Manager, Events and Experiences

If youre excited about building systems that empower others to lead and want to help shape Canadas next generation of entrepreneurial AI-ready talent for the future of work wed love to hear from you!

Venture for Canada is a national registered charity equipping talent across Canada with the entrepreneurial skills mindset and opportunities to succeed in a 21st-century economy increasingly shaped by rapid change and emerging technology. We believe that to be entrepreneurial is to act upon opportunities to create value for others. The resourcefulness and creativity of people across Canada are essential to addressing our countrys greatest challenges. Venture for Canada serves as a catalyst by empowering individuals to create a more prosperous inclusive and innovative society.

Since 2013 Venture for Canada has grown in meaningful ways and were excited to expand our team with values-aligned individuals who can contribute to what were building. To learn more about our hiring process and workplace philosophy visit our Careers page.

Role Overview

This role leads the strategy planning and execution of high-quality events and convenings that bring together participants partners funders alumni staff and community members across Venture for Canadas national programs. These convenings range from large-scale conferences and summits to smaller roundtables community meetups and internal retreats.

The Events and Experiences Manager will oversee the full event lifecycle from early strategy and project planning through to venue sourcing vendor negotiation guest experience onsite execution budget management and post-event closeout. This person will work closely with cross-functional teams to ensure each convening is well-planned inclusive mission-aligned and professionally executed.

The ideal candidate is an experienced events leader people manager and cross-functional project manager who can think strategically about how convenings support community-building outreach partnerships recruitment learning and stakeholder engagement. They are highly organized independent and able to build the systems documentation and team alignment needed to make complex events repeatable high-quality and impactful.

Key Role Responsibilities

Event Strategy and Experience Design

• Lead the design of high-quality inclusive and mission-aligned convenings including conferences summits roundtables community meetups program events and employee retreats
• Design thoughtful guest experience journeys from registration and pre-event communications through onsite participation accessibility engagement follow-up and offboarding
• Apply a strategic lens to how Venture for Canada convenes people ensuring events are not only well-run but meaningful useful and aligned with organizational goals

Project Management and Cross-Functional Leadership

• Own the full planning lifecycle for events and convenings from early design and project planning through execution closeout and post-event learning
• Lead cross-functional project teams that may include Program Learning Development Admissions Marketing Operations Partnerships IT and external vendors
• Build and maintain clear project management infrastructure including workback plans project trackers timelines decision logs risk registers run-of-show documents and closeout tools

Event Operations Vendors and Budget Stewardship

• Oversee major event planning elements including venue sourcing vendor coordination contract negotiation risk management accessibility planning onsite execution and post-event wrap-up
• Manage event budgets across convenings of varying size and complexity including estimating costs tracking expenses monitoring risks and identifying cost-saving opportunities

Community Partnerships and Stakeholder Engagement

• Collaborate with internal teams to ensure events support Venture for Canadas broader community recruitment funder alumni participant and partnership goals
• Support community development strategies by designing and delivering convenings that build connection trust and engagement across Venture for Canadas networks
• Help strengthen Venture for Canadas approach to national convening including new formats expansion opportunities accessibility best practices and scalable planning models

People Leadership and Team Development

• Manage coach and support direct reports including team members focused on logistics
• Create a team environment where people feel clear supported accountable and able to do strong work

Who You Are

• You are a strategic and thoughtful convener who understands that events are not just logistics; they are opportunities to build community deepen relationships and create meaningful experiences
• You are highly organized and able to bring clarity structure and calm to complex projects with many moving pieces
• You are proactive and take ownership of your work anticipating what needs to happen before it becomes urgent
• You are a strong communicator who keeps people aligned informed and clear on what needs to happen next
• You build trust quickly and develop strong working relationships across teams partners vendors and stakeholders
• You are confident leading teams while creating an environment where people feel supported clear and accountable
• You care deeply about inclusion accessibility and designing experiences where participants partners funders staff and community members feel welcomed and considered
• You are resourceful and thoughtful about how to deliver high-quality experiences while stewarding budgets and organizational capacity responsibly

What You Bring

• 5 years of experience project managing complex events and convenings including large-scale conferences revenue generating events summits roundtables meetups retreats or community gatherings
• 5 years of experience managing people
• Experience leading events from early strategy and design through planning execution closeout and post-event learning
• Experience managing cross-functional projects with multiple internal teams
• Strong project management skills including the ability to create workback plans project trackers run-of-show documents risk logs decision logs and other planning tools that keep complex work organized
• Strong budget management experience including estimating event costs tracking expenses managing budget risks and identifying cost-saving opportunities
• Experience sourcing venues and negotiating with vendors
• Experience supporting or leading community-building initiatives convenings or stakeholder engagement experiences

Job Details

The purpose of this job posting is to fill a temporary vacancy created by an employee leave of absence. The contract term is 12 months. The anticipated start date is ASAP.

Arrangement

Venture for Canada is a remote-first organization with offices based in Toronto and Vancouver. This is a remote position open to candidates across Canada. While all qualified applicants are encouraged to apply preference may be given to candidates based in the Greater Toronto Area to support occasional in-person collaboration and team connection. Moderate in-person attendance of program-related events is required.

Language Requirement

As a national organization serving communities across Canada professional proficiency in written and spoken English is required. Proficiency in both English and French is considered a strong asset for this role.

Commitment to Diversity and Accessibility

Venture for Canada is dedicated to fostering an inclusive equitable and accessible workplace. We welcome and encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds experiences and identities. Accommodations are available upon request for candidates participating in all stages of the recruitment and selection process. If you require an accommodation please contact

Applicant Notice

Venture for Canada may use artificial intelligence-enabled tools to support certain aspects of the recruitment process; all hiring decisions are made by our talent acquisition stakeholders. Only selected applicants will be contacted for an accordance with applicable laws candidates who are interviewed will be notified of the hiring decision within 45 days of their final interview. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in Canada at the time of application; we are unable to provide employment sponsorship or support work permit applications for this position.

Required Experience:

Manager