Head of F1 Brand Experience

At McLaren Racing, we believe only by chasing performance in everything we do can we give ourselves the best chance of success. Performance on track and in the factory. Performance for our people, our business and our partners. It’s about more than winning. It’s about hitting the highest standards, and then raising the bar again.

Purpose of the Role:

The purpose of this role is to drive partner retention and acquisition through the development and deployment of Formula One assets. The role encompasses the oversight of McLaren Formula One trackside experiences as well as the Formula One assets that McLaren Racing has at its disposal.

The role has a commercial focus ensuring Partner satisfaction as well as supporting acquisition activity through the ongoing evolution of the trackside experiences, aiming to provide the best sport has to offer. An innovative mindset is required to develop new trackside assets to enhance the guest experience as well as driving Partner revenue.

A creative approach is required to complement and support the commercial need. Trackside experiences are a key differentiator for McLaren and as such will require a lens to ensure competitive edge is driven through innovative and unique activations. Digital and new technologies must be considered to bring to life McLaren’s brand values to support brand equity growth.

Formula One display items are a key Partner asset and a revenue driver. Partner satisfaction is a priority and determinant of renewal requiring display assets to be managed with partners in a seamless way whilst maximizing McLaren commercials.

Role Dimensions:

• Overseeing multiple direct and indirect reports.
• Budget holder for your respective team.
• Unsocial hours and some travel will be required.

Principal Accountabilities:

Strategic ideation & Planning (20%)

• Create and define the business plan for the delivery of the Formula One McLaren Paddock Club (McLaren Priceless Lounge); including long range financial planning as well as the development of new assets for incremental revenue opportunities with Partners.
• Set the strategic direction for mid-tier McLaren experiences at Formula One Grand Prix using insights and data to determine activity to best satisfy Partner demand and drive revenue for McLaren.
• Lead the delivery of the show car and display asset programme; being strategic in long term thinking of the business and partner needs as well as maximizing revenue from each asset.
• Place the McLaren brand strategy at the heart of all ideation and development to support long term equity growth for the brand.

Management and delivery of (40%)

• The McLaren Paddock Club experience across all Formula One Grands Prix.
• The McLaren Paddock Club profit and loss model, working closely with the Commercial Finance team.
• A mid-tier hospitality offering for McLaren at specific Grands Prix to be determined through Partner demand.
• Financial modelling for mid-tier hospitality; balancing revenue for McLaren and value for Partners.
• The global show car programme; managing demand from Partners to maximize usage of assets.
• A show car fleet which is up to date and fully functioning with minimal time for repairs.
• A long term view for the show car fleet to ensure assets in market are current without impacting the overall P&L for McLaren.
• A trackside brand experience and display asset offer which is fully representative of the McLaren brand, bringing the brand strategy to life through every customer touch point.
• A trackside brand experience and display asset offer which follows sustainability protocols and processes to support McLaren’s DE&I initiatives.

Commercial delivery and evaluation (20%)

• Measurement of all activity through clear KPI’s to enable a continuous cycle of improvement remaining focused on commercial and brand growth.
• The use of insights and data to determine strategic decisions.
• Ensure the learnings are shared with key stakeholders and continually refresh/optimize the activity to ensure best-in-field ROI’s are achieved.
• Contribute to the overarching Commercial strategy that underpins the wider function, to accelerate our path to profit.
• Lead and engage with key stakeholders across Formula One, the McLaren Technology Centre, third parties and partners.

Team leadership (20%)

• Leadership across the Brand Experience function, with a focus on collaboration to ensure Formula One experiences are in line with the complimentary brand experiences at the MTC and at other locations.
• Leadership of a focused team who manage experiences externally for consumers, and any other experiences as may be required from time to time.
• Coach the team to superior levels of performance embedding a commercial mindset (the proactive identification and exploitation of new revenue opportunities).
• Define and embed robust development plans for direct reports to underpin their growth and achievement of their KPI’s.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

The post holder will have:

• Strategic mindset to determine direction for the team to deliver experiences aligned to the McLaren brand.
• Innovative focus to ensure McLaren brand experiences are setting the standard in sport.
• Commercial acumen, creating opportunities for revenue upsell and ensuring retention of partnerships.
• Proven track record of leading diverse teams and working collaboratively cross-functionally.
• Stakeholder management across external rights holders, third parties, and suppliers.
• Strong digital knowledge; able to leverage latest technologies to enhance the customer/guest experience and amplify the brand impact.
• Leadership skills; adept at navigating complexity and ambiguity to channel the energies and outputs of their team to nurture a high-performance culture and at significant pace.
• Excellent P&L delivery with ability to plan, forecast and develop business plans for key assets to drive commercial return.
• Outstanding communication skills; persuasive influencer with ability to communicate new concepts and ideas for a positive outcome.

Personal Attributes:

• Strategic - Provides clear strategy, vision and direction for the business.
• Progressive – an out-of-the-box progressive thinker.
• Credible - Considered and nuanced communicator; exudes gravitas and acts as a role model for the McLaren values.
• Results-driven – a proven winner, someone who is driven; who comes with an outstanding work ethic and expects the best from him or herself and their people.
• Challenges – challenges others to strive for more, both in innovation and meeting stakeholder needs.
• Ownership - Understands the impact of leadership behaviour on the business and demonstrates behaviours that support a high-performance culture within and across teams.
• Leads - Leads an innovative culture by empowering and developing teams.
• Collaboration – Engages in partnerships, networks and alliances to support long term success and engages in partnerships for decision making to support the best interests of the business.
• Role Model – Is a role model and champions best practice in diversity and inclusion.

What can McLaren offer?

We constantly strive to be better tomorrow than we are today. Our ambition is to be the most pioneering and exhilarating racing team in the world, and our collective task is to set the standards for high performance in sport. We show up every day with energy and enthusiasm, ready to play our part.

We encourage and support diversity, equity and inclusion. We will actively promote a culture that values difference and eliminates discrimination in our workplace.

McLaren Racing is based at the iconic McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) near Woking. Here at McLaren, we offer hybrid working with 3 days a week based in the MTC.

Our state of the art, sustainable campus offers many facilities including a gym, restaurant and indoor and outdoor break-out areas, as well as direct access to park and common land. The MTC is connected to Woking mainline station via regular shuttle buses, from which London Waterloo is a 30 minute train ride.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including private healthcare, car schemes, life insurance and generous pension contributions.