M&E Operations Manager

American Express Global Business Travel; United States; On-site; USD 82,000 - 152,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Travel perks

Learning & development

Inclusion programs

Job summary

Amex GBT is seeking a Studio Operations Manager to lead a dedicated Experience Studio team for a major enterprise client, owning staffing, quality, and reporting across the program calendar. You will serve as the daily contact for event leadership and ensure delivery against the statement of work.

You will oversee resourcing, governance, and client reporting, escalating issues and driving optimal staffing and performance across all programs. A senior level of client leadership is required.

Qualifications

• Ten or more years in corporate meetings and events.
• Direct leadership of ten or more planners.
• Experience running a client-statement-of-work.
• Strong knowledge of Cvent and enterprise tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead the dedicated account team and own staffing, performance, and development.
• Serve as the daily client contact and manage service levels and scope.
• Run the governance rhythm with account management and produce regular reviews.
• Own client reporting and on-site delivery for flagship programs.

Job description

Amex GBT is a place where colleagues find inspiration in travel as a force for good and – through their work – can make an impact on our industry. We’re here to help our colleagues achieve success and offer an inclusive and collaborative culture where your voice is valued. The Studio Operations Manager leads a dedicated Experience Studio team built around one enterprise client, owns resourcing, quality, and reporting across that client's full calendar of meetings and events, and is the daily contact for the client's event leadership. The client's event leadership sets the portfolio and its priorities, and Account Management owns the commercial relationship and the contract. The Studio Operations Manager runs the team and the service the client sees every day.

What You’ll Do

Lead the dedicated account team, including a Senior Event Producer, a Senior Sourcing Manager, Senior Event Managers, Event Managers, Attendee Experience Coordinators, and a trade show team, with direct responsibility for hiring, assignments, performance, development, and coverage across the program calendar. Serve as the daily contact for the client's event leadership, so they always know how the portfolio is performing, where the risks sit, and which decisions are waiting on them. Own delivery against the statement of work: service levels, scope, and the quality of every program the team touches. Run resourcing across the full calendar, matching people to programs, balancing concurrent workloads, bringing in peak support from the wider Experience Studio, and recommending staffing changes as the client's needs evolve. Own the governance rhythm with Account Management, including monthly reviews and the 90 day and six month reviews, with performance, volume, and savings data the client can act on. Own account reporting, including the event by event activity and cost reporting the client uses to allocate spend across its business units. Set the quality standard for each function and audit against it: sourcing contracts and documented savings, budgets and reconciliations, registration builds, planning files, and onsite delivery. Take every escalation the program leads cannot close, whether supplier, budget, or stakeholder, and bring the client a resolution or a recommendation, onsite at flagship programs when needed, with the travel that comes with it. Establish how the team works inside the client's environment: onboarding onto client systems, including its Cvent instance, clean handoffs between sourcing, planning, attendee experience, and onsite, and the data, privacy, and brand standards everyone is held to. Partner with the Head of Event Operations on account planning, scope management, staffing forecasts, and change requests, and raise scope creep, risk, and resourcing gaps early with a recommendation attached.

What We’re Looking For

• Ten or more years in corporate meetings and events, with at least five years leading a dedicated client team.
• Direct leadership of ten or more planners working inside a client's systems, including senior managers and functional specialists.
• Experience running delivery under a client statement of work, including service levels, scope control, staffing changes, and business reviews with senior client leaders.
• Portfolio scale: dozens of programs a year at different stages, including multi-day executive programs, audiences of 500 or more, and budgets above $1million.
• Working knowledge of every function on the team, from venue sourcing and contract terms through budgets, registration, onsite delivery, and trade shows, deep enough to judge the quality of the work.
• Resource and capacity planning skill: able to forecast workload, read utilization, and make a staffing recommendation the numbers support.
• Executive client presence: able to lead a business review, deliver a hard update, and hold a recommendation under pressure.
• People leadership that hires well, sets clear expectations, develops senior managers and coordinators alike, and handles performance conversations directly.
• Strong command of Cvent and enterprise project and collaboration tools, with reporting and written updates that hold up when read back months later.
• Preferred: CMP or CMM; experience standing up a new dedicated team from launch; trade show or exhibit program oversight; time at a hotel, destination management company, or production partner that provides the supplier's view of the agency.

Location

United States

The US national base salary range for this position is from $81,900.00 - $152,100.00

The national range provided includes the base salary that Amex GBT expects to pay for the role. Actual base salary will be based on factors including the scope and complexity of the role and the successful candidate’s relevant experience, skills, knowledge, and work location. In addition to base salary, the anticipated range of which is posted above, this role is eligible for a discretionary annual bonus, which rewards participants based on company and individual performance. For information about our comprehensive US benefits programs and eligibility, please review our Benefits-at-a-Glance document.

Benefits at a glance

• The #TeamGBT Experience Work and life: Find your happy medium at Amex GBT. Flexible benefits are tailored to each country and start the day you do. These include health and welfare insurance plans, retirement programs, parental leave, adoption assistance, and wellbeing resources to support you and your immediate family.
• Travel perks: get a choice of deals each week from major travel providers on everything from flights to hotels to cruises and car rentals.
• Develop the skills you want when the time is right for you, with access to over 20,000 courses on our learning platform, leadership courses, and new job openings available to internal candidates first.
• We strive to champion Inclusion in every aspect of our business at Amex GBT. You can connect with colleagues through our global INclusion Groups, centered around common identities or initiatives, to discuss challenges, obstacles, achievements, and drive company awareness and action. And much more!

All applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to age, sex, gender (and characteristics related to sex and gender), pregnancy (and related medical conditions), race, color, citizenship, religion, disability, or any other class or characteristic protected by law.

Furthermore, we are committed to providing reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please let your recruiter know if you need an accommodation at any point during the hiring process. For details regarding how we protect your data, please consult the Amex GBT Recruitment Privacy Statement.

What if I don’t meet every requirement?

If you’re passionate about our mission and believe you’d be a phenomenal addition to our team, don’t worry about “checking every box;