Senior Event Manager, Retail Portfolio

VUKA Group; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Vuka Group is seeking a seasoned Senior Event Manager to act as the portfolio delivery lead for its Retail portfolio, coordinating CEM Africa, Converge Africa and CX initiatives in South Africa. You will own the master delivery plan, supervise operations, sales, finance and marketing, and work with suppliers and partners to ensure safe, high-quality and commercially compelling events.

The role requires 3+ years in B2B event management, strong budgeting discipline, stakeholder management, and a

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Communications, Event Management or related field.
• At least 3 years' event or project management experience in B2B conferences/exhibitions.
• Experience managing budgets, forecasts and supplier costs.
• Experience coordinating sponsors, venues and internal teams through pre-, live and post-event phases.

Responsibilities

• Act as portfolio leader's right hand and central coordination point for Retail team.
• Own the integrated master project plan for every event with milestones and resources across functions.
• Chair weekly cross-functional project meetings with clear agendas and deadlines.
• Provide regular reporting on event progress, budgets, risks, revenue pacing and decisions.
• Maintain live risk, issue and dependency registers with mitigation actions.
• Onsite delivery: manage venue planning, build-up, live implementation and breakdown.
• Plan and model networking activities, matchmaking and hosted experiences for delegates and partners.
• Ensure events are delivered safely, commercially and to high standards.

Skills

Leadership

Planning

Budgeting

Stakeholder mgmt

Risk management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Communications, Event Management

Tools

EventsAir

ClickUp

HubSpot

Power BI

MS 365

Job description

About the Role

This is the Portfolio Director's right-hand delivery role, responsible for the disciplined day-to-day execution of Vuka Group's Retail Portfolio. The portfolio includes CEM Africa in Cape Town and Johannesburg, Converge Africa, the CX Awards, the Startup Pavilion, and supporting media and insights initiatives.The Senior Event Manager is the central coordination point across operations, registration, production, marketing, sales and finance. The role owns the integrated delivery plan, keeps teams and suppliers aligned, protects budget and customer commitments, and ensures that each event is delivered safely, commercially and to a consistently high standard.A strong understanding of the Retail, E-commerce and Customer Experience (CX) sectors is essential, together with practical experience in B2B conferences and exhibitions.

Key Responsibilities

1. Portfolio Leadership, Planning & Reporting

• Act as the Portfolio Director's right hand and the central point of coordination for the Retail team.
• Own the integrated master project plan for every event, covering milestones, dependencies, decision points, resources and critical-path deliverables across all functions.
• Chair weekly cross-functional project meetings with clear agendas, actions, owners and deadlines; escape unresolved blockers early.
• Provide regular, formal reporting to the Portfolio Director on event progress, budgets, risks, revenue pacing, KPIs and decisions required.
• Maintain a live event risk, issue and dependency register, with mitigation actions and accountable owners.
• Deputise for the Portfolio Director when required and progressively take greater responsibility for portfolio leadership.
• Keep the team aligned, accountable, and working to agreed timelines across every event in the portfolio.

2. Event Operations, Suppliers & Onsite Delivery

• Work directly with the central operations team on venue planning, supplier coordination, build-up, live delivery, and breakdown.
• Own event-specific operational briefs, run-of-show documentation, staffing plans, escalation routes and onsite command structures.
• Own floorplan modelling and customer inventory allocation, ensuring layouts support exhibitor requirements, sponsor visibility, attendee flow, accessibility and safe operations.
• Coordinate supplier briefs, quotations and deliverables in line with approved procurement and budget controls; track scope changes and obtain approval before committing additional spend.
• Plan and model networking activities, matchmaking and hosted experiences that create measurable value for delegates and partners.
• Conceptualise and deliver feature areas, showcases and activations that differentiate each event.
• Serve as the portfolio escalation point for live operational issues and coordinate timely resolution with the relevant functional lead.

3. Commercial Delivery, Budget & Cost Control

• Manage event budgets hands-on, keeping forecasts current and ensuring all costs and committed spend are correctly allocated.
• Control spend meticulously, reconcile changes and flag cost, revenue or contribution-margin risks to the Portfolio Director early.
• Track event pacing against agreed commercial milestones and provide accurate inputs into portfolio forecasts.
• Support achievement of revenue, profitability, retention and rebooking targets by ensuring the event product and customer delivery remain commercially compelling.
• Maintain an accurate fulfilment tracker for sponsor, exhibitor, partner and delegate package deliverables, with clear ownership and deadlines across teams.
• Protect contracted inventory and entitlements by verifying that sold benefits can be delivered operationally and accurately across collateral, registration, onsite branding, content and reporting.

4. Sponsor, Exhibitor, Partner & Stakeholder Delivery

• Manage the operational customer journey for sponsors, exhibitors, partners and strategic stakeholders from contracting handover through to post-event close-out.
• Coordinate kick-off information, deadlines, assets, registrations, branding, logistics, speaker requirements and onsite servicing so contracted benefits are delivered in full.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with clients, suppliers, government stakeholders, industry associations and delivery partners.
• Proactively identify delivery risks, resolve service issues and elevate material commercial or reputational concerns.
• Coordinate post-event fulfilment evidence, lead and engagement reporting, feedback and close-out inputs to support account reviews, retention and rebooking.

5. Registration, Data & Delegate Experience

• Work closely with the registration team so ticketing, registration journeys, access rules and reporting are configured and tested before every sales cycle.
• Keep ticket pricing, packages, access entitlements, discount rules and customer-facing information current and accurate.
• Map the end-to-end attendee communication and onsite journey, from registration and pre-event information through arrival, session access, networking and post-event follow-up.
• Ensure critical attendee, speaker, sponsor and exhibitor communications are accurate, timely and aligned across teams.
• Maintain data quality and process discipline across EventsAir, the CRM and portfolio trackers, working within applicable consent, privacy and security requirements.
• Use feedback, NPS, operational data and customer insights to identify improvements for each edition.

6. Production, Agenda & Speaker Coordination

• Support the Event Producer in maintaining production timelines, agenda readiness, stage requirements and speaker deliverables.
• Ensure speaker status, registrations, biographies, headshots, presentations, technical requirements, travel or accommodation arrangements and briefing communications are tracked and complete.
• Coordinate programme, operations, registration and marketing dependencies so published agendas and onsite delivery remain aligned.
• Support quality control of the attendee-facing programme and elevate content, timing or speaker risks that may affect the event experience.
• Coordinate the running of each event day so production, operations, registration, marketing and customer teams work as one.

7. Brand, Collateral & Experience Quality

• Own the event collateral readiness schedule across prospectuses, rate cards, agendas, floor plans, exhibitor manuals, signage and attendee information, ensuring approved versions are clearly controlled.
• Ensure premium and consistent application of event and Vuka Group brands across digital, print, venue, activation and sponsor assets.
• Translate portfolio strategy into practical event features and experience improvements that strengthen audience value and brand differentiation.
• Conduct pre-event readiness reviews and quality checks across all major customer touchpoints.

8. Governance, Risk, Safety & Compliance

• Work with central Operations and relevant specialists to ensure event plans comply with venue requirements, health and safety standards, permits, insurance obligations and applicable policies.

9. Post-Event Evaluation & Continuous Improvement

• Lead structured post-event debriefs across functions and maintain a lessons-learned register with agreed actions for the next edition.
• Coordinate timely close-out of budgets, supplier reconciliations, attendance data, customer fulfilment, feedback and operational reporting.
• Produce a concise post-event delivery report covering performance against objectives, risks, customer experience, operational outcomes and improvement priorities.
• Convert agreed improvements into updated templates, timelines, processes and project plans for future events.

10. Owned Projects

• Produce and manage the Startup Pavilion, from concept, participant sourcing and partner coordination through to delivery and evaluation.
• Produce and manage the CX Awards, including the entry campaign, judging governance, entrant and judge communications, commercial inventory, logistics, production and the awards event.
• Take ownership of additional portfolio features or special projects agreed with the Portfolio Director, with clear objectives, budgets, plans and post-project evaluation.

Minimum Requirements

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Communications, Event Management or a related field, or equivalent relevant industry experience.

Experience

• At least 3 years' event or project management experience in B2B conferences, exhibitions or a closely related environment, including experience taking the lead onsite.
• Proven experience managing multiple concurrent events, complex workstreams and cross-functional dependencies.
• Hands-on responsibility for event budgets, forecasts, supplier costs and commercially successful delivery.
• Experience managing sponsor and exhibitor fulfilment, registration processes, event technology and customer-facing communications.
• Experience coordinating suppliers, venues and internal teams through pre-event, live and post-event phases.

Skills & Competencies

• Confident, practical leadership with the judgement to take charge, make decisions and elevate appropriately.
• Exceptional planning, prioritisation, organisation and attention to detail.
• Strong commercial awareness, budget discipline and understanding of event profitability drivers.
• Excellent stakeholder management, written communication and facilitation skills, including confidence with senior customers and partners.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capability, with disciplined reporting and risk management.
• A customer-experience mindset and the ability to map, measure and improve stakeholder journeys.
• Working knowledge of the Retail, E-commerce and CX sectors and an interest in the wider African market.
• Calm, decisive and solutions-focused under pressure, with flexibility to work extended hours during event delivery.
• Willingness to travel, including to Johannesburg and occasionally into Africa.

Tools & Systems

• Strong proficiency in Microsoft 365, particularly Excel, PowerPoint, Teams and SharePoint.
• Practical experience with project-management platforms; ClickUp is preferred.
• Experience with event registration and ticketing platforms; EventsAir is preferred.
• Working knowledge of CRM and reporting tools; HubSpot and Power BI exposure would be advantageous.

Measures of Success

• Events delivered safely, on time, within approved budget and to agreed quality standards.
• Critical milestones, risks, decisions and dependencies visible and actively managed.
• Accurate delivery of contracted sponsor, exhibitor, partner and delegate benefits.
• Strong stakeholder satisfaction, NPS and actionable post-event feedback.
• Timely, accurate reporting and post-event close-out.
• Improved operational efficiency, team accountability and repeatable portfolio processes.
• Positive contribution to revenue, margin, retention and rebooking outcomes.

Why Join Vuka Group?

You will take a senior, visible role in a growing B2B events portfolio and work directly with the Portfolio Director to shape how leading Digital Commerce and CX platforms are delivered across Africa. The position offers meaningful ownership, cross-functional leadership and a clear path to broader portfolio responsibility for the right person.