Strategic Events Portfolio Manager

Children's Hospital Association; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 95,000 - 164,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Retirement plan

Health Savings Account

Wellness program

Paid time off

Paid holidays

Hybrid work model

Job summary

Children's Hospital Association is seeking a strategic Event Services leader to drive the success of a portfolio of conferences and meetings. You will own budgeting, forecasting, and cost controls for multimillion-dollar programs, while leading a team to deliver exceptional attendee experiences.

The role requires negotiating complex hotel contracts, coordinating RFPs, and ensuring contract compliance across a range of vendors. Hybrid work and opportunities for professional growth are offered.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 3 years of progressive experience managing complex meetings, conferences, or event portfolios.
• Minimum of 2 years of direct experience negotiating and managing hotel contracts, including contractual terms, concessions, attrition, and cancellation provisions.
• Bachelor's degree in Hospitality, Event Management, Business, Project Management or related field (preferred).
• Proven ability to lead teams, manage resources and budgets, balance competing priorities, and mitigate organizational risk across multiple projects.
• Ability to exercise independent judgment and make decisions that balance organizational priorities, financial stewardship, and attendee experience.
• Strong strategic planning, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Exceptional communication and relationship management skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate across all organizational levels.

Responsibilities

• Own budget planning, forecasting, expense management, and financial performance for assigned meetings and conference-related programming, representing more than $1.5 million in annual event expenditures.
• Provide cost projections, monitor performance, identify financial risks, and recommend strategies to align spending with event priorities and organizational goals.
• Evaluate financial results, event data, stakeholder feedback, and operational outcomes to drive continuous improvement and future planning.
• Lead the Request for Proposal (RFP) process for assigned events, including destination and venue sourcing, site visits, venue evaluations, bid analysis, site recommendations, and leadership-ready decision support.
• Manage contract negotiations exceeding $1 million in commitments, ensuring accountability for business terms, financial risk, vendor performance, and organizational liability.
• Oversee event contract compliance and vendor performance, proactively managing contractual obligations and mitigating organizational risk.
• Directly supervise assigned Event Services team members, providing coaching, performance management, workload prioritization, and professional development.
• Assign and balance meeting and event portfolios across Event Services team members based on complexity, capacity, skill set, and organizational priorities.
• Monitor team performance and resource utilization while fostering collaboration, accountability, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement across the Event Services team.
• Lead the planning and execution of assigned conferences, meetings, and events, ensuring alignment with stakeholder objectives, operational requirements, and attendee experience goals.
• Partner with Brand & Communications and internal stakeholders to ensure events consistently reflect CHA's brand standards, messaging, and desired attendee experience.
• Oversee on-site event operations, providing direction to staff and vendors while ensuring seamless execution, issue resolution, and an exceptional attendee experience.

Skills

Event management

Budgeting

Contract negotiation

Team leadership

Strategic planning

Analytics

Communication

Problem solving

Risk management

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Children's Hospital Association is seeking a strategic Event Services leader to drive the success of a portfolio of conferences and meetings. You will own budgeting, forecasting, and cost controls for multimillion-dollar programs, while leading a team to deliver exceptional attendee experiences.

The role requires negotiating complex hotel contracts, coordinating RFPs, and ensuring contract compliance across a range of vendors. Hybrid work and opportunities for professional growth are offered.