Senior Director II, Events

Let’s be unstoppable together!

Circana is a leading provider of technology, AI, and data solutions for consumer packaged goods companies, manufacturers, and retailers. Our predictive analytics and Liquid Data® platform help clients measure market share, uncover consumer behavior, and drive growth—powered by six decades of expertise and an expansive, high-quality data set.

At Circana, we are fueled by our passion for continuous learning and growth, we seek and share feedback freely, and we celebrate victories both big and small in an environment that is flexible and accommodating to our work and personal lives.  We’re a global company dedicated to fostering inclusivity and belonging. We value and celebrate the unique experiences, cultures, and viewpoints that each individual brings. By embracing a wide range of backgrounds, skills, expertise, and beyond, we create a stronger, more innovative environment for our employees, clients, and communities. With us, you can always bring your full self to work.  Join our inclusive, committed team to be a challenger, own outcomes, and stay curious together. Circana is proud to be Certified™ by Great Place To Work®. This prestigious award is based entirely on what current employees say about their experience working at Circana.

Learn more at www.circana.com.

 What will you be doing?

The Senior Director II, Events is based in the United States, the primary market of the company’s event portfolio and the host location of its flagship event, Growth Summit. Positioned at the center of Circana’s global events ecosystem, this role is accountable for the successful delivery and performance of global enterprise‑level events, ensuring programs execute against regional event strategies, corporate business objectives, and executive expectations.

This role requires close partnership with senior leaders, international functional teams, and external partners to deliver cohesive, high‑impact experiences that elevate the brand on a global stage.

Operating with a high degree of autonomy, the position owns strategic event outcomes across complex, multi‑day programs for both internal and external audiences and serves as a trusted advisor to senior and executive stakeholders.  This role ensures events deliver measurable business value (event ROI), brand consistency, and high‑impact experiences.

This role is based in the US to ensure proximity to the flagship event location, as well as key partners and executives, enabling direct accountability for onsite leadership of cross functional event teams, real‑time decision‑making, and issue resolution across strategically significant events. Additionally, it ensures that all events are executed on schedule, uphold brand and experience standards, adhere to budget parameters, and meet defined performance and success metrics.

As a people leader, this role also manages and develops direct reports responsible for event execution.

This role demonstrates strong executive presence and serves as a trusted partner to senior leaders, including ELT members, by translating business objectives into high impact, strategically-aligned event experiences.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Event Planning & Program Leadership

• Accountable for the end‑to‑end delivery and success of enterprise meetings, conferences, and leadership events, ensuring programs meet defined business objectives, timelines, budgets, and experience standards, from intake through post‑event evaluation.
• Translate business and departmental objectives into event-level strategies, establishing clear goals, execution roadmaps, and measurable success criteria that enable consistent evaluation of impact and value of core events. Serve as the senior operational leader during live events, making timely decisions to resolve issues, mitigate risk, and drive positive attendee experience, brand reputation, and business outcomes.

Venue Sourcing, Hotels & Event Space

• Own venue, hotel, and event space sourcing outcomes, ensuring RFPs, site evaluations, and comparative analyses result in selections that align with program requirements, budget targets, and experience objectives.
• Deliver strategic and data‑driven venue recommendations that balance cost efficiency, risk management, attendee experience, and stakeholder expectations.
  

Contract Review & Negotiation

• Leverage event industry expertise to negotiate and finalize complex event contracts with hotels, venues, and vendors, and ensuring terms support execution needs, financial discipline, and risk mitigation.
• Ensure contractual commitments enable successful delivery, aligning agreements with corporate procurement standards, budget controls, and event performance objectives.
   

Room Block & Housing Management

• Own room block strategy and management, including pickup optimization, forecasting, adjustments, and stakeholder communications, to deliver positive budget outcomes and attendee experience.
• Ensure a seamless, compliant lodging experience for attendees, executives, and speakers through clear governance, proactive communication, and operational oversight.
   

Vendor & Budget Management

• Be accountable for vendor performance and service quality across AV/production, transportation, staffing, catering, and ancillary services, ensuring delivery against scope, timelines, and experience standards.
• Own event‑level financial accuracy and discipline, partnering with the Global Head of Events to support forecasting, spend tracking, invoice approval, reconciliation, and post‑event financial insights.

People Leadership

• Lead and develop direct reports by setting clear objectives, prioritizing workloads, providing ongoing coaching, and holding team members accountable for execution quality and results.
• Establish and reinforce operational standards and best practices that enable scalable delivery, consistency across programs, and professional growth within the events team.

 Cross-Functional Leadership & Influence 

• Lead cross-functional workstreams across marketing, communications, sales, product, client teams, procurement, legal, finance, and external agencies to ensure alignment from strategy through execution.
• Build and cultivate strong partnerships to align diverse stakeholders around shared goals, timelines, and decision frameworks to drive successful collaboration.
• Drive clarity and accountability across teams, proactively resolving dependencies and risks that could impact event success.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.
• 7–10+ years of progressive experience in corporate or enterprise event management.
• CMP strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated expertise in hotel sourcing, event space evaluation, and contract negotiation and management.
• Hands‑on experience with Cvent for registration, badge printing, housing block management, sourcing and reporting.
• Proven experience managing room blocks, large vendor portfolios, and six‑ to seven‑figure event budgets.
• Experience leading and developing teams in a fast‑paced, deadline‑driven environment.
• Strong understanding of corporate procurement, legal review, and risk mitigation frameworks.
• Ability to manage multiple complex programs simultaneously while maintaining attention to detail and service excellence.
• Strategic event leadership and stakeholder partnership.
• Proven financial acumen.
• Cvent and event technology mastery.
• Team leadership and operational governance.
• Strong executive presence and decision‑making under pressure.
• Travel per year approximately 40% for on-site management of events and related activities.
• This role is based in the US to ensure proximity to the majority of executives, the flagship event location, and key partners, enabling more effective decision‑making, onsite leadership, and real‑time engagement across the company’s most strategically significant programs.

Circana Behaviors

As well as the technical skills, experience and attributes that are required for the role, our shared behaviors sit at the core of our organization. Therefore, we always look for people who can continuously champion these behaviors throughout the business within their day-to-day role:

• Stay Curious: Being hungry to learn and grow, always asking the big questions.
• Seek Clarity: Embracing complexity to create clarity and inspire action.
• Own the Outcome: Being accountable for decisions and taking ownership of our choices.
• Center on the Client: Relentlessly adding value for our customers.
• Be a Challenger: Never complacent, always striving for continuous improvement.
• Champion Inclusivity: Fostering trust in relationships engaging with empathy, respect, and integrity.
• Commit to each other: Contributing to making Circana a great place to work for everyone.

Location

This position can be located in the following area(s): Remote, USA. Preference for Chicago, IL based. 

Prospective candidates may be asked to consent to background checks (in accordance with local legislation and our candidate privacy notice ) Your current employer will not be contacted without your permission.

The below range reflects the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range. This range may be modified in the future.  An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, shift, travel requirements, sales or revenue-based metrics, any collective bargaining agreements, and business or organizational needs. The salary range for this role is $160,000.00 to $180,000.00 USD. 

 This job is also eligible for bonus pay.

#LI-AS1