Sr. Director, Club Business Operations & Transformation

Job Title: Sr. Director, Club Business Operations & Transformation

Reports to: SVP, League Strategy & Operations

Location: Remote, East Coast Time Zone

Travel: Approximately 5 total weeks each year including at least 3 XGL event stops per year (including weekends) and 2 annual Board of Governors meetings

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 summer & winter leagues, expanding our events, pushing content forward, and building a global home for athletes and fans who live this culture.

About the role

The X Games League is building a club-based model for action sports, with independent team owners, Club GMs, and a growing roster of teams across Winter and Summer seasons. As the league scales, we are building the business infrastructure, front-office capabilities and operating model each Club needs to grow into a successful, sustainable sports property. The Senior Director, League Business Transformation is the SVP's deputy and the league's senior lead for Club Business Operations. This is an executive-facing role: you must be ready at any moment to sit across from a Club owner, a prospective owner or a league executive and represent the league with credibility. This is a builder and doer role. The ideal candidate is someone who has operated at a league or club level, for example running a project office, a TMBO function, overseeing clubs,  or a chief-of-staff role, and who brings the operating rigor to turn plans into results. 

Mission

Help every XGL Club and the League become a stronger, better-run business each season with a roadmap to deeper fan relationships, ecosystem organization, and rising enterprise value, supported by a league operating rhythm that runs quickly and smoothly.

What you'll do

Leadership & Deputy to the SVP

• Act as the SVP's delegate: develop a working understanding of every function on the team (Compliance & Legal, Athlete Relations & Programs, Sport Operations & Insights), represent the department in cross-functional and executive forums, and serve as escalation point when the SVP is unavailable
• Run the department's operating rhythm with the SVP, including weekly priorities, the cross-team project tracker, and executive and ELT updates
• Understand the financial structure of the league and clubs deeply, focus on where value can be created and synergies the league can create
• Identify and drive process improvements that make the league office faster, more consistent and easier for Clubs to work with
• Serve as the league's primary day-to-day relationship lead for Club owners and Governors, including owner communications, requests, escalations and the owner experience across the season, including owner dinners, VIP programming and ticketing at each event stop

• Own Board of Governors preparation: documents, pre-reads, communications and follow-through for the spring and fall meetings

Club Operation & Servicing

• Build and oversee the Club Business Operations or “Servicing” function, ensuring Clubs receive effective league support across digital products (websites, e-commerce, CRM and fan newsletters), merchandise, marketing and event activation. Once the structure is in place, hire and lead two manager-level direct reports to run day-to-day Club servicing
• Set and distribute annual Club sponsorship policies and asset guidelines with League Partnerships and Compliance & Legal
• Set service standards and timelines for the function so Clubs know what to expect from the league and when
• Ensure on-site Club activations and XFest sponsorship deliverables are tracked and fulfilled at every event stop
• Create and send out quarterly League-wide newsletters on league matters, community outreach, etc. 
• Assist with the financial reporting cadence with Clubs alongside Finance (invoices, K-1 schedules and similar) so owners receive accurate, timely information
• Write the annual impact report beginning in 2028, showcasing collective Club progress, league success, key partnerships and community efforts

Club Business Strategy & Growth

• Build toward multi-year Club growth plans starting in 2028, serving as the league's senior business advisor on Club value creation and long-term enterprise value across front-office operations, fan development, digital and community
• Establish Club business KPIs and benchmarking frameworks; regularly assess performance, identify gaps and opportunities, and translate insights into actionable growth plans for the Team President / General Manager
• Build league-wide playbooks, best practices and business tools based on what is working across Clubs and the broader sports industry
• Lead business reviews 2x a year with 
• each Club's Governor and GM, tracking progress against business goals and long-term strategic priorities

Required Qualifications

• Ability to come with context: 9-10 years of professional experience in strategy, operations or business transformation
• Ability to get stuff done, on your own: Hands-on operating experience at a league or club level, for example running a project office, a TMBO function or a chief-of-staff role
• Proven experience running the operating rhythm for a leadership team, such as annual planning, a shared calendar and project tracker, and executive updates
• Experience building or running a service function for multiple stakeholders (for example clubs, franchises, partners or business units), including service standards and timelines
• Direct experience advising C-suite executives and owners, with executive presence and polished written and verbal communication
• Working knowledge of how sports team businesses operate (sponsorship, merchandise and digital/e-commerce) and the platforms that support them, including CRM, e-commerce and fan engagement tools
• Strong analytical skills, including building KPI frameworks, benchmarking performance and turning data into recommendations an owner can act on
• Experience hiring and developing managers; comfortable building a team while doing the work
• Excellent judgment and discretion with confidential ownership and financial information
• Willingness to travel, including weekends at event stops

Nice to have

• Experience in a league or club business development or team business strategy group (NBA, NHL, MLS, NWSL or similar)
• An MBA
• Experience with team sales, expansion or ownership transitions
• Experience at a startup or emerging league
• Familiarity with action sports, Olympic sports or athlete-centric properties
• Experience advising Club or business leaders on multi-year growth strategy

Application process

Candidates who advance past the first two interviews will be asked to submit a written case study and present it to the hiring panel. The case will reflect the work of the role, such as advising a club's ownership group on a growth plan or putting together a project plan for key communications and Club memos. Details and timing will be shared at that stage.