Sr Program Manager Client Experiences

KinderCare; Zion (IL); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

KinderCare is seeking an experienced Program Manager, Client Experiences & Events to translate our client engagement strategy into high-impact experiences across the client lifecycle. You will plan conferences, sponsorship activations, hospitality events, and executive engagements, partnering with Sales, Client Success, Marketing, and Operations to ensure seamless execution.

You will provide structure, planning expertise, and leadership to bring the right people together at the right moments,

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in event management or related field or equivalent experience.
• Five+ years of experience in corporate events, client experiences, or related fields.
• Experience managing complex events from strategy through onsite execution and post-event follow-up.
• Experience designing events that support client relationships and business objectives.
• Strong project-management skills with budgeting, timelines, and vendor coordination.
• Ability to travel regularly for conferences and client engagements.

Responsibilities

• Translate the client engagement strategy into an annual portfolio of conferences, client events, hospitality experiences, and sponsorships.
• Lead conference planning, sponsorship selection, audience strategy, and follow-up plans.
• Plan and execute client appreciation events, executive dinners, and regional gatherings.
• Collaborate with Sales, Client Success, Marketing, Operations, and other teams to align objectives.
• Develop standardized tools, templates, and budgets to streamline planning.
• Lead post-event debriefs and report on outcomes and ROI.

Skills

Project management

Cross-functional collaboration

Budget management

Strategic thinking

Communication

Travel flexibility

Education

Bachelor's degree in event management or related field

Tools

Event management platforms

CRM systems

Registration tools

Job description

Position Summary

The Program Manager, Client Experiences & Events will translate the organization’s client engagement strategy into thoughtful, well-executed experiences that strengthen relationships across the full client lifecycle. This role will lead the planning and delivery of conferences, sponsorship activations, hospitality experiences, client events, executive engagements, and other high-impact moments that support acquisition, engagement, retention, expansion, advocacy, and referral.

Reporting to the Senior Manager, Client Engagement, this role will partner closely with Sales, Client Success, field and operational leaders, Marketing, and other cross-functional teams to understand the client objective, design the right experience, coordinate execution, and reduce the administrative burden placed on client-facing teams.

The Manager will not independently own every client interaction or event. Instead, this role will provide the structure, planning expertise, tools, and operational leadership needed to bring the right people together around the right client, at the right moment, for the right reason.

Key Responsibilities

Client Experience and Event Strategy

• Translate the broader Client Engagement strategy into an annual portfolio of conferences, client events, hospitality experiences, sponsorships, and engagement programs.
• Partner with the Senior Manager, Client Engagement to define objectives, priorities, target audiences, investment levels, and success measures for each experience.
• Develop event and experience plans that clearly identify the client or prospect audience, purpose, desired outcome, and appropriate internal participants.
• Ensure experiences are connected to account, market, retention, advocacy, and growth strategies rather than operating as stand- activities.
• Build differentiated experiences based on client needs, relationship stage, strategic value, and growth opportunity.

Conferences and Sponsorships

• Manage the organization’s portfolio of conferences, trade shows, sponsorships, and industry events.
• Partner with Sales, Client Success, Strategy, and Marketing to determine which opportunities best support organizational priorities.
• Lead conference planning, including sponsorship selection, audience strategy, meeting goals, speaking opportunities, booth or activation design, hospitality, and follow-up plans.
• Create pre-event engagement strategies that increase participation, scheduled meetings, and meaningful client or prospect interaction.
• Establish clear expectations for internal participants, including roles, schedules, client assignments, talking points, and follow-up responsibilities.
• Evaluate conference and sponsorship performance and recommend where the organization should invest, adjust its approach, consolidate activity, or discontinue participation.

Client Events and Hospitality

• Plan and execute client appreciation events, executive dinners, regional gatherings, roundtables, advisory councils, peer networking opportunities, milestone celebrations, and other relationship-building experiences.
• Collaborate with the teams closest to each client to ensure experiences are relevant, personalized, and aligned with the relationship strategy.
• Develop hospitality standards and planning frameworks that create a consistent company experience while allowing for local customization.
• Support thoughtful recognition of client milestones, partnership anniversaries, expansions, renewals, and shared accomplishments.
• Coordinate executive participation in strategic client experiences and ensure leaders are appropriately briefed and prepared.
• Identify opportunities to bring clients and prospects together in ways that support advocacy, references, referrals, and peer influence.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Serve as a collaborative partner to Sales, Client Success, field teams, Operations, Marketing, Communications, and executive leaders.
• Gather client, market, and relationship insights from the teams closest to the client before designing an event or experience.
• Clarify roles, responsibilities, decision rights, timelines, and expectations for each engagement.
• Reduce the planning and logistical workload placed on sellers, Client Success Managers, and field leaders while preserving their ownership of the client relationship.
• Coordinate internal participation to ensure the right representatives are involved at the right moments.
• Facilitate planning meetings, event briefings, debriefs, and post-event follow-up.

Event Operations and Execution

• Lead end-to-end event execution, including timelines, budgets, venues, vendors, contracts, travel, registration, catering, technology, materials, signage, gifting, and onsite logistics.
• Develop detailed project plans, production schedules, run-of-show documents, staffing plans, and contingency plans.
• Provide day-to-day direction and prioritization to the Client Engagement Coordinator in support of logistics, registration, communications, materials, tracking, and follow-up.
• Manage external agencies, venues, vendors, speakers, and other event partners.
• Ensure experiences are delivered consistently, professionally, on time, and within budget.
• Anticipate risks, solve problems quickly, and maintain a calm, client-centered approach during execution.
• Ensure events comply with company policies, brand standards, procurement requirements, and applicable legal or risk-management expectations.

Marketing and Communications Partnership

• Partner closely with the Marketing liaison to develop invitations, event messaging, presentations, collateral, signage, digital content, and follow-up communications.
• Ensure event materials and experiences reflect the company’s brand, voice, value proposition, and client promise.
• Coordinate promotional timelines and audience communications before, during, and after events.
• Identify opportunities to capture client stories, testimonials, thought leadership, photography, and other content from engagement activities.
• Ensure client-facing communications are timely, accurate, relevant, and appropriately personalized.

Tools, Processes, and Infrastructure

• Maintain an integrated calendar of conferences, client events, sponsorships, hospitality opportunities, and key engagement moments.
• Develop standardized event-planning tools, templates, checklists, briefing materials, budget trackers, and follow-up resources.
• Support clear intake, evaluation, and prioritization processes for event and hospitality requests.
• Maintain accurate information regarding event participation, client attendance, internal ownership, costs, outcomes, and follow-up.
• Create scalable playbooks that enable consistent execution across markets and teams.
• Identify opportunities to simplify, automate, or improve event-planning processes and systems.

Measurement and Continuous Improvement

• Establish success measures for each event or experience before execution.
• Track participation, meetings, client feedback, engagement, referrals, opportunities influenced, relationship impact, and return on investment.
• Lead post-event debriefs and ensure agreed-upon client and prospect follow-up occurs.
• Use performance data and partner feedback to continuously improve future experiences.
• Prepare summaries and recommendations for the Senior Manager, Client Engagement and other leaders.
• Maintain visibility into event budgets, committed spending, forecasted costs, and actual results.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in event management, hospitality, marketing, communications, business, or a related field; equivalent professional experience considered.
• Five or more years of experience in corporate events, client experiences, experiential marketing, conferences, hospitality, sponsorships, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex events from initial strategy through onsite execution and post-event follow-up.
• Experience developing events that support client relationships, business development, retention, brand, or revenue objectives.
• Strong project-management skills with the ability to manage multiple events, timelines, stakeholders, vendors, and priorities simultaneously.
• Experience managing event budgets, vendor contracts, negotiations, and financial tracking.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare executive briefings and facilitate cross-functional planning.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and coordinate across teams without relying solely on formal authority.
• Strong attention to detail combined with the ability to understand broader strategic objectives.
• Ability to travel regularly for conferences, client experiences, and company events, including occasional evenings and weekends.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting business-to-business client relationships.
• Experience working with employer, education, school district, public-sector, or multi-site clients.
• Experience designing executive-level hospitality and client appreciation experiences.
• Experience managing national conference and sponsorship portfolios.
• Familiarity with event-management platforms, customer relationship management systems, registration tools, and engagement reporting.
• Experience working in a matrixed, multi-brand, or geographically dispersed organization.
• Experience supporting advisory councils, client roundtables, peer forums, or advocacy programs.

Leadership and Professional Competencies

• Client-centered: Designs experiences around what will be valuable and meaningful to the client.
• Strategic: Connects events and experiences to broader relationship and business goals.
• Collaborative: Values the insight of client-facing teams and brings the right partners together.
• Operationally excellent: Creates detailed plans and consistently delivers high-quality experiences.
• Calm under pressure: Responds to unexpected issues with sound judgment and professionalism.
• Resourceful: Finds creative solutions while balancing budget, timing, and organizational constraints.
• Influential: Builds alignment among stakeholders with different priorities and perspectives.
• Financially responsible: Makes thoughtful investments and actively manages event resources.
• Service-minded: Removes work from client-facing teams without taking ownership of the client relationship away from them.
• Outcome-oriented: Measures success by relationship and business impact, not simply attendance or event completion.

Measures of Success

• Delivery of events and experiences on time and within budget.
• Client attendance, participation, and satisfaction.
• Internal partner satisfaction.
• Quality and consistency of event execution.
• Increased strategic client and prospect interactions.
• Opportunities, referrals, renewals, or expansions influenced by events.
• Improved conference and sponsorship return on investment.
• Completion and quality of post-event follow-up.
• Increased use of repeatable event frameworks and tools.
• Reduction in planning and administrative burden for sellers, Client Success, and field teams.
• Effective management of vendors, resources, and event investments.