Supervisor, Events

If you're passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country-and you're committed to working hard to play your part in building that future-consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

Job Description

About the Role:

As the Supervisor of Events, you will be a member of the Commencement Team, which is included under the larger University Events Team. The Commencement Team produces multiple large-scale commencement ceremonies and alumni celebration events across the country that reach tens of thousands of graduates and guests. These events celebrate the successes of our graduates, serve as a gathering place for hundreds of our staff, and bring attention to WGU as a whole. You will be part of a highly collaborative team as you lead the team's event specialists and coordinators. Your success will be measured by your ability to lead a team to execute events that are on time and on budget while meeting event objectives and maintaining high participant satisfaction scores.

Location: This position requires you to work in office 4 days per week at the WGU headquarters 4001 South 700 East Salt Lake City, UT 84107

What You'll Do:

• Supervises day-to-day duties of the event specialists and coordinators to ensure that planning and execution of assigned duties is being completed in a timely and effective manner.
• Work closely with the department leadership to monitor and manage the events budget and initiatives to ensure they align with the strategic plan.
• Provide direction and oversight for event planning and execution, including contract review, relationship management, strategy and overall communication.
• Guide and train event specialists and coordinators as they manage the vendor relationship process, including sourcing, contracting, payment, and communication.
• Provide coaching, guidance, and feedback to direct reports.
• In coordination with the manager, oversee pre-event set ups and post-event evaluations
• Work with the Procurement and Legal teams to negotiate vendor contracts to minimize liability and risk.
• Build and maintain relationships with internal and external partners.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities You'll Need to be Successful:

• Demonstrated success managing event production teams, planning events, developing budgets, and meeting budget goals.
• Excellent project management skills, and the ability to manage complex timelines and multiple projects.
• Ability to lead a team. Proven leadership and management skills, with experience of event staff and crew management.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and time management skills. Must be well organized and detailed oriented.
• Demonstrated high level of confidence in making decisions, good judgment, and innovative and creative problem-solving skills.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office suite, and knowledge of cloud applications such as Google Docs and SharePoint. Knowledge of Health and Safety and Licensing Regulations.
• Ability to interact and successfully collaborate with a broad spectrum of contributing groups and customers.
• Ability to accomplish goals working through formal and informal channels, with diplomacy and tactfulness. Demonstrated outstanding attention to detail.
• Able to take on multiple projects, in varying domains, while leading through regular change.
• Willing to try new ways to solve problems, with a keen sense of finding long and short-term solutions.
• Ability to understand and identify underlying business needs and problems to deliver lasting solutions in a short timeline.

Minimum Requirements:

• 4 years of experience working in large scale event planning and event management.
• Bachelor's degree in marketing, business, English, public relations, communications, or related field.
• Budget management experience.

Physical Requirements

• Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Prolonged periods on your feet for extended periods of time during events.
• Consistent with its obligations under the law, the University will provide reasonable accommodation to any employee with a disability who requires accommodation to perform the essential functions of his or her job.
• Will require 20% travel and working evenings and weekends.
• Salt Lake City Office required.

Why Join WGU?

• You will be part of a growing, diverse, inclusive workforce, committed to creating pathways to a better life for our students by expanding access to education for everyone.
• We provide comprehensive dental, vision, and medical benefits, with paid time off, parental leave, and inclusive family forming benefits.
• We offer generous retirement and HSA company contributions.
• You will also have opportunity for continuous learning! Employees and their families receive discounted undergraduate and graduate WGU tuition.

Position & Application Details

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It's not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.