Program Management Associate Jobs in Toronto, ON

The Associate Director, Events is responsible for the strategic planning, execution, and continuous improvement of hosted events within McLean & Company.

This role blends event strategy, stakeholder alignment, logistics execution, vendor and venue management, systems administration, and team management to ensure events are delivered on time and on budget.

The Associate Director will work cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Research, Executive Services, Design, and other internal teams to ensure events are strategically selected, effectively promoted, operationally sound, and measured against business objectives.

Responsibilities-

Event Strategy and Planning:

• Identify, evaluate, and recommend events with a strategic focus on market positioning, brand awareness, client acquisition, and business growth across key regions.
• Support the development of annual event strategy by incorporating historical performance, feedback, business priorities, lessons learned, and market opportunities.
• Work closely with Sales and key leaders to assess, prioritize, and approve events that align with company goals, product priorities, and audience needs.
• Develop business cases, event concepts, and recommendations that support growth objectives.
• Manage event budgets, including revenue and expense considerations, while identifying opportunities to improve efficiency and budget adherence.

Event Execution and Logistics:

• Lead the team responsible for planning and execution of conferences, executive dinners, breakfasts, hosted programs, and other event formats.
• Review proposals, negotiate contracts, and manage relationships with venues, vendors, sponsors, and external partners.
• Manage the team responsible for event timelines, deliverables, tasks, and dependencies to ensure deadlines are met and events run seamlessly.
• Oversee execution of registration processes, attendee communications, promotional collateral, event assets, and shipments.
• Develop and optimize scalable processes for sourcing, evaluating, contracting, and managing all third-party events, ensuring alignment with business objectives, attendee experience standards, and budget requirements.
• Lead the operational execution of third-party event participation, building and maintaining workflows for stakeholder coordination, vendor management, logistics, performance tracking, and post-event evaluation.
• Assess event risks, develop contingency plans, and resolve issues effectively in high-pressure environments.

Stakeholder Collaboration and Communication:

• Serve as a key leadership contact for internal and external stakeholders throughout the event lifecycle.
• Act as an internal ambassador for the McLean & Company events portfolio, ensuring alignment between event participation and business objectives.
• Build strong relationships with Sales, Marketing, Research, Executive Services, vendors, venues, speaker agencies, and other cross-functional partners.
• Facilitate stakeholder buy-in by incorporating feedback into event planning and execution.

Systems, Data, and Reporting:

• Administer and optimize event-related systems and tools, including Salesforce, Cvent, and Microsoft 365 applications.
• Develop and maintain event dashboards, project plans, budgets, status reports, and post-event recaps.
• Track and report on event performance, including attendance, engagement, pipeline influence, opportunity generation, conversion rates, and ROI.
• Leverage feedback, data, and lessons learned to identify opportunities for continuous improvement and operational excellence.

Team Leadership and Continuous Improvement:

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of event professionals through regular performance management, career development planning, mentorship, and ongoing feedback to drive individual and team success.
• Establish and improve processes, workflows, and best practices that increase scalability and operational efficiency of the team.
• Drive innovation in event delivery, attendee experience, and event technology.
• Promote a team culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous learning.

Qualifications-

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Event Management, Marketing, Hospitality, Business, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of experience in event management, event marketing, hospitality, or a related field.
• Proven success managing large-scale events with complex logistics and multiple stakeholders.
• Experience managing and developing teams, including performance management, coaching, mentoring, career development planning, and fostering a high-performance culture.
• Strong experience in event strategy, program management, budgeting, vendor negotiations, and logistics execution.
• Experience working with event management platforms, CRM systems, and productivity tools.
• Experience developing event performance reporting and executive-level presentations.
• Willingness to travel and work flexible hours when required to support event delivery.

Key Competencies:

• Strategic Thinking
• Project and Program Management
• Stakeholder Management
• Data Analysis and Reporting
• Problem Solving and Decision Making
• Communication and Relationship Building
• Attention to Detail and Execution Excellence

McLean & Company, a division of Info-Tech Research Group of companies is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion and does not discriminate on the basis of any legally protected status or characteristic including Minority/Female/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/Disability/Veteran and are pleased to consider all qualified applicants. To that end, upon request, ITRG will ensure, to the extent possible, that accommodation be made available to applicants throughout the recruitment and hiring process.

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