Senior Manager, Global Meetings, Events & Brand Experiences

Columbia Sportswear • Portland, OR

2d • Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Manager, Global Meetings, Events & Brand Experiences is responsible for leading the strategy, operations, and performance of Columbia Sportswear Company's corporate events function, ensuring the successful delivery of meetings, events, activations, and experiences that support business objectives, strengthen brand engagement, and elevate stakeholder experiences. This role leads a high-performing team and a complex ecosystem of agencies, production partners, suppliers, technology providers, venues, and hospitality partners to deliver world-class events. As a trusted advisor to senior leaders, the Senior Manager, Global Meetings, Events & Activations brings clarity to ambiguity, navigates complex challenges, removes barriers to execution, and drives alignment across diverse stakeholders. The ideal candidate combines exceptional leadership and emotional intelligence with deep expertise in event operations, vendor management, event technology, production, budgeting, contracting, and experience design. This leader is highly adaptable, influential, solutions-oriented, and able to coach teams, business partners, and executives to achieve successful outcomes in fast-paced and evolving environments.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Hospitality, Event Management, or a related field.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in corporate event management, experiential marketing, hospitality, event operations, or related disciplines.
• 5+ years of people leadership experience managing teams, large-scale programs, budgets, and external partners.
• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale corporate, executive, customer-facing, virtual, and hybrid events.
• Experience managing agencies, production vendors, AV providers, hotels, venues, labor partners, and event technology suppliers.
• Event strategy, operations, production, hospitality, experiential marketing, and attendee experience design.
• Budget management, forecasting, procurement, contract negotiation, and financial stewardship.
• Event technology platforms, registration systems, virtual event solutions, and attendee engagement tools.
• Vendor management, operational governance, and organizational capability development.

Nice To Haves

• CMP, PMP, or related professional certification preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead, develop, and inspire a high-performing Events team, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Coach and mentor team members while influencing stakeholders and senior leaders to drive alignment, informed decision-making, and successful business outcomes.
• Build organizational capability, define clear priorities, and create an environment that enables teams to perform at their highest level.
• Leads large, cross-functional initiatives involving significant budgets, business impact, and organizational complexity.
• Influences decisions and outcomes across Marketing, Sales, Product, Procurement, Finance, Legal, HR, Communications, and external partners.
• Lead the strategy, planning, and execution of the company's portfolio of corporate meetings, sales meetings, executive events, customer experiences, internal events, and experiential activations.
• Ensure operational excellence across all phases of event delivery, from concept development through post-event evaluation.
• Lead through ambiguity, proactively identifying risks, solving complex challenges, and removing barriers that impact execution.
• Oversee a diverse network of 25+ vendors including but not limited to event agencies, production companies, AV providers, fabricators, design agencies, labor partners, shipping companies, venues, transportation providers, and event technology vendors.
• In partnership with Procurement, establish strategic partnerships, negotiate contracts, define performance expectations, and ensure consistent service delivery, accountability, scalability, and cost efficiency across the event ecosystem.
• Lead event budget planning, forecasting, financial reporting, and investment management.
• Ensure responsible stewardship of event investments while balancing business objectives, attendee experience, and financial performance.
• Oversee negotiation and management of complex hotel, venue, production, agency, and supplier contracts while mitigating risk and maximizing value.
• Lead the selection, implementation, and optimization of event technologies, including registration, attendee management, floor planning, event applications, reporting, virtual event platforms, and engagement tools.
• Serve as a subject matter expert in platforms such as Cvent, Social Tables, and related event management technologies.
• Partner with executive leaders and business stakeholders to develop event objectives, content strategies, attendee journeys, and program experiences.
• Ensure clear and effective communication throughout the event lifecycle, from planning through execution and reporting.
• Influence and align stakeholders across varying priorities while maintaining focus on business objectives and attendee experience.
• Lead the enterprise Events Center of Excellence (COE), establishing governance, standards, tools, best practices, and capabilities that support consistent and scalable event execution across the organization.
• Provide expertise and consultation to business partners, ensuring alignment with company standards and event strategy.

Benefits

• 401k plan plus a generous company match
• medical, dental, vision, life Insurance, disability, flexible spending accounts, health savings account, and an assortment of voluntary benefit offerings (accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity, and legal services)
• EAP + which is free and confidential 24/7/365 counseling services
• extensive wellness benefits
• employee discounts
• generous time off program

What This Job Offers

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