Events and Protocol Coordinator

Austal•Mobile, AL

11h•Onsite

About The Position

The Events and Protocol Coordinator will be responsible for planning, organizing, coordinating, and promoting all official events for Austal USA. This includes a variety of events such as Christening Dinners, Christening Ceremonies, Keel Laying Ceremonies, Open House, internal meetings, facility tours, and special events. The role involves supporting large-scale events, managing invitations and responses, and liaising with US Navy, Congressional, and Business leadership. A key aspect of the role is maintaining excellent working relationships with vendors, managing the annual event calendar and budget, and providing comprehensive meeting and event management support. This includes site selection, vendor negotiations, event setup and design, budget tracking, guest speaker coordination, and on-site administration. The coordinator will also manage audio-visual support, create information packages, maintain databases, and conduct follow-up surveys for continuous improvement. Proficiency in MS Office 365, Canva, Swoogo, and Smartsheets is required. The role also supports emergent Business Development activities, provides administrative support, manages calendars for the Growth Team, tracks community relations requests, assists with invoice submission and budget tracking, builds presentation decks, manages visitor requests for tours and events, and tracks event planning tasks and RSVP lists. Additionally, the position serves as an expert on protocol matters when interacting with Congressional, US Navy, and local government leadership, providing guidance to Austal executives and employees. The role involves serving as the liaison with the US Navy for protocol issues and providing distinguished visitor support, including scheduling, planning activities, researching customs, coordinating with government agencies, arranging logistics, and identifying appropriate gifts. The coordinator will also support official tours of Austal USA and manage communications through conferences, meetings, protocol events, and distinguished visitor events.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
Two years of work experience in managing protocol activities, office management, public relations, or managing executive services.
Knowledge of public policy formulation and implementation processes.
Knowledge of and skill in research methods and data analysis.
Ability to exercise judgment in appraising and analyzing situations and making sound decisions.
Working knowledge of state and local statutes, laws and regulations governing the execution of public events, as well as ethics and lobbying laws and issues.
Ability to work independently and be a self-starter.
Excellent oral and written communications skills.
Demonstrated experience working in a team environment.
Proficient in MS Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.).
Ability to work in a fast-paced dynamic environment and be adaptive to change as required.
Demonstrated project and time management skills.
Strong sense of ownership.
Ability to work extended hours.
Ability to travel.
Be able to prioritize meetings, conferences and promotional activities in order to maximize a return on investment for the company.
18 years of age or older at time of application.
Able to provide proof of US Person Status.
No felony convictions of Theft/Deception or Violent crimes within seven years from disposition date.
No felony convictions of Drug crimes within three years from disposition date.
Willing to submit to a drug screen.
Willing to submit to a background check.

Nice To Haves

Knowledge of MS Office 365, Canva, Swoogo, Smartsheets and other business development programs.

Responsibilities

Plan, organize, coordinate, promote, and assist in the execution of all official events for Austal USA.
Support large scale events (over 1,000 attendees) including invitations, tracking responses, and liaison with US Navy, Congressional and Business leadership.
Maintain excellent working relationships with all vendors.
Maintain annual calendar of scheduled events.
Maintain annual events budget and invoice tracking.
Provide meeting and event management support including site selection and vendor negotiations; event set-up and design; budget estimating and tracking/reporting registration; coordination with guest speakers and coordination of travel requirements; all necessary on-site meeting administration and logistics.
Coordinate any required audio-visual support; creation of any needed information packages; maintenance of vendor, site, contract and attendee databases as well as follow-up surveys after each major event to obtain feedback to enhance and continuously improve service.
Develop knowledge and working proficiency in MS Office 365, Canva, Swoogo, Smartsheets and other business development programs.
Support all emergent Business Development activities as required.
Provide other administrative support as required.
Maintain annual calendars for the Growth Team.
Manage and track community relations requests.
Support Growth Team efforts including invoice submission and budget tracking.
Build and edit presentation decks for visits and meetings.
Manage all visitor request form submission and execution for tours, visits and events.
Manage and track status of event planning tasks.
Manage and track RSVP lists.
Serve as an expert on Protocol matters when dealing with Congressional, US Navy and local government leadership.
Provide protocol guidance and direction to Austal executives, employees and committees.
Serve as the liaison with US Navy for all protocol issues.
Provide distinguished visitor support to include scheduling, planning, coordinating activities of international and domestic distinguished/VIP visitors; provide research on customs, culture and courtesies; coordinate with appropriate ministry or government agency counterparts, arrange for all logistics and meeting support requirements, where appropriate identify and coordinate appropriate DoD regulation compliant gifts.
Support all official tours of Austal USA.
Provide services necessary to Austal to support management of communications through conferences, executive and programmatic meetings, protocol and distinguished visitor events.