Senior Director of Events

Your Day-to-Day:

• Oversee overall strategy, planning, and execution for SPN's events, including our 1,500+ person Annual Meeting. Serve as a thought partner to staff, ensuring each event advances SPN's mission and strategic objectives.
• Drive content planning and programming for SPN’s events, collaborating with members of SPN’s leadership team and other key stakeholders to build agendas and curate speakers and session formats. Partner closely with the communications, programs, and development teams to build content that reflects SPN’s strategic priorities.
• Design systems and processes that allow SPN to scale our event portfolio without sacrificing the warm, personal experience attendees expect from SPN. Evaluate, implement, and champion solutions that streamline logistics, reduce manual work, and allow the team to scale events.
• Build and maintain strong, ongoing relationships with vendors, sponsors, and partners to unlock new opportunities and improve execution.
• Hire, mentor, and coach members of the events team, setting individual expectations and providing ongoing feedback.
• Oversee event sponsorship strategy and execution, in partnership with SPN's sponsorship contractor and development team, to meet ambitious revenue goals.
• Ensure brand consistency across speakers, content, and event logistics, coordinating with SPN's communications team to prepare presenters and maintain a polished attendee experience.
• Build feedback loops after each event to capture lessons learned on both content and logistics, and continuously refine SPN's event playbook.
• Develop and track event budgets, identifying opportunities to continue executing high-quality events in a cost-effective manner within a constantly changing hospitality environment.

TLDR? We're looking for…

• 7+ years of experience in event strategy, event management, or a related field, including experience leading large-scale, high-profile events (500+ attendees).
• Demonstrated experience designing event content – agendas, session formats, and speaker lineups – for a substantive, policy- or issue-driven audience.
• A track record of using technology and process design to make events more efficient and scalable—not just running events, but improving how they get run.
• Proven people-management experience, with the ability to build, mentor, and grow a high-performing events team.
• Strong budget management and vendor negotiation skills.
• Exceptional project management skills and comfort holding multiple complex timelines at once.
• A genuine passion for hospitality and creating memorable, personal experiences. This role is equal parts operator and host.
• Experience designing and executing successful donor cultivation events is ideal.
• Familiarity with the state-based think tank movement or nonprofit/association event work is a plus.
• Willingness to travel regularly for site visits and on-site event execution (roughly 20% travel).

Are YOU a good fit?

• Are you Mission-Bound? Everything we do at SPN is in service to building durable freedom movements in every state. We pursue excellence in our work and set aside our pride and differences to commit ourselves to this end.
• Are you Candid and Humble? We give and receive honest and respectful feedback with the assumption of positive intent. We deal with problems and conflict directly with the individuals involved. We are open to challenges, eager to learn, and willing to acknowledge mistakes to improve.
• Are you Entrepreneurial? We seek opportunities, embrace innovation, and take prudent risk with a bias toward action. We test, fail small, and scale our successes. We're resilient but also nimble, looking for the potential in every challenge.
• Are you Relational? Trust and respect are built over time through competence, reliability, and integrity. We establish credibility through meaningful relationships, demonstrating value before expecting influence or partnership.