Events Operations Director Jobs in Illinois (NOW HIRING)

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Posted: July 17, 2026

Built on service. Powered by people. Impact was founded on the belief that industry leaders should put people first instead of margins. As the Director of Events, you will be a senior marketing leader responsible for shaping and driving Impact’s enterprise‑wide event strategy across the full revenue funnel. Reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer, you will lead the events function and own the full lifecycle of event programs, from strategic planning and audience promotion through on‑site execution, post‑event nurture, and performance reporting. This high‑impact, quota‑carrying role is accountable for event‑sourced and event‑influenced lead targets, pipeline contribution, and revenue outcomes.

• Own and evolve Impact’s full‑funnel event strategy, aligning the annual events calendar to revenue goals, segment priorities, and marketing objectives.
• Lead, coach, and develop the events team while establishing scalable processes, playbooks, and best practices that improve execution quality and team efficiency.
• Partner with the CMO and leaders across Sales, Demand Generation, Content, Design, Media, Marketing Operations, RevOps, Customer Success, and executive leadership to connect event investment to pipeline and growth priorities.
• Plan and oversee internal and external programs, including trade shows, executive roundtables, VIP client events, customer and partner events, demand‑generation roadshows, webinars, virtual programs, sales kickoffs, and company events.
• Design integrated pre‑event and post‑event digital campaigns, including ABM outreach, personalized audience targeting, multi‑touch promotion, persona‑based lead nurture, on‑demand content promotion, and sales follow‑up plays.
• Develop and manage ABM nurture programs tied to event cohorts, funnel stage, persona, and priority accounts to accelerate pipeline velocity.
• Own event‑level lead targets and reporting frameworks that track registrations, attendance, engagement, MQLs, opportunities, pipeline contribution, and revenue influence.
• Ensure proper CRM hygiene, lead routing, dashboarding, and post‑event analysis so senior stakeholders have clear visibility into event performance and ROI.
• Manage the events budget, including forecasting, tracking, purchase orders, invoice reconciliation, vendor relationships, venue relationships, contract negotiations, financial reporting, and event technology partners.
• Identify cost efficiencies without compromising event quality, attendee experience, or business impact.
• Serve as senior onsite lead for key events, ensuring strong execution, clear communication, and an exceptional attendee experience.
• Serve as a visible AI advocate within the events function, championing adoption of AI tools across the team and helping direct reports build AI fluency in their day‑to‑day workflows.
• Actively use AI tools to elevate event planning and execution, including AI‑assisted content generation, audience research, post‑event reporting, attendee experience design, personalized messaging sequences, dynamic content generation, and automated follow‑up workflows.
• Operate within Impact’s agentic AI operating system, directing AI agents across research, drafting, data assembly, performance analysis, and process automation tasks while applying strategic judgment to validate and refine outputs.
• Identify, evaluate, and implement AI‑powered event technology and marketing tools that improve operational efficiency, personalization, attendee engagement, and lead capture.
• Stay current on emerging AI tools, platforms, and best practices relevant to event marketing, bringing informed recommendations to the CMO and contributing to Impact’s broader AI enablement strategy.
• Build and document AI‑assisted event workflows and playbooks that can be adopted team‑wide, creating scalable, repeatable processes that raise the baseline quality and speed of event execution across the organization.

• 8+ years of experience in event marketing, field marketing, or a related marketing function, including at least 3 years in a leadership or management role.
• Demonstrated experience building full‑funnel event strategies that include pre‑event promotion, audience targeting, post‑event nurture, and measurable pipeline impact.
• Proven ability to own and achieve event‑sourced lead generation targets, including MQLs, pipeline contribution, and revenue influence.
• Experience managing internal and external events at scale, including trade shows, executive programs, hosted events, partner programs, webinars, and virtual events.
• Hands‑on experience with CRM platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics or Salesforce for lead tracking, reporting, routing, and pipeline attribution.
• Experience with HubSpot or similar marketing automation platforms for event messaging, email automation, and lead nurture campaigns.
• Strong vendor, venue, contract, budget, purchase order, and invoice management skills.
• Exceptional project management skills with the ability to manage multiple programs, stakeholders, timelines, and priorities at once.
• Strong executive presence and communication skills, including comfort presenting performance updates and recommendations to senior leadership.
• Working knowledge of AI‑enabled tools and a willingness to use AI thoughtfully to improve speed, quality, personalization, and reporting across event workflows.
• Willingness and ability to travel for events and provide onsite leadership for key programs.
• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, or a related field preferred; MBA a plus.

Our purpose is people. We empower them to innovate, grow, and succeed. That's how we change the world – one person, one company, one community at a time. Behaviors define what our values look like in action. Leaders are expected to model them; teams are expected to live them.

• Innovation: We embrace change because innovation lives outside the comfort zone.
• Passion: We are driven by purpose, fueled by passion, and obsessed with making an impact.
• Honesty: We are fiercely transparent and consistently honest.
• Fun: We fuel work with fun, knowing life's too short for boring.
• Employee First: We are built by our people, for our people, and that will never change.
• Low Ego: We champion ideas over titles, because brilliance knows no rank.
• One Team: We win as a team, we lose as a team, we are one team.

The typical base salary for this role is $100,000‑$136,000. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skillset, experience and training, licensures and/or certifications, and other organizational needs. Impact may offer applicable incentive compensation plans depending on role and/or department. Full compensation details can be discussed with an Impact Talent Acquisition team member at the start of the interview process.

• 5‑year Tiffany & Co. Gift Card, 10‑year Custom Rolex, 20‑year $20,000 Check incentive rewards
• Valuable time off with up to 20 days of PTO, 7 paid sick days, 12+ paid holidays, and paid parental leave
• Development and growth opportunities with ongoing training & continued education reimbursement
• 401(K) & retirement plans with complimentary financial advisory services
• Comprehensive health, disability, life, dental, and vision plans

Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States at the time of application. Immigration sponsorship may be considered in limited circumstances based on business need, cost, workforce planning, and applicable government requirements. Impact does not guarantee sponsorship for any visa category and may decline certain petitions based on associated costs or regulatory requirements.

Certain positions within Impact may involve access to information, technology, software, or technical data that is subject to U.S. export control laws and regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Where required by applicable law based on the nature of the role, individuals in such positions must qualify as a “U.S. Person,” as defined by law, or otherwise be eligible to obtain any required government authorizations.