Sr. Manager, Events & Hospitality

AAON; Tulsa (OK); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

AAON, a leader in industrial comfort solutions, seeks a Sr. Manager, Events & Hospitality to drive company-wide strategies for corporate events, hospitality services, and travel programs.

The role defines standards, budgets, and processes across locations while partnering with leaders to align programs with business objectives and ensure exceptional experiences for customers and employees. The position requires a Bachelor's degree in a related field and 10+ years in events/hospitality with 3+

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in hospitality management, business administration, marketing, or related.
• 10+ years in corporate events, hospitality, or related field, with 3+ years of people leadership.
• Equivalent education and experience considered.
• Experience across multiple locations and travel program oversight preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develops and leads company-wide strategy for events and hospitality across locations.
• Establishes standardized processes and operating guidelines for events.
• Leads complex events with budgets, timelines, and resource planning.
• Oversees hospitality operations, including catering and executive visits.
• Oversees corporate travel programs, vendor relations, and financial controls.
• Manages departmental budgets, forecasts, and vendor agreements.
• Builds vendor relationships and evaluates performance.
• Partners with leaders to align programs with business objectives.
• Evaluates program performance and implements improvements.
• Hires and mentors direct reports.

Skills

Strategic planning

Leadership

Project management

Budgeting

Vendor management

Communication

Cross-functional

Risk management

Education

Bachelor's degree in hospitality management

Bachelor's degree in business administration

Bachelor's degree in marketing

Job description

Job Description

The Sr. Manager, Events & Hospitality provides company-wide leadership for corporate events, hospitality services, and corporate travel programs. This position establishes strategies, standards, and processes that create consistent, professional experiences for customers, employees, leaders, and community partners across company locations. The role leads event and hospitality operations, manages budgets and external partners, and collaborates across the organization to align programs with business objectives. The Sr. Manager ensures programs are executed effectively, responsibly, and in alignment with company expectations.

Primary Duties

• Develops and leads the company-wide strategy for corporate events, hospitality services, and related programs, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives and stakeholder needs.
• Establishes standardized processes, service expectations, planning practices, and operating guidelines for events and hospitality services across company locations.
• Provides leadership for complex corporate events, including defining objectives, scope, budgets, timelines, resource requirements, execution strategies, and measures of success.
• Leads hospitality operations and establishes standards for catering, meeting support, executive and customer visits, special guests, and other company-sponsored experiences.
• Oversees corporate travel programs, including vendor relationships, policy adherence, financial controls, reporting, service performance, and continuous improvement.
• Develops and manages departmental budgets, forecasts, expenditures, vendor agreements, and resource plans to support business objectives and responsible use of company resources.
• Builds and manages relationships with external service providers and evaluates vendor performance, cost, service quality, operational requirements, and business risk.
• Partners with leaders and cross-functional teams to establish priorities, resolve complex operational issues, manage risks, and support consistent event and hospitality execution across the organization.
• Evaluates program performance, stakeholder feedback, service levels, costs, and operational results to identify opportunities for improvement and implement scalable practices.
• Hires, trains, coaches, counsels, and evaluates performance of direct reports.

Primary Duties May Include, But Are Not Limited To

• Establishes event planning tools, standards, schedules, contingency plans, and post-event evaluation practices to support consistent execution.
• Provides leadership and direction during major events, executive visits, customer engagements, and other high-visibility company activities.
• Monitors travel, event, and hospitality spending and identifies opportunities to strengthen financial controls, improve service, and optimize company resources.
• Ensures appropriate staffing, scheduling, resources, and operational readiness to support events and hospitality activities across company locations.
• Collaborates with marketing, sales, finance, accounting, facilities, information technology, security, administrative teams, and business leaders to coordinate organizational needs and priorities.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Job Requirements

Education and Experience Requirements:

• Requires a Bachelor's degree in hospitality management, business administration, marketing, or a related discipline;
• 10+ years of progressively responsible experience in corporate events, hospitality, experiential marketing, event consulting, or a related field, including 3+ years of people leadership experience and demonstrated experience managing complex events, budgets, contracts, and external vendors;
• or any combination of education and experience, which would provide an equivalent background.
• Experience supporting multiple locations and overseeing corporate travel programs or related reporting preferred.

Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities

• Advanced knowledge of event planning, event production, hospitality operations, and service delivery practices.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to develop teams, establish accountability, and lead through complex or high-visibility situations.
• Strong project management, organizational, planning, and prioritization skills with the ability to manage multiple initiatives simultaneously.
• Strong financial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, expense analysis, cost management, and vendor evaluation.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively with employees, senior leaders, customers, vendors, and other stakeholders.
• Ability to influence decisions, establish alignment among diverse stakeholders, and build effective cross-functional relationships.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, risk-management, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to establish scalable standards, processes, service expectations, and performance measures across multiple locations.
• Sound judgment and the ability to remain composed and make effective decisions in time-sensitive or high-pressure situations.
• Ability to negotiate and manage vendor relationships, contracts, service expectations, and associated costs.
• Ability to analyze program performance, spending, service levels, and stakeholder feedback and translate findings into actionable improvements.
• Ability to travel and work outside normal business hours, including occasional evenings and weekends, based on business and event requirements.

Essential And Physical Functions

• Ability to communicate effectively and exchange accurate information with employees, leaders, customers, vendors, and other stakeholders.
• Ability to analyze information, establish priorities, solve complex problems, exercise sound judgment, and make decisions in time-sensitive situations.
• Ability to remain stationary for extended periods while performing administrative, planning, budgeting, and reporting responsibilities.
• Ability to move throughout office, meeting, hospitality, and event spaces to oversee activities and ensure operational readiness.
• Ability to occasionally move or position event materials, supplies, or equipment associated with event and hospitality activities.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and maintain attention to detail in environments with changing deadlines and operational requirements.

Work Environment

• Work is primarily performed in office, meeting, hospitality, and event environments.
• Regular interaction and collaboration with employees, senior leaders, customers, visitors, vendors, and external service providers.
• May work at multiple company locations, event venues, or other business-related locations depending on organizational needs.
• Occasional travel, evening, or weekend work may be required to support company events and business activities.
• May experience periods of increased activity, noise, and changing environmental conditions during events or at external venues.
• Compliance with all applicable company policies and safety requirements is expected.

Disclaimer

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at a time with or without notice. This job description is not an exhaustive list of all functions that the employee may be required to perform, and the employee may be required to perform additional functions. The company reserves the right to revise this job description at any time. The employee must be able to perform the essential functions of the position satisfactorily. If requested, reasonable accommodations may be made to enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job, absent undue hardship.