, while arranging event set ups in other spaces.


• Played a key role in pre-event emergency and incident scenario training.


• Been the first point of contact on event days for clients.


• Enjoy the buzz of getting ready for a great New Years Eve gig for 8,000 guests.

A dynamic leader with a passion for events, sports and speedway who has genuine commitment and proven experience leading and developing people, is well organized with great attention to detail, can think on their feet and thrives on giving top-notch service.

Recognised experience as a leader delivering a wide range of events, and the ability to manage multifunctional venue spaces, familiarity with event management systems (ideally Momentus) is pivotal as is a strong understanding of health and safety and compliance for events. 

We have put together a bunch of perks to support our culture of connection and fun. Ones that reinforce that we are part of the awesome leisure and events industry, and all the magic that comes along with that. Our benefits include:

• a gym membership to our ClubFit Gyms,


• access to our five aquatic facilities including BayWave and Mount Hot Pools,


• subsidised speedway passes and generous discounts on our programmes, services, and merchandise,


• heavily subsidised coffee at our on-site cafes,


• access to a range of development opportunities through our Learning & Development programme 

So why not join us? We have the right purpose to fuel meaningful careers, the right attitude to support work life balance, and the right leadership to foster an amazing culture.  No matter your age and stage you may be, we are an inclusive bunch all driven by our vision of creating The Best Venues for the Bay. Come on – take the punt; you won’t regret it!  

Applications close 19th January 2026