About Octagon
Octagon is a global creative agency, with a speciality in sport and entertainment partnerships. With over 800 team members around the world, we work with brands to create big ideas that fans love and want to engage in, because it’s built in and around their passion. Where others see complexity we see possibility, and we believe in pushing authenticity, creativity, and longevity to do great things in the industry that lead the market. Octagon is now part of the Omnicom (https://www.omc.com/).
Our Values
Our values: empowerment, intelligence, inclusivity, innovation, and impact, guide our behaviours as people and shape the way that we operate as a team. As a senior member of the organisation, you will find ways to embody these in your own job as well as provide leadership and oversight on how those values come to life in all our staff and how we collectively operate.
About the Role
Group Director – F1 Hospitality. We’re excited to be recruiting an exceptional Group Director to join our London office and play a senior leadership role within our Formula One hospitality and experiential offering. This position will provide strategic oversight and delivery leadership across track‑side hospitality programmes and brand activations for key motorsport clients throughout the F1 season. With responsibility spanning multiple accounts and programmes, the Group Director will ensure excellence across end‑to‑end delivery, including hospitality strategy, rights‑holder navigation, operational planning, logistics and on‑site execution. This is a highly visible role, requiring strong client leadership, commercial acumen and the ability to inspire high‑performing teams within a fast‑paced, global environment. We’re looking for someone with experience in Formula 1 sponsorships over recent years, hospitality and live events, who can combine strategic thinking with hands‑on delivery. You will be a trusted senior partner to clients and rights‑holders alike, working closely with the VP, Motorsport Experiences, and a key contributor to the growth and reputation of the agency’s motorsport and experiential practice.
Key Responsibilities
* Client & Account Leadership
o Provide senior leadership and strategic direction across F1 hospitality programmes, acting as a trusted advisor to clients on how best to activate within the sport.
o Navigate complex rights‑holder frameworks, regulations and operational constraints, ensuring all activations are compliant, impactful and aligned with client.
o Develop a deep understanding of client brand strategies and business goals, ensuring programmes are delivered against defined KPIs and consistently meet the highest standards of brand representation.
o Act as a senior point of escalation for client stakeholders, leading the resolution of complex challenges with confidence, clarity and diplomacy, always with the agency’s best interests in mind.
o Oversee forward planning across accounts to identify risks and pinch points early, ensuring the right resources, skills and structures are in place to deliver at scale.
o Build and maintain strong senior‑level relationships across Formula One, rights‑holders, partners and the wider motorsport ecosystem, positioning the agency as a leader in F1 hospitality.
o Lead and support commercial discussions, including MSAs, scopes of work, fees and financial reporting, ensuring robust financial governance and profitability across accounts.
o Provide senior oversight of vendor and supplier relationships, negotiations and contracting, ensuring best value and compliance with company policies.
* Team & Capability Leadership
o Lead, mentor and develop a multi‑layered team across Account Directors, Senior Account Managers and Account Managers, fostering a culture of excellence and collaboration.
o Act as an inspirational people leader, supporting career development, performance management and succession planning within the team.
o Champion best‑in‑class ways of working, embedding consistent standards, processes and compliance across F1 hospitality programmes.
o Encourage continuous improvement, ensuring teams evolve in capability, confidence and delivery quality across live experiences and client service.
* Agency & Practice Leadership
o Play a senior leadership role within the agency’s motorsport and experiential team, contributing to its strategic direction, reputation and growth.
o Establish strong relationships with senior stakeholders across clients, rights‑holders, the agency and the wider Omnicom network.
o Demonstrate an entrepreneurial mindset, proactively identifying opportunities for organic account growth, new client targets and expanded service offerings.
o Act as a beacon for excellence in experiential delivery, creativity and operational rigour, setting the standard for F1 hospitality across the agency.
o Lead and support high‑level briefings, creative presentations and new business conversations with confidence and authority.
o Advocate for collaboration across departments and shared services, identifying opportunities to enhance efficiency, capability and process improvement.
About You
* You are an experienced senior leader with deep expertise in Formula 1 sponsorship activation and guest hospitality programmes.
* You bring a collaborative, inclusive leadership style and a genuine commitment to developing high‑performing teams.
* You are a strategic thinker with strong problem‑solving skills, comfortable navigating complexity and ambiguity.
* You are highly organised, commercially astute and confident managing large‑scale budgets, financial reporting and operational risk.
* You have a strong track record of driving organic growth and contributing to new business success.
* You are comfortable operating at a senior, client‑facing level and representing the agency within the F1 ecosystem.
* You are willing and able to travel throughout the Formula One season.
Benefits
* Core benefits – flexible holiday allowance, AXA private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, pension scheme with 4.5% employer contribution, Employee Assistance Programme
* Flexible benefits – Gymflex, dental insurance, travel insurance, health cash plan, Cycle scheme, interest‑free season ticket loans
* Flexible Workplace – we have a number of initiatives in place to ensure that our team have the flexibility to balance work with their lives, this includes flexible holiday and flexible working options.
* We also run a number of internal programmes to support physical and mental wellbeing, alongside learning and development opportunities to support career development and progression.
Octagon is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to colour, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship, disability, or any other basis prohibited by law.
We make our careers website accessible to any and all users. If you need an accommodation to participate in the application process, please contact us at JobAppAccommodation@ipgdxtra.com. This email address is not for general employment inquiries or vendors; rather it is strictly for applicants who require special assistance accessing our employment website. Due to volume, messages sent to this email address that are not related to an accommodation cannot be answered.
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