Tourism Partnerships & Grants Manager

State of Iowa - Executive Branch; Ankeny (IA); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid Time Off

Health Insurance

Retirement Plan

Flexible Spending Accounts

Life Insurance

Employee Discounts

Job summary

The Iowa Economic Development Authority is seeking a Tourism Partner Engagement Manager to connect tourism partners across Iowa with programs, resources, and educational experiences. This role builds relationships with businesses, local governments, and industry organizations, administers grant and partnership programs, coordinates educational events, and keeps partners informed.

The position requires significant statewide travel and regular stakeholder interaction.

Qualifications

• Experience working with tourism, destination marketing, or economic development initiatives.
• Proven ability to build and maintain relationships with partners, vendors, and stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience developing marketing or media-focused content.

Responsibilities

• Build and strengthen tourism industry relationships by serving as a primary contact for stakeholders, conducting partner meetings, and maintaining strong working relationships.
• Lead industry outreach by developing annual outreach plans, communicating programs and opportunities, and gathering stakeholder feedback to inform priorities.
• Administer tourism grant and funding programs through outreach, application review, budgeting, compliance monitoring, and reporting.
• Coordinate educational programs and partner events by developing topics for webinars, workshops, roundtables, Insider Meetings, and other programming.
• Support the Iowa Tourism Conference through sponsor and exhibitor coordination, speaker support, and attendee outreach.
• Create industry communications and resources by writing newsletters, announcements, updates, and website content.
• Maintain partner information by updating the industry e-newsletter and partner website with program details, events, funding opportunities, training resources, and deadlines.

Skills

Tourism experience

Relationship building

Communication skills

Economic development

Education

Bachelor's degree in public relations, business, journalism, marketing, or related field

Job description

The Iowa Economic Development Authority is seeking a Tourism Partner Engagement Manager to connect tourism partners across Iowa with programs, resources, and educational experiences. This role builds relationships with businesses, local governments, and industry organizations, administers grant and partnership programs, coordinates educational events, and keeps partners informed.

The position requires significant statewide travel and regular stakeholder interaction.