Senior Design Manager, Events

MWE • Washington, DC

11d • $145,000 - $194,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Design Manager, Events is a strategic creative leader responsible for envisioning and delivering event experiences across McDermott’s portfolio, from intimate gatherings to large-scale, multi-day signature events with more than 2,000 attendees. Reporting to the Creative Director, this role owns the creative vision end to end, ensuring a cohesive and elevated experience across invitations, on-site environments, and post-event moments.

At the intersection of brand, experience design, and production, the Senior Manager develops and communicates strategic creative ideas while balancing conceptual ambition with operational rigor. The role turns complex ideas into memorable experiences across digital, environmental, and physical channels, and leads creative workstreams for assigned events in partnership with internal stakeholders and external vendors.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree.
• At least 10 years of experience in event design, experiential marketing, brand environments, or integrated creative roles, with leadership responsibility.
• Hands-on expertise in design tools, including Adobe Creative Suite; ability to judge when to design personally versus delegate.
• Ability to design both large-scale, high-profile events and intimate, detail-driven experiences.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating conceptual thinking, spatial and environmental design, and integrated digital and physical executions.
• Deep understanding of how creative strategy supports business objectives and audience engagement.
• Exceptional communication skills and ability to articulate ideas clearly and persuasively to senior stakeholders.
• Ability to manage vendors, production partners, and print processes with confidence and precision.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite, including Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with Figma or similar design tools.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the Creative Director to push creative boundaries while maintaining consistency, clarity, and sophistication across event executions.
• Help drive the creative vision for McDermott events by developing overarching concepts and narratives that unify digital, environmental, and experiential elements into a seamless attendee journey.
• Design immersive, distinctive experiences that transform venues into branded environments aligned with McDermott’s brand standards, business priorities, and audience expectations.
• Translate high-level themes and messaging into scalable creative systems for different event sizes, formats, and geographies.
• Oversee design of digital event assets, including email campaigns, event registration websites, and social graphics, ensuring cohesion across pre-event marketing channels.
• Lead design and execution of on-site creative applications, including environmental branding, signage, stage graphics, wayfinding, experiential moments, and printed collateral.
• Own the creative workstream for assigned events by leading creative status calls, managing timelines and workflows, and serving as the primary creative point of contact for stakeholders.
• Brief, guide, and review work from internal designers and external vendors, providing clear direction and managing partners to ensure design intent is executed to a high standard, on time, and on budget.

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits package supporting physical, emotional, mental, and financial health, with an emphasis on work-life balance.
• Discretionary performance-based bonus opportunity for full-time positions.
• Competitive total rewards package and compensation.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior