Luxury Events & Business Development Lead

Tasting Room Expo; Napa, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 135,000 - 195,000; Full time

Job summary

The Event & Business Development Manager at Pine Ridge (Crimson Wine Group) drives event revenue through strategic sales, business development, and luxury hospitality standards. You will lead the Events Team, manage inquiries, negotiate contracts, and shape menus and guest experiences to align with brand positioning and financial goals.

This role requires building a pipeline with DMCs, winery associations, tour operators, and private clients, plus managing budgets, forecasts, and post-event

Qualifications

• Minimum of five years of experience in event sales, business development, hospitality, luxury service, winery operations, or a related field.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute an event business development strategy to achieve annual revenue, wine sales, profitability, and estate utilization goals.
• Prospect, solicit, and secure new business across corporate events, incentive travel, executive retreats, private celebrations, luxury hospitality experiences, virtual tastings, and incremental sales programs.
• Build and maintain relationships with DMCs, winery associations, tour operators, hotel concierge teams, corporate planners, event agencies, community partners, and referral sources.
• Manage a qualified sales pipeline, including lead generation, prospecting activity, referral productivity, conversion metrics, and forecast reporting.
• Conduct site visits, client presentations, sales meetings, follow-up outreach, trade shows, networking events, and community or industry functions to generate and close qualified leads.
• Collaborate with key stakeholders to develop promotional materials, sales tools, event concepts, menus, and campaigns.
• Track market trends, competitive activity, customer demand, and partner performance to identify new sales opportunities and business expansion strategies.
• Hire, train, schedule, coach, supervise, and develop the Events Team.
• Establish performance expectations, accountability measures, training priorities, and development plans for event staff.
• Conduct performance reviews, coaching conversations, and progressive discipline as needed; administer and approve payroll and incentives.
• Create staffing plans and schedules that support events, floor coverage, manager-on-duty needs, and labor cost optimization.
• Foster a culture of hospitality, professionalism, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Oversee event planning from inquiry through contract, planning, execution, billing, post-event follow-up, and debrief.
• Develop event menus, experience offerings, timelines, staffing plans, and execution standards aligned with brand positioning and financial goals.
• Serve as escalation point for complex client needs, VIP events, service recovery, and event-related challenges.
• Ensure events meet service standards, contractual guidelines, timelines, safety requirements, compliance expectations, and budgets.
• Manage vendor, supplier, entertainment, and service partner relationships.
• Develop and maintain luxury service manuals, event playbooks, hospitality training programs, and Standard Operating Procedures that support elevated service delivery and operational consistency.
• Ensure guest-facing event experiences reflect the winery’s luxury positioning, service ethic, and hospitality philosophy.
• Coach teams on service etiquette, storytelling, personalization, sales initiatives, and guest engagement standards.
• Identify opportunities to enhance guest and client experience through innovation, personalization, operational readiness, and service excellence.

Job description

The Event & Business Development Manager at Pine Ridge (Crimson Wine Group) drives event revenue through strategic sales, business development, and luxury hospitality standards. You will lead the Events Team, manage inquiries, negotiate contracts, and shape menus and guest experiences to align with brand positioning and financial goals.

This role requires building a pipeline with DMCs, winery associations, tour operators, and private clients, plus managing budgets, forecasts, and post-event