Event Operations Graduate - 3 month FTC

Location: London, UK (Hybrid, 3-4 days in the office per week)

Salary: London Living Wage

Contract: Fixed-Term (July – October 2026)

native has been building for 10 years, but we're still very much a startup: fast-moving, ambitious, and building with intent. We're creating the infrastructure that connects students, Students’ Unions, universities, and advertisers through a managed marketplace.

Every year, we deliver one of the largest student engagement programmes in the UK. From Freshers' Fairs and nationwide campus tours to experiential brand campaigns and large-scale student events, we create the infrastructure that connects students, Students' Unions, universities and advertisers.

None of that happens by accident.

Behind every successful event, campaign and activation is a huge amount of planning, coordination, logistics, problem-solving and execution. This graduate programme gives you the opportunity to learn how it all works from the inside during the most exciting period of the year.

From July through to the Freshers season finale in October, you'll work alongside teams delivering live events, nationwide tours, advertiser campaigns and student experiences at scale.

We're looking for recent graduates, final-year students, or those with equivalent experience who want to step straight into meaningful work, learn quickly and make a tangible impact.

What We're Looking For

This role requires clarity of thought, structured thinking and good judgement under pressure.

You'll need to switch between projects quickly, handle competing priorities, solve problems before they become issues, and help teams deliver at pace during our busiest period of the year.

The sharpest thinkers are often the ones who've had to work hardest to be taken seriously. The people who see patterns others miss are often the ones who've never quite fit the standard template. The candidates with the best judgement are frequently the ones who've been underestimated, or who've had to prove the same capability twice as many times as their peers.

If that describes your path – if you've had to explain yourself more than others, or if you've done hard things that don't look impressive on paper – this role might be for you.

We're looking for people who:

• Rebuild problems from scratch rather than inherit solutions

• Stay organised when lots of moving parts are changing at once

• Make decisions in ambiguity without needing permission

• Take ownership of outcomes rather than waiting to be asked

• Enjoy being useful, adaptable and trusted across multiple teams

• Communicate clearly and professionally with different stakeholders

• Do work properly because it matters to them, not because someone's measuring

• Have done hard things that required more than just being clever on paper

We look for intellectual sharpness, practical judgement and a willingness to get stuck in. Strong academic records tell us something. So does organising events, leading projects, managing competing commitments, working in fast-paced environments, or simply demonstrating exceptional ownership in whatever you've done.

The Opportunity

You'll join our Central Operations team during one of the busiest and most exciting periods of the year as we prepare for and deliver Freshers' season across the UK.

This is a highly varied role designed to expose you to multiple parts of the business. You'll work alongside teams responsible for operations, logistics, campaign delivery, experiential marketing, events, staffing and student engagement.

No two weeks will look the same.

Your responsibilities may include:

• Supporting the planning and delivery of Freshers' Fairs across the UK

• Helping coordinate one of the UK's largest annual student engagement programmes

• Assisting with project management and operational coordination across multiple workstreams

• Working with our warehousing and logistics teams to ensure event materials, stock and assets are delivered where they need to be

• Supporting nationwide Freshers tours and experiential campaigns

• Helping coordinate staffing schedules, recruitment activity and event personnel

• Assisting campaign delivery teams to ensure advertiser campaigns are executed successfully

• Supporting the experiential delivery team with live activations and event execution

• Working with student audience teams to drive engagement and participation

• Contributing to the planning and delivery of the Big Student Lock-In Freshers Finale in London on 3 October

• Maintaining documentation, trackers and operational systems that help teams stay aligned

• Identifying opportunities to improve processes and remove operational bottlenecks

• Jumping into whatever needs doing to help the wider business succeed during peak delivery periods

If you have experience in design, content creation, creative production or video editing, there may also be opportunities to support campaign and event content throughout the programme.

Why This Programme Is Different

Most graduate programmes expose you to one team.

This programme exposes you to a business.

Over three months you'll work across operations, logistics, live events, campaign delivery, staffing, audience engagement and experiential marketing, building a broad understanding of how large-scale student campaigns and experiences are planned and delivered.

You'll gain practical experience in:

• Event Operations

• Project Management

• Logistics & Supply Chain Coordination

• Campaign Delivery

• Experiential Marketing

• Stakeholder Management

• Live Event Execution

• Resource Planning

• Process Improvement

• Startup Operations

If you're unsure exactly where your career will take you, but know you enjoy organising things, solving problems and making projects happen, this is an opportunity to learn from multiple disciplines in a fast-moving environment.

What Happens After The Programme

This programme runs throughout our busiest and most exciting delivery period, from July through to the completion of Freshers' season.

You'll leave with hands-on experience delivering large-scale campaigns, events and operational projects alongside experienced teams responsible for reaching millions of students across the UK.

While the programme itself is fixed-term, outstanding performers may be considered for future opportunities within native as the business continues to grow.

Equal Opportunity Statement

We are actively creating an equitable environment for everyone at native to thrive.

Diversity and inclusion are a priority for us and we are making sure we have lots of support for all of our people to grow at native. At native, we embrace diversity in all of its forms and foster an inclusive environment for all people to do the best work of their lives with us.