Senior Manager, Event Operations

Bentley Systemsorporated • Denver, MA

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

Bentley Systems is seeking an operationally excellent event leader to serve as the day-to-day delivery lead for the company’s flagship event portfolio, including its User Conference and Year in Infrastructure Awards program. Working closely with the Director of Global Event Delivery and the VP of Global Events, this role drives planning cadence, workstream management, operational readiness, agency coordination, and cross-functional accountability across a complex ecosystem of stakeholders and partners. The role requires influencing without authority, anticipating risks, and helping teams move from ideas to execution with clarity and confidence.

This people-management role leads two direct reports and is expected to work 40 hours per week, with a minimum of 30% travel. It is hybrid in Denver, Colorado or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, or home-based in Boston, Massachusetts. The role provides onsite operational leadership during event load-in, execution, load-out, and post-event closeout.

Bentley offers a collaborative work environment, an attractive salary and benefits package, a day off to volunteer through Bentley Impact Day, colleague recognition programs, and global initiatives and resource groups supporting inclusion, belonging, and wellbeing. Bentley Systems is an infrastructure engineering software company whose products support the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure around the world. The company reports 5,200 colleagues and annual revenues of more than $1 billion across 194 countries.

Requirements

• 8–12 years of progressive responsibility leading operations for large-scale enterprise technology conferences, including flagship events with complex stakeholder ecosystems, multiple workstreams, and high executive visibility.
• Ability to create structure, establish operating cadence, and drive accountability across matrixed teams and external partners.
• Strong project and program management skills, including balancing competing priorities and tight timelines.
• Experience managing agencies, production partners, vendors, and external service providers.
• Exceptional communication skills and ability to maintain momentum and alignment across matrixed teams.
• Ability to influence cross-functional teams and drive accountability without direct authority.
• Experience building schedules, managing risks, and facilitating decisions in dynamic environments.
• Curiosity and openness toward AI-enabled workflows, automation, and modern project-management and event-delivery approaches.
• Experience with event technologies, project-management platforms, and collaborative planning tools.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally and provide onsite leadership during event execution.
• Ability to meet the stated physical requirement of sitting or standing at will while working on a computer.
• Ability to work 40 hours per week and travel at least 30%.

Nice To Haves

• Experience leading large-scale global user conferences, customer events, or enterprise technology events.
• Experience working in software, technology, engineering, or infrastructure-related industries.
• Experience implementing event technology platforms, workflow automation, or AI-enabled planning tools.
• Professional certification in event management, project management, or related disciplines.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the operational lead for flagship programs, including the User Conference and Year in Infrastructure Awards.
• Build and maintain integrated workback schedules, critical paths, and milestone plans across all phases of event delivery.
• Establish and lead planning cadence, workstream meetings, readiness reviews, and issue-resolution forums.
• Drive accountability among internal teams, agency partners, and stakeholders; manage commitments and proactively address dependencies.
• Identify risks, facilitate decisions, and escalate issues before they affect delivery.
• Maintain visibility into cross-functional dependencies and keep decisions, action items, and milestones on track throughout the event lifecycle.
• Partner with the VP of Global Events and Director of Global Event Delivery to translate strategic vision and experience objectives into executable plans.
• Lead operational readiness for registration, housing, transportation, food and beverage, staffing, keynote production, content delivery, show floor operations, speaker logistics, executive programs, and onsite support.
• Partner with Experience Design and Programming & Content Operations teams to turn creative, content, and production requirements into scheduled, executable plans.
• Lead readiness reviews and issue resolution across major workstreams ahead of critical milestones and onsite execution.
• Provide onsite operational leadership during load-in, event operations, load-out, and post-event closeout.
• Serve as the day-to-day operational lead for agency and production partners, coordinating schedules, deliverables, and dependencies.
• Build strong partner relationships and ensure external partners work as extensions of the Bentley team.
• Document lessons learned and incorporate improvements into planning frameworks, templates, and playbooks.
• Identify opportunities to simplify workflows and improve efficiency through AI-enabled tools, automation, and modern ways of working.
• Partner with the Director of Global Event Delivery to pilot and adopt technologies that improve planning visibility, reduce manual effort, and increase organizational capacity.
• Contribute to the evolution of Bentley’s event delivery model and champion operational discipline and best practices.
• Lead two direct reports.

Benefits

• Attractive salary and benefits package.
• Bentley Impact Day: a day off from work to volunteer with an organization of your choice.
• Colleague recognition award programs and the Bentley Achievers platform.
• Global initiatives and resource groups supporting inclusion, belonging, and colleague wellbeing.

What This Job Offers

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