Director Event Programming Jobs in Boston, MA (NOW HIRING)

Location: Ballers Boston Seaport

Reports to: Director of Sales

Employment Type: Full Time, Salary Exempt

Ballers is the ultimate sports venue where passion for the game meets community spirit. We're the place to be for racquet sports (pickleball, padel, squash, and tennis), field sports, and golf. Each Ballers location features state-of-the-art facilities where members and guests can play, compete, and connect. At Ballers it's all about living the game, not just playing it!

Brings commercial urgency, energy, and ownership to the Boston market

Builds relationships naturally and is equally credible with senior executives, event planners, and local partners

Thrives in a seasonal, fast-moving business and plans ahead rather than reacting to demand

Works cross-functionally with operations, events, programming, and marketing to convert opportunities into revenue

Represents Ballers with a polished, hospitality-first approach in every client and partner interaction

The Event Sales Manager for Ballers Boston is the senior commercial leader responsible for generating event, group, corporate, partnership, and sponsorship revenue for our Seaport location. This is a hands-on, market-facing role: the Manager will set the Boston sales plan, build the pipeline, personally close meaningful business, and create a disciplined process that can scale as the venue grows.

Boston operates through two distinct selling seasons. From spring through fall, Ballers is an outdoor social sports and hospitality destination featuring pickleball, padel, food and beverage, corporate outings, private events, leagues, and brand activations. During the winter season, the venue transitions to a skating-focused experience with igloos, seasonal food and beverage, holiday parties, and winter programming. The Sales Manager must sell both concepts proactively, manage the transition between them, and build demand far enough in advance that each season opens with a strong book of business.

Here’s what your day-to-day will look like

Develop and own the annual Boston sales plan, with separate revenue targets, pipeline strategies, and account priorities for the spring-through-fall sports season and the winter skating and holiday season.

Personally prospect, pitch, negotiate, and close private events, corporate outings, group experiences, holiday parties, buyouts, leagues, and recurring corporate business.

Build relationships with Boston-area corporations, event planners, hotels, convention and tourism partners, residential communities, universities, professional services firms, and Seaport businesses.

Create a year-round sales calendar that anticipates seasonal buying cycles, including summer outings, fall corporate events, holiday parties, winter activations, and advance bookings for the following outdoor season.

Lead venue tours, client presentations, tastings, proposals, and contract negotiations, clearly translating Ballers’ sports, hospitality, and event capabilities into compelling client solutions.

Maintain an active, qualified pipeline in the CRM; establish clear follow-up standards, forecasting discipline, conversion metrics, and weekly reporting against monthly, seasonal, and annual goals.

Coordinate the transition of contracted events to the event planning and operations teams, providing complete turnover documentation, commercial terms, event briefs, and client expectations.

Maintain senior-level client relationships after contracting and following events to generate repeat business, referrals, and multi-event or multi-season accounts.

Identify and help build / create local partnership and sponsorship opportunities, including corporate access programs, branded leagues and tournaments, court or program sponsorships, on-site activations, signage, content, and hospitality packages.

Build tailored proposals for prospective sponsors and partners, define deliverables and valuation, negotiate agreements, and coordinate fulfillment with marketing, programming, and operations.

Work closely with the Director of Sales and Ballers’ marketing team to develop sales collateral, outbound campaigns, referral channels, hosted buyer events, and market-specific programming that produces qualified leads.

Monitor competitive venues, market pricing, client feedback, and sales performance to refine packages, minimums, inventory, and promotional strategy by season.

Represent Ballers at industry events, community gatherings, corporate associations, and key venue programs, serving as a visible commercial ambassador for the Boston business.

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Hospitality, Marketing, or a related field preferred

5+ years of progressive sales experience in hospitality, events, experiential venues, sports, entertainment, sponsorships, or a related field

Proven record of meeting or exceeding substantial revenue targets through both new-business development and repeat-account growth

Existing relationships within the Greater Boston corporate, event-planning, hospitality, tourism, or brand community are strongly preferred

Ability to sell two differentiated seasonal venue concepts and manage overlapping pipelines and booking windows

Experience structuring and closing private events, venue buyouts, corporate programs, or group hospitality business

Experience developing sponsorships or strategic partnerships is strongly preferred; candidates must be able to distinguish true partnership value from simple logo placement

Skilled in pricing, proposal development, negotiation, contract structuring, forecasting, and commercial decision-making

Comfortable operating as both a strategic leader and a hands-on individual producer in an entrepreneurial environment

Exceptional communication, presentation, networking, and relationship-management skills with senior decision-makers

Disciplined user of CRM, pipeline reporting, and basic sales analytics; experience with Tripleseat, GoHighLevel, or similar platforms is a plus

Willing and able to work select nights, weekends, holidays, and key events based on client and venue needs

Knowledge of pickleball, padel, skating, experiential hospitality, or Boston’s corporate and events landscape is a plus

What’s in it for you

A competitive base salary, performance-based incentive opportunity, and benefits

A senior commercial role with meaningful ownership of the Boston market and direct impact on venue performance

A dynamic workplace at the intersection of sports, hospitality, events, and brand experiences

Employee discounts on Ballers services, programming, and food and beverage