Senior Manager, Live Events Procurement

Job Title: Senior Manager, Live Events Procurement

Location(s): Remote (USA)

About Us
We’ve entered a new chapter at X Games. With new leadership, fresh momentum, and a clear vision, we’re building what’s next for action sports. Backed by MSP Sports Capital and ESPN/Disney, now operating as an independent company, we’re scaling fast—launching our league, expanding our events, pushing content forward, and building a global home for athletes and fans who live this culture.

About the Role
With the recent launch of the X Games League (XGL), we're building a dedicated Live Events Procurement function for the first time, and we're looking for the right person to stand it up. Sitting within our Finance & Accounting Department, and reporting to the VP, Global Controller, you'll own the end-to-end procurement lifecycle for a global slate of live events — from sourcing strategy and vendor negotiation through contract execution, onboarding, and post-event cost review. Each X Games event engages hundreds of operating vendors across venue services, broadcast infrastructure, athlete operations, hospitality, staging, and safety. Today, that spend is managed event-by-event; your job is to turn it into a repeatable, phased, multi-event procurement system that protects margin, reduces risk, and scales as the league grows. This starts as an individual-contributor role, with a clear path to building out a team as the calendar and spend under management grows.

Responsibilities

Build the Function
Design and stand up how procurement runs across XGL events — the category strategies, sourcing calendars, approval workflows, and vendor performance management that don't exist yet.

• Design and implement the procurement operating model for XGL: category strategies, sourcing calendars, approval workflows, and vendor performance management
• Own and evolve the multi-event procurement phasing calendar, sequencing sourcing milestones against event lead times and identifying resource collision risks across overlapping event cycles
• Partner with Business Development/Event Ops to determine procurement's scope under each event's host-site model (promoter, co-promoter, co-producer, owned & operated) and right-size sourcing responsibility accordingly
• Partner with Finance to enforce the vendor onboarding SOP, signature authorization matrix, and spend-approval controls (Ramp-based workflow)

Drive Cost Performance
Own the sourcing and negotiation work that keeps event costs in check as the league scales.

• Lead competitive sourcing and renegotiation for recurring event vendors, with a mandate to reverse multi-year cost escalation trends
• Develop per-event and per-category unit economics with FP&A, and own procurement's contribution to event cost reduction targets
• Build a preferred-vendor program that captures multi-event volume leverage across the league calendar

Execute Flawlessly at Events
Be the person on the ground making sure vendor relationships hold up under real event pressure.

• Run sourcing, RFP, and negotiation processes for major event categories (venue build, broadcast/production support, staffing, hospitality, transportation, equipment rental)
• Manage vendor contracting in partnership with Legal, including insurance, indemnification, and payment-term standards
• Ensure a clean handoff of contract terms, deliverables, and payment schedules to the Budget Owner/ELT, who owns vendor relationship management for the life of the contract

Protect the Company
Keep procurement audit-ready and compliant as we operate across borders.

• Maintain audit-ready documentation standards across all vendor engagements: contracts, POs, change orders, and payment support
• Ensure procurement compliance across US, Canadian, and international (Finland/Japan) vendor jurisdictions
• Flag and escalate off-process spend commitments; be a trusted, constructive control point for the business

Qualifications

• 6+ years of progressive experience in procurement, sourcing, or vendor management, with meaningful time in live events, sports, entertainment production, or large-scale experiential
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Supply Chain, or a related field (or equivalent experience)
• Strong negotiation track record with six- and seven-figure vendor agreements
• Fluency in live event production categories: staging, broadcast infrastructure, venue services, temporary staffing, hospitality
• Experience with modern spend-management tools (Ramp, Coupa, or similar) and ERP environments
• Comfort operating in a fast-moving, lean environment — hands-on, not just strategic
• Bonus: international procurement experience, multi-event or touring production background, sports league or federation experience

The base salary range for this role is $115,000 - $130,000. Compensation is determined based on factors including (but not limited to) experience, skills, job-related knowledge, and geographic location.