Sr. Manager, Field Events Management

Northwestern Mutual•Milwaukee, WI

10d•Hybrid

About The Position

Northwestern Mutual is seeking a Sr. Manager, Field Events Management to lead a team of talented event professionals responsible for managing a select portfolio of field events. The team leader will be a key driver in our mission to create a synergistic events structure that aligns roles and optimizes workflows to enhance team capabilities and ultimately facilitate growth. You will accomplish this by embedding best practices into everything we do and empowering the team to think boldly, act decisively, and deliver exceptional events that bring the Northwestern Mutual brand to life. The ideal candidate is a seasoned event professional with deep expertise in end-to-end event management, on-site leadership, stakeholder management, and high-volume program oversight. Collaboration is your strength—you thrive in cross-functional environments and work seamlessly with partners to understand objectives and translate insights into action. As both an innovator and optimizer, you explore new approaches with confidence and continually seek ways to elevate team performance. Above all, your growth mindset brings positivity, curiosity, and passion to everything you do.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
7-10+ years of experience in meetings or large-scale event management.
1-3+ years of experience leading or supervising a team of event managers or leading multiple large-scale cross-functional team projects.
Strong communication, executive presence, and stakeholder-management skills.
Outstanding organizational skills capable of meeting deadlines while balancing multiple projects and priorities.
Highly proficient in Microsoft office suite and experienced with Cvent, project management tools, workday, and enablement workflows.
Ability to travel domestically up to 30–50% to support events across the United States.
Flexibility to work evenings and weekends during event execution periods.
Ability to lift up to 30 lbs. assisting with event setup, execution, and breakdown on-site.
Accountability Holds self and their direct reports accountable for measurable, high-quality, timely, and cost-effective results, delivery, and execution. Determines objectives, sets priorities, delegates work to direct reports, and accepts responsibility for mistakes.
Adaptive Communication Formulates strategies to be used to convey complex information about services, products, systems, or processes to targeted audiences; communicates and liaises between technical and non-technical audiences.
Event Management Event Planning Expense Reporting Management Tracks and documents the operational and other related costs by recording and classifying expenses to monitor and control costs, assess budget adherence, and evaluate the efficiency of resource utilization within the organization.
Interpersonal Savvy Relates well to all kinds of people inside and outside of the organization. Builds appropriate rapport, constructive and effective relationships. Uses diplomacy and tact and diffuses high-tension situations comfortably.
Strategic Vision & Planning Develops, defines, and executes strategic vision for the team and business function they manage with an understanding of the enterprise’s goals as a people manager; defines business planning, strategy formulation, and management engine to support strategic vision.
Talent Development & Planning Develops direct reports’ skills based on organizational objectives, evaluates skill gaps, and manages succession planning to develop more capable direct reports, diverse, strong teams and better organizational performance in an equitable and inclusive manner.
Teamwork Engages in others' behaviors to generate strong team cohesion and orientation. Facilitates open dialogue within and across teams to create trust and understanding. Shares collective successes and opportunities to improve as a group.

Responsibilities

Lead end-to-end event management in a player-coach capacity while fostering a proactive, innovative, and insight-driven team culture.
Oversee workload allocation and establish team best practices.
Ensure all events reflect Northwestern Mutual’s brand, hospitality standards, compliance requirements, and event governance frameworks.
Build strong partnerships with Field Function, Strategic Communications, Marketing, Sourcing & Procurement, Technology, CEE, and executive leaders (when applicable) to establish event objectives and KPIs, paying particular attention to the desired business outcome.
Guide your team in building event strategies grounded in data and purpose, as well as attendee, stakeholder, and vendor feedback to shape decisions, and measure impact.
Present planning improvements and post-event recommendations that shape the broader event roadmap with leadership and program owners.
Partner with the Assistant Director of Production & Creative Services to bring events to life across the portfolio—through the development of experiential elements that spark connection and elevate attendee engagement.
Lead the team in adhering to - and contributing to - evolving event frameworks that incorporate risk mitigation, safety, sustainability, and ADA standards to deliver CEE business-aligned events.
Lead budget management with confidence and clarity—working with the Assistant Director of Event Management and the Assistant Director of Business Operations to oversee accurate forecasting, strategic resource allocation, and spend optimization that allows creativity and strategy to thrive while maintaining compliance and governance standards.
Key driver in the hotel RFP process - utilizing your deep industry experience to be a strategic advisor to S&P and a major contributor to complex contract negotiations.
Solution with a growth mindset in real-time when challenges arise.
Support Senior Leadership Team & Executive Leadership Group event needs at offsite events.
Suggest User Experience improvements to Cvent and project management tools to support the internal user and external attendee experience.
Gain a deep understanding of our planning processes to ensure events run smoothly and are planned in a timely manner.
Manage our vendor ecosystem, ensuring high service standards and alignment with NM’s brand and expectations.
Be the primary driver of master services agreements, requests for proposals, and contracts with sourcing & procurement and the event managers.
When applicable, be a primary driver in developing a cross-functionally inclusive, real-time, risk assessment matrix and corresponding mitigation plans for event related issues.
Mentor, inspire, and grow the team to achieve their personal development and growth goals.