"Supervisor, Events"

About the Role:

As the Supervisor of Events, you will be a member of the Commencement Team, which is included under the larger University Events Team. The Commencement Team produces multiple large-scale commencement ceremonies and alumni celebration events across the country that reach tens of thousands of graduates and guests. These events celebrate the successes of our graduates, serve as a gathering place for hundreds of our staff, and bring attention to WGU as a whole. You will be part of a highly collaborative team as you lead the team's event specialists and coordinators. Your success will be measured by your ability to lead a team to execute events that are on time and on budget while meeting event objectives and maintaining high participant satisfaction scores.

Location: This position requires you to work in office 4 days per week at the WGU headquarters 4001 South 700 East Salt Lake City, UT 84107

What You'll Do:

• Supervises day-to-day duties of the event specialists and coordinators to ensure that planning and execution of assigned duties is being completed in a timely and effective manner.
• Work closely with the department leadership to monitor and manage the events budget and initiatives to ensure they align with the strategic plan.
• Provide direction and oversight for event planning and execution, including contract review, relationship management, strategy and overall communication.
• Guide and train event specialists and coordinators as they manage the vendor relationship process, including sourcing, contracting, payment, and communication.
• Provide coaching, guidance, and feedback to direct reports.
• In coordination with the manager, oversee pre-event set ups and post-event evaluations
• Work with the Procurement and Legal teams to negotiate vendor contracts to minimize liability and risk.
• Build and maintain relationships with internal and external partners.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities You'll Need to be Successful:

• Demonstrated success managing event production teams, planning events, developing budgets, and meeting budget goals.
• Excellent project management skills, and the ability to manage complex timelines and multiple projects.
• Ability to lead a team. Proven leadership and management skills, with experience of event staff and crew management.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and time management skills. Must be well organized and detailed oriented.
• Demonstrated high level of confidence in making decisions, good judgment, and innovative and creative problem-solving skills.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office suite, and knowledge of cloud applications such as Google Docs and SharePoint. Knowledge of Health and Safety and Licensing Regulations.
• Ability to interact and successfully collaborate with a broad spectrum of contributing groups and customers.
• Ability to accomplish goals working through formal and informal channels, with diplomacy and tactfulness. Demonstrated outstanding attention to detail.
• Able to take on multiple projects, in varying domains, while leading through regular change.
• Willing to try new ways to solve problems, with a keen sense of finding long and short-term solutions.
• Ability to understand and identify underlying business needs and problems to deliver lasting solutions in a short timeline.

Minimum Requirements:

• 4 years of experience working in large scale event planning and event management.
• Bachelor's degree in marketing, business, English, public relations, communications, or related field.
• Budget management experience.

Physical Requirements

• Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Prolonged periods on your feet for extended periods of time during events.
• Consistent with its obligations under the law, the University will provide reasonable accommodation to any employee with a disability who requires accommodation to perform the essential functions of his or her job.
• Will require 20% travel and working evenings and weekends.
• Salt Lake City Office required.

Why Join WGU?

• You will be part of a growing, diverse, inclusive workforce, committed to creating pathways to a better life for our students by expanding access to education for everyone.
• We provide comprehensive dental, vision, and medical benefits, with paid time off, parental leave, and inclusive family forming benefits.
• We offer generous retirement and HSA company contributions.
• You will also have opportunity for continuous learning! Employees and their families receive discounted undergraduate and graduate WGU tuition.