Senior Sound Manager - Sports Events

This position within the Sport Technology team is primarily to focus on work within the London Tech Hub in Chiswick on major sporting rights coverage, but also to provide valuable planning and expertise for any upcoming Olympic Games that Discovery/Eurosport may secure rights for.

The scope as related to the London Tech Hub involves technical liaison between the Production teams and the greater technical teams. The role will take on board all Production requirements and requests that relate to a specific sporting event and evaluate whether those requirements and requests are achievable. If they are then it involves finding the most cost-effective solution. 

During Live Sporting Events, this position should be available to act as Sound Supervisor as required, so the knowledge of the event requirements is kept fresh. Longer live events would require a transfer of knowledge to a Sound Supervisor so they can remain with the event. The Senior Sound Manager, with a higher technical level of expertise of Eurosport’s infrastructure would be on hand to assist with any technical questions from the Sound Supervisor or Production.

Eurosport uses an infrastructure named ‘Eurosport Technology Transformation’ which utilises an IP-based backend system for video and audio, allowing remote control from regional centres to the two main Data Centres. It is not expected that applicants are fully conversant with the Eurosport system, but continual feedback on the new systems will allow other Engineering departments to make modifications as required to better suit the Production environment. 

Knowledge of the ETT system (once gained) will help provide a knowledgebase that European regional centres can turn to if they have queries or issues that can’t be resolved with the local team.

The Senior Sound Manager is expected to provide valuable planning, system design, configuration, test and execution of major events and possibly upcoming Olympic Games. They will be expected to provide solutions that meet the business needs whilst maintaining the ETT technical standards necessary to connect to Europe.

Close collaboration with other departments is required as well as with the regional markets. Establishing effective working relationships with both internal groups and external vendors is a key requisite for this role.

Attending occasional Outside Broadcast events as Senior Sound Manager as required the future.

A proven track record of successful delivery of major sporting events is essential for this role. 

European and Global travel will be required to support major events and possibly any Olympic coverage.

• Provide specialist technical support and information to Eurosport Production teams.
• Work collaboratively with Production and other GT&O departments to ensure requirements are met.
• Design and propose fully costed technical solutions as required.
• Gather feedback from the various markets/regions so systems and workflows can be enhanced where possible.
• Close collaboration with the Sports Technology Technical Managers to achieve the above and to improve the service offered to the Production teams.
• The Sports Production teams are our client, and it is expected that they are treated as such.
• Ensure all documentation is maintained by all parties and available to all.
• Provide cover as Sound Supervisor within Sound Control Room’s if required.
• Provide specialist technical support to Sound Supervisors and Production teams.
• Mentor Sound Supervisors at a lower level to improve their career paths.
• Provide specialist technical support and information to other departments.
• Continuous work with regional centres to ensure best practices for regional productions.
• Provide training on technical operational procedures to Eurosport regional centres.
• Work closely with the project teams looking to improve ETT, liaising with all members on any issues found.
• Create and update system documentation that will be used by Operational teams.
• Work collaboratively with, and direct hired-in technical and engineering contractors.
• Work within the Sport Technology group to execute improvements in remote events.
• Work within the Sport Technology group on major event planning including system design.
• Work on other major events as required.
• Evaluate and assess new technologies and equipment.
• Other ad-hoc duties as required.

• Educated to degree level or with proven experience in an Audio and Talkback Broadcast environment, the applicant should be an audio technical operator/engineer.
• Experience of working on major sporting events is essential and willing to work the anti-social hours often needed to achieve success.
• An exceptional understanding of the production process and requirements of a sports production team.
• Experience of working with Production departments a necessity.
• Ability to build effective working relationships within and across departments.
• Thorough knowledge of both digital and IP audio technologies, and their implementation.
• Knowledge of and/or experience with AES67 and SMPTE 2110 utilised within ETT.
• Standard office IT skills – MS Office, MS Visio, or Discovery recommended alternatives.
• System drawing skills an advantage.
• Self-motivation and the ability to advance events/projects without supervision are essential.
• The ability to deal with multiple workflows and to identify and prioritise their responsibilities in a changing environment.
• The successful candidate will be expected to communicate with and meet a wide variety of people within and outside of the organisation during their career at Discovery & Eurosport; therefore, excellent presentational and communication skills are essential.

Desirable skills:

• Knowledge of workflows and processes in OTT platforms linear and non-linear and where that aligns with Discovery+.
• Previous experience and use of umbrella control systems such as BNCS is a definite advantage.
• System drawing skills an advantage.
• Knowledge or training in project management, and project management tools.
• A familiarity with current and relevant health and safety regulations and training pertinent to the broadcast environment.