The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation convenes grantees, partners and thought leaders all over the world to drive the progress of programmatic strategies. The foundation's events team is responsible for the logistical oversight and implementation of hundreds of events each year.
The Operations Manager is responsible for driving the business operations, processes and technology projects of the events team. An ideal candidate for the role a must have expertise and a passion for process improvement, as well as a customer experience and service focused mindset. The Operations Manager is responsible for a holistic strategic vision for the operational side of the team’s business--harnessing data, metrics, technology, industry trends and stakeholder needs to move the work forward. This position will collaborate extensively with internal stakeholders (Security, Legal, Travel, Finance, AV, etc.) to deliver high quality and effective systems and processes that meet the foundation’s quickly evolving business needs while adhering to the rules and regulations that apply to the foundation’s operations. The Operations Manager will also work closely with the regional offices to create customized event planning processes that best serve the business needs of the particular region while leveraging the tools developed in Seattle. This role will work closely with the Global Registration Manager on the intersections of registration and business operation processes and systems and will be able to step in and out of this role as needed for coverage. Both domestic and international travel are requirements for this position. There will be trips to foundation regional offices, some foundation hosted events and industry conferences. Estimated 4-6 trips/year.
This position reports to the Deputy Director, Global Events, and works collaboratively with colleagues within People & Place and across the foundation.
- Technology: Responsible for the events team's business applications including the event management system (EMS), and the registration system (CVENT). Manage event content for quarterly event trainings for all foundation employees. Responsible for researching and analyzing systems and trends in event technology. Additionally, act as stakeholder representing events perspective for other operations team’s technology projects.
- Business and Data Analysis: Develop, implement and monitor strategic team metrics, team goals and objectives, workforce planning and process improvements to maximize utilization of systems and resources. Provide routine and ad hoc reporting as needed for operation & program areas. Complete special projects and reports as assigned.
- Regional Office Operations Lead: Single point of contact for event processes and procedures in all regional offices. Onboard & train new employees on event management system (EMS) including producing training documentation.
- Process Improvement and Project Management: Drive process improvements and projects in conjunction with internal stakeholders across the foundation including operations and programmatic teams.
- Budget and Financial Management: Manage overall budget as well as payment processing for foundation hosted events. Develop tracking and reporting systems for foundation events investments.
- Collaboration - Works with others openly and transparently to create an environment where diverse view-points are valued, and information is shared with others for the purposes of achieving a shared client experience goal
- Implementation Excellence - Excel at delivering and continuously improving our global solutions in a seamless, consistent way that results in clients understanding changes and more effectively driving foundation impact
- Outcome Driven - Using data to drive decision making, determine the work to be done, assess changes, adapt plans, measure progress, and follow-through on getting the work done in service of the desired client experience outcome(s)
- Functional Expertise - Use functional skills and knowledge to provide solutions to our clients in a consultative manner
- Learning Agility - Ability, curiosity, and willingness to learn from experiences and failures to adapt and adopt new ways of being and thinking to further the impact of the foundation (e.g., take risks, challenge status quo, be open)
- Critical Thinking - The process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information from multiple sources and perspectives to reach an answer or conclusion
- Systems Thinking - Understands the formal and informal intersections and interdependencies to be able to frame the problem, evaluate issues, see downstream affects, and identify future implications across the end-to-end system to help prioritize solutions
Preferred experience
- Experience working for a global organization.
- Experience providing support in a fast-moving organization, preferably on an event team.
- Demonstrated ability to work with flexibility, efficiency and diplomacy both individually and as part of a team effort.
- Ability to exhibit a high level of customer service while multitasking and working on multiple projects.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills in an environment requiring diplomacy and judgment in managing interactions with individuals at all levels both inside and outside of the foundation.
- Demonstrated effectiveness meeting deadlines in a role requiring continual attention to detail.
- Experience establishing organizational systems to improve efficiency and functioning in a changing environment.
- Demonstrated proficiency using MS Word, Outlook, Excel, and PowerPoint.