Events Manager

Description

The American Philosophical Society (APS) is seeking a highly organized and professional Events Manager to join its Programs Team. The Events Manager will play a key role in advancing the APS’s mission of promoting useful knowledge by ensuring the seamless end-to-end planning and execution of a series of the APS’s highest profile events including it biannual Meetings (large multi-day symposiums), on-site and off-site private special events (small-to-medium sized gatherings for both internal and external APS stakeholders), and on-site rental events. The successful candidate will collaborate with the Programs Team to match program vision, content, and audience with event design. 

Essential Functions:

• Serve as the operational and administrative lead for the Society’s biannual Meetings, private special events, and rental events, ensuring seamless planning and execution from initial coordination through post-event follow-up;
• Lead end-to-end event management, including timelines, logistics, and registration;
• Manage vendors and production partners, such as caterers, hotels, security, AV, and photography, etc.;
• Develop run-of-show documents that ensure smooth cross-departmental coordination and on-site execution;

This is a full-time position with benefits. The APS offers a competitive benefits package, including health insurance, dental, life insurance, long-term disability, 403b with employer match, and paid days off.

About APS

Today, the American Philosophical Society is a dynamic and multifaceted research institution with a mission of “promoting useful knowledge.” (It should be noted that “Philosophy” in the 18th century meant inquiry, and the APS today embraces its motto of nullo discrimine (“without distinction”) by supporting the advancement of knowledge in all fields of knowledge through several program areas.) The APS is led by dynamic, new leadership that honors its venerable history while finding ways to increase its impact in the modern world:

• Research: The APS plays an important role in providing independent research support to the brightest young minds —particularly important in a time when research dollars are scarcer. Its international grants and fellowship program funds over 300 scholars a year and supports research projects on all seven continents and in virtually all disciplines.
• Unique Collections and Resources: With over 14 million pages of manuscripts, including the papers of Benjamin Franklin, the journals of Lewis and Clark, and seven Nobel Laureates, its Library is home to one of the most distinguished research collections in the United States. The Library houses four research centers and supports a museum next to Independence Hall that regularly receives 100,000 visitors from around the country.
• The APS Press, the oldest continuously operating imprint in North America, produces a series of thought-provoking books and journals every year.
• Convening Conversations: At the heart of the APS sits its many convenings of thought leaders who share cutting edge research in all fields of knowledge, a tradition that dates to the Society’s founding.
• A Home to Pathbreakers: As a learned society, the APS is guided and governed by its elected Membership, which includes approximately 1,000 individuals who were elected because of their significant contributions to the advancement of knowledge. It is considered the most distinguished learned society in the United States. Seventeen presidents, dozens of Pulitzer Prize winners, Academy Award winners, Supreme Court justices, governors, and nearly 100 Nobel Laureates have been elected to Membership.

Collectively, the Society’s work and culture embody “the life of the mind.”

Qualifications
 

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience;
• 5+ years experience in event planning and/or hospitality;
• Familiarity with MS Office, Google Suite, and Zoom; Salesforce experience preferred;

Skills and Attributes

• Must be well organized with strong project management skills and the ability to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously in a fast-paced, high-performance environment;
• Superior inter-personal skills with a positive attitude;
• Exceptional attention to detail paired with strong judgment and problem-solving instincts;
• Strong communication skills, written and verbal;
• Demonstrated ability to be creative, flexible, adaptive to change, and to successfully collaborate and work effectively within and across organizational boundaries;

Other Information

• Dependability in adhering to schedules and availability for early mornings, daytime, evenings, and weekends with schedules that vary based on the event calendar;
• Ability to travel for off-site events;
• Other duties as assigned

Institutional requirements: Background check required after a conditional job offer is made.

Employment type: In-person, Full-time, Exempt position.

Environmental/Physical Capabilities: The physical demands and work environment described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. This position operates in a professional office environment within the organization. The role frequently interacts with members in person, requiring extended periods of standing at service desk, often for multiple hours at a time. The role may also involve occasional walking, light lifting, traveling, and repetitive motions such as typing or using office equipment. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job.