Director Of Event Operations Jobs in Iowa (NOW HIRING)

Active Interest Media is seeking a Director of Event Marketing to lead the strategy, growth, promotion, and reinvention of AIM’s event portfolio. This new role will be responsible for expanding AIM’s owned Signature Events, elevating the company’s participation at key industry events, and creating more modern, differentiated sponsorship opportunities that go well beyond traditional packaging.

AIM currently produces consumer and B2B events across enthusiast categories including woodworking, writing, building restoration, and education, with events such as Woodworking in America, and Fine Homebuilding Summitt, AIM’s public event positioning emphasizes education, training, community, and access to focused audiences.

This role requires a creative, commercially minded event marketer who can blend audience development, brand experience, sponsor strategy, content programming, lead generation, and revenue growth. The ideal candidate will bring fresh thinking to event formats, locations, partnerships, attendee engagement, and sponsor activations while building scalable processes that make events a stronger revenue and brand-growth engine for AIM.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and lead AIM’s event marketing strategy across owned events, partner events, trade shows, conferences, and brand activations.
• Reimagine AIM’s current event roster with new formats, new locations, new audience experiences, and more contemporary sponsor opportunities.
• Build an annual AIM Signature Events roadmap across priority verticals such as woodworking, home building, gardening, sewing, collectibles, and cooking,
• Create differentiated sponsorship programs that replace basic tiered packages with custom activations, content integrations, product experiences, VIP access, thought leadership, lead generation, video/social extensions, and post-event audience engagement.
• Partner with sales leadership to create sponsor-ready event packages that generate meaningful revenue, measurable sponsor ROI, and stronger advertiser retention.
• Work with editorial, audience, marketing, sales, creative, and operations teams to ensure events reflect AIM’s brand authority and deliver strong attendee value.
• Communicate and work with dedicated consumer marketing lead for event promotion plans across email, social, websites, newsletters, print, digital advertising, video, podcasts, PR, and partner channels.
• Improve AIM’s presence at events the company attends by developing clear objectives, booth/activation strategy, meeting plans, content capture opportunities, lead-generation goals, and post-event follow-up processes.
• Identify new event concepts, venues, cities, partnerships, speakers, influencers, makers, experts, and experiential formats that can create excitement and expand AIM’s reach.
• Build marketing calendars, budgets, timelines, campaign briefs, sponsor decks, audience plans, and post-event reporting packages.
• Track event performance against clear KPIs including attendance, revenue, sponsorship sales, lead generation, engagement, audience growth, profitability, and sponsor satisfaction.

College Degree is required along with 5-10 years of progressive event management and production experience. Experience in the media industry, home building and enthusiast marketing is a plus. Creativity, enthusiasm and an “unboring” approach to projects and work life is encouraged.

Experience and strong ability to work cross-functionally across departments and through key constituents. Active Interest Media is a work from home first company. Travel is required approximately 35% of the time.

Active Interest Media is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and applicants and make employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Employment with the company is at-will, meaning either the employee or the company may end the employment relationship at any time, with or without cause or notice.

Applicants who require reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process may contact the company for assistance.