Peeps Consulting have been engaged to recruit a Head of Precinct, Experience & Hospitality Products for Victoria Racing Club. Please see the Job Description below and follow the prompts to apply.
Reporting to: Executive General Manager – Product and Innovation
Location: Melbourne
Employment Type: Permanent Full-time
Values
Think VRC | Create Joy | Be Gutsy | F-Learn | Care Deeply
Purpose
This role is accountable for leading innovation and performance of Flemington precincts, experience and hospitality products across VRC’s four seasonal racing carnivals, including the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
The role leads the development and optimisation of precinct-wide experience, onsite destinations, and hospitality products relevant to – casual dining, elevated public, bars, pop-ups, activations, partnerships – ensuring they are customer-led, commercially sustainable, and market leading. With accountability for product performance, commercial outcomes and customer engagement.
Connecting across VRC teams, the role translates customer insights and commercial goals into a clear, prioritised product and experience roadmap. The role ensures Flemington is activated as a thriving precinct while aligning product outcomes with the VRC brand and strategic growth objectives.
Stakeholders
Internal | C-Suite, Executive General Managers, Department Heads & Managers, Board of Directors and the wider VRC team.
External | VRC Members, Customers & Clients, Key Partners & Corporate Clients, Flemington Hospitality Partner, Suppliers & Vendors, and Industry Networks & Associations.
Focus
Product Strategy, Innovation and Development
- Own the product vision, ideation and life cycle for Flemington Precinct, MCC, and relevant hospitality products – informed and driven by research, data and insights and ideation
- Precinct wide product experience strategy
- Hospitality products – casual dining, elevated public, bars, pop-ups, activations, partnerships
- Experiential activation of Flemington as a place, not just an event
- Informed by data-drive market, customer, and competitor analysis to understand consumer behaviour to shape the product positioning, and identify opportunities for innovation and growth
- Align products to VRC customer segments to define the product/precinct experience and endeavour to diversify customer segments and create new ways for consumers to interact with VRC’s individual seasonal carnivals including the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
- Lead the product strategy for hospitality offerings across – casual dining, elevated public experiences, bars, pop-ups, activations and partner-led concepts.
- Incorporate a clear hospitality product strategy aligned to customer segments, venue types, and price tiers across the precinct
- Ensure hospitality products enhance the customer experience whole optimising commercial yield
- Define product value propositions, robust pricing tiers and commercial models to optimise conversion and profitability
- Define the consumer engagement strategy and appropriate sales funnel for each product to maximise the sales team's ability to convert
- Develop and maintain product roadmaps that establish our unique market position and align with the VRC organisational brand strategy
- Incorporate a clear Food and Beverage strategy to meet the needs of each audience segment and product level targeted to key venues, spaces and retail outlets.
Commercial and Performance Management
- Own product performance and create commercial models that metrics including occupancy/sell-through, maximised profitability, revenue targets, customer satisfaction, and repeat visitation
- Design a precinct and product strategy that drives increased attendance across all race days
- Partner with finance on forecasting, budget, pricing models, and P&L management for each product
- Monitor product performance through sales data, customer insights, and operational metrics
- Analyse performance and insights to refine and re-imagine products to improve year-on-year performance outcomes
Cross-Functional Leadership
- Collaborate with commercial sales teams to design and integrate deliverables, enhance customer visibility and success, while elevating shared value
- Work with Marketing team to develop go-to market briefs for marketing campaigns, product messaging and retail pricing position
- Align with Racing and Operations teams to ensure delivery feasibility and quality, operational readiness, and risk mitigation
- Work with Customer team to ensure products complement member expectations and programs and drive member engagement growth
- Provide clear direction, leadership, and workflow prioritisation to support team growth and performance
Stakeholder Engagement
- Build strong relationships across internal teams, Flemington hospitality and beverage partners, suppliers, research and data agencies, and racing industry stakeholders
- Prepare and present product strategies, updates, insights and recommendations to Executive Leadership Team
Core Capabilities
- Product & Experience Strategy Lead the planning, development and delivery of compelling experience and hospitality products across major events and venues, with particular strength in large scale, audience facing environments such as racing or sport.
- Industry & Environment Insight Demonstrate a strong understanding of the racing and/or major event landscape, including operational, regulatory and audience dynamics, to inform product strategy and delivery decisions.
- Customer Led Experience Design Champion a customer first, audience led mindset, translating insights, trends and onsite feedback into standout experience products that deliver best in class outcomes for patrons.
- Commercial & Financial Acumen Apply strong commercial judgement to manage multi million dollar event portfolios, making informed decisions that balance customer experience, operational feasibility and financial performance.
- Cross Functional Leadership & Influence Communicate clearly and lead collaboratively across diverse stakeholder groups, influencing outcomes and aligning teams across marketing, operations, commercial and delivery functions.
- People Leadership & Team Enablement Provide effective people leadership through coaching, guidance and motivation of team members, building capability and fostering high performance in fast paced event environments.
- Performance Under Pressure Operate with confidence and focus under pressure, successfully managing multiple concurrent events and tight racing timelines while maintaining experience and delivery standards.
- Innovation & Continuous Improvement Bring an innovative and improvement focused mindset to the evolution of live experiences, contributing to the delivery of world class racing and major events in Melbourne.
- Contribute to a positive and respectful team environment that values open communication, creative collaboration, and mutual support.
- Manage workload effectively, with guidance from leaders, to maintain a healthy balance between high-quality creative output and personal wellbeing.
- Support an inclusive workplace where diverse perspectives are valued, and feedback is encouraged, constructive, and solution focused.
Success Measures (KPIs)
- Sell-through, occupancy, and revenue performance across precinct destinations and products
- Positive member, customer and partner satisfaction scores
- Positive internal team engagement scores
- Successful launch and adoption of new or improved product and event experiences
- Strong stakeholder alignment and partner satisfaction
- Strong positive uptake by VRC ELT of new product innovation
- Year-on-year growth in existing and new audience segments and product engagement
Qualifications & Experience
- 10+ years in product management, major events, hospitality experience design, or similar fields
- Experience in racing, sports events, stadium/venue operations, or large-scale public events is highly desirable
- Tertiary qualification in Events, Business, Marketing, or Product Management preferred
Values
Think VRC: We deliver with one purpose and plan. We’re one VRC team.
Create Joy: We design every experience, for our members, customers and each other, to create joy.
Be Gutsy: We are grounded in our heritage; we’re brave and curious in our pursuit of a bigger future.
F-Learn: We fail but learn, treating setbacks as opportunities for growth.
Care Deeply: We genuinely care about each other: our people, our members, are customers and our community.
If you possess the skills and experience for this role please send your CV to [email protected]
