Director of Business Development, Events & Education

Position Summary

The Director of Business Development, Events & Education will lead the organization’s sponsorship, relationship-development, event, educational-program, and committee-support activities. This role is designed for a highly polished relationship builder and revenue-minded event professional who can cultivate long-term partnerships, deliver exceptional VIP-level service, negotiate strategically, and produce outstanding in-person and virtual experiences.

The successful candidate will manage relationships with sponsors, funders, members, community partners, vendors, venues, board members, committee leaders, and high-profile professionals. They will be responsible for retaining and expanding current sponsorships, developing new advertising and partnership opportunities, supporting membership and fundraising initiatives, and contributing to charitable foundation and political event activities as appropriate.

This person must combine strong sales instincts with excellent event-production and association-management skills. They should be confident and charismatic, genuinely enjoyable to work with, calm under pressure, highly organized, creative, solutions-oriented, and capable of making people feel respected and well cared for—even when handling criticism, conflict, or difficult conversations.

The Director will also serve as the primary staff liaison to the Conference Committee and Education Committee, working closely with committee co-chairs and members to develop agendas, coordinate meetings, track activities and action items, and ensure timely follow-through on committee priorities and deliverables.

Key Responsibilities

Sponsorship, Sales & Relationship Development

Develop and execute strategies to retain, grow, and diversify sponsorship and advertising revenue.
Manage the full sponsorship and partnership lifecycle, including:
§ Prospect identification
§ Outreach and relationship cultivation
§ Needs assessment
§ Proposal development
§ Negotiation and contracting
§ Fulfillment and stewardship
§ Renewal and upselling
Build and maintain strong relationships with current and prospective sponsors, funders, advertisers, members, community partners, and major stakeholders.
Identify opportunities to increase sponsorship value through customized benefits, year-round engagement, event visibility, educational programming, digital promotion, and other partnership assets.
Create sponsorship packages, advertising opportunities, benefit matrices, proposals, presentations, renewal materials, and follow-up communications.
Maintain an organized sales pipeline and accurate records of prospects, contacts, proposals, commitments, deliverables, and renewal dates.
Support membership sales, donor cultivation, foundation fundraising, political events, and other revenue-generating initiatives.
Work collaboratively with leadership and marketing staff to develop compelling value propositions and partnership strategies.
Provide consistent post-event reporting and demonstrate sponsor return on investment through attendance, visibility, engagement, lead generation, and other agreed-upon metrics.
Serve as a polished and responsive primary point of contact for high-profile professionals and VIP stakeholders.
Identify opportunities to cross-sell or expand relationships across sponsorships, advertising, membership, educational programs, events, fundraising, and other organizational initiatives.
Develop long-term relationships that encourage repeat participation, referrals, multi-year commitments, and increased levels of support.

Client Service, Stewardship & Conflict Resolution

Deliver a consistently high level of service to sponsors, speakers, members, guests, vendors, committee members, and partners.
Anticipate stakeholder needs and create a professional, welcoming, and personalized experience.
Respond to concerns and complaints promptly, diplomatically, and constructively.
De-escalate difficult situations, identify practical solutions, and ensure that individuals leave the interaction feeling heard and respected.
Communicate criticism or corrective feedback in a positive, tactful, and productive manner.
Protect the organization’s reputation by handling sensitive conversations with discretion, sound judgment, and professionalism.
Build trust by being responsive, reliable, transparent, and consistent.
Maintain a positive, upbeat, and encouraging presence, including during periods of high workload or organizational stress.

Committee Staffing & Support

Serve as the primary staff liaison and day-to-day staff partner for the Conference Committee and Education Committee.
Work closely with each committee’s co-chairs to establish priorities, develop annual work plans, and ensure alignment with the organization’s strategic goals.
Schedule and coordinate committee meetings, planning calls, and related activities.
Draft, distribute, and maintain meeting agendas, briefing materials, discussion documents, presentations, and follow-up communications.
Prepare committee members for productive meetings by ensuring they receive the necessary background information, reports, proposals, and decision materials in advance.
Facilitate or support committee meetings as appropriate.
Record, organize, and distribute meeting notes, decisions, assignments, and deadlines.
Maintain clear action-item trackers for both committees.
Track committee activity, recommendations, deliverables, milestones, decisions, and outstanding issues.
Follow up with committee members, co-chairs, staff, speakers, vendors, and other stakeholders to ensure commitments are completed on time.
Monitor action items between meetings and provide timely reminders and status updates.
Identify potential delays, gaps, conflicts, or resource needs and proactively communicate them to the appropriate co-chairs and staff.
Provide regular status updates to leadership regarding committee progress, accomplishments, risks, upcoming needs, and unresolved items.
Help recruit, orient, engage, and retain committee members and volunteers.
Foster productive collaboration among committee members while maintaining clear roles, expectations, accountability, and communication.
Ensure committee decisions and activities are documented accurately and communicated to relevant staff, leadership, sponsors, vendors, and other stakeholders.
Support the Conference Committee in planning and executing the annual conference, including program development, speakers, sponsors, vendors, logistics, budgets, and timelines.
Support the Education Committee in developing and delivering educational programs, webinars, workshops, continuing education activities, and related content.
Maintain organized committee files, calendars, contact lists, work plans, agendas, meeting records, and action-item histories.

Event & Program Management

Plan and manage all in-person and virtual events and educational programs, including:
§ Workshops
§ Webinars
§ Fundraising events
§ Association leadership meetings
§ Member meetings
§ Networking events
§ Executive or VIP gatherings
§ Political and foundation-related events, as applicable
Support annual conference activities and related programs
Manage event timelines, budgets, registration, communications, staffing, vendors, contracts, logistics, risk mitigation, and post-event evaluation.
Coordinate all aspects of event administration, including:
§ Order placement
§ Vendor coordination
§ Travel and restaurant arrangements
§ Attendee participation
§ RSVP and registration tracking
§ Speaker and panelist communications
§ Deliverable collection
§ Guest accommodations
§ On-site support
§ Issue resolution
Serve as the primary staff liaison for event-related committees, speakers, panelists, sponsors, and leadership groups.
Cultivate collaboration among committees, committee chairs, staff, and organizational leadership to ensure high-quality content and presentations.
Collaborate with the annual conference contractor to support planning and execution.
Partner with marketing staff to develop and distribute timely promotional materials, sponsor communications, registration campaigns, and event-related content.
Maintain positive and productive relationships with members, vendors, venues, sponsors, funders, and community partners.

Virtual Events & Webinar Production

Manage Zoom Meetings and Webinars, including events with multiple hosts, panelists, moderators, presenters, and sponsors.
Coordinate virtual event setup, registration, branding, permissions, rehearsals, recording, livestreaming, captioning, transcription, polling, Q&A, breakout rooms, and technical troubleshooting.
Lead planning calls and rehearsals with speakers, panelists, moderators, hosts, and production partners.
Collect and organize speaker biographies, headshots, presentations, talking points, disclosures, recordings, and other required deliverables.
Prepare run-of-show documents, speaker instructions, technical checklists, production schedules, and contingency plans.
Ensure recordings, transcripts, presentations, and other post-event materials are properly organized and distributed.
Manage virtual sponsor recognition and advertising opportunities, including introductions, logos, promotional slides, sponsored content, and other agreed-upon benefits.

Venue, Vendor & Contract Negotiation

Research, evaluate, and select venues, hotels, caterers, audiovisual providers, decorators, transportation providers, and other event vendors.
Negotiate venue and vendor contracts, pricing, concessions, cancellation terms, attrition provisions, room blocks, food and beverage minimums, service charges, audiovisual costs, and other contractual elements.
Understand hotel and venue operations well enough to identify realistic opportunities for savings, concessions, upgrades, waived fees, and improved service terms.
Negotiate from a position of preparation and value while maintaining strong long-term relationships.
Never assume the first proposal is final; evaluate alternatives and pursue the best overall value for the organization.
Cultivate a reliable network of preferred vendors and venues.
Review contracts for financial, operational, and reputational risks and escalate issues when appropriate.
Maintain vendor performance records and conduct post-event evaluations.
o Negotiate with confidence while protecting the organization’s relationships, reputation, budget, and strategic interests.

Event Logistics & Budget Management

Develop and monitor event budgets, forecasts, purchase orders, invoices, and final reconciliations.
Calculate appropriate room capacity, seating arrangements, registration areas, staging, food and beverage quantities, audiovisual requirements, and staffing needs for both small and large events.
Coordinate audiovisual production, presentation technology, internet access, lighting, sound, staging, signage, branding, and event materials.
Manage catering and food and beverage requirements, including menus, dietary restrictions, guarantees, service timing, and consumption estimates.
Develop detailed production schedules, checklists, floor plans, staffing plans, timelines, and contingency plans.
Anticipate potential problems and take proactive steps to mitigate them.
Provide on-site leadership and ensure that events meet organizational, sponsor, guest, and programmatic expectations.
Transport or arrange transportation for event materials such as signage, badges, promotional items, supplies, and event equipment as needed.

Administration, Systems & Process Improvement

Maintain accurate records in appropriate databases, spreadsheets, CRM systems, project-management platforms, and shared files.
Use technology to streamline event, sponsorship, membership, committee, and fundraising processes.
Establish repeatable workflows, templates, tracking systems, and standard operating procedures.
Recommend and implement tools that improve efficiency, communication, reporting, and accountability.
Maintain centralized calendars and tracking systems for sponsorship deadlines, committee meetings, event milestones, deliverables, renewals, and action items.
Stay current on event technology, sponsorship practices, continuing education, fundraising, association management, and industry trends.
Participate in strategic planning and contribute ideas that strengthen organizational growth, visibility, service, and revenue.

Required Qualifications

Five to seven years of progressively responsible experience in event management, sponsorship sales, partnership development, hospitality, association management, fundraising, or a related field.
Demonstrated success retaining and expanding sponsor, client, donor, member, or partner relationships.
Proven ability to generate revenue through sponsorships, advertising, membership, fundraising, or related sales activities.
Strong understanding of relationship-based sales, prospect development, account management, renewal strategy, and consultative selling.
Demonstrated expertise in contract and price negotiation, preferably involving hotels, venues, catering, audiovisual services, and event vendors.
Significant experience planning and executing both in-person and virtual events.
Experience staffing committees, boards, volunteer groups, or professional association working groups.
Demonstrated ability to work effectively with committee co-chairs and volunteer leaders.
Experience preparing agendas, meeting materials, minutes or notes, action-item trackers, work plans, and committee progress reports.
Ability to facilitate productive meetings, maintain accountability, and follow up diplomatically with volunteers and stakeholders.
Advanced working knowledge of Zoom Meetings and Webinars, including panelist management, recording, transcription, registration, production controls, rehearsals, and technical troubleshooting.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office, particularly:
o Microsoft Word
o Microsoft Excel
o Microsoft PowerPoint
o Microsoft Outlook
Excellent written, verbal, presentation, interpersonal, and customer-service skills.
Strong executive presence and the ability to interact confidently with high-profile professionals, sponsors, donors, board members, committee leaders, and organizational executives.
Exceptional organization, follow-through, time management, and attention to detail.
Ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, events, relationships, committee activities, and revenue opportunities simultaneously.
Ability to work independently with limited supervision while collaborating effectively in a small, fast-moving organization.
Sound judgment, discretion, integrity, and the ability to handle confidential or sensitive information.
Ability to remain calm, positive, professional, and solutions-oriented during stressful situations.
Willingness and ability to work occasional evenings and weekends as event requirements dictate.
Ability to travel as needed and transport event materials when required.

Preferred Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in hospitality management, event planning, business, communications, nonprofit management, association management, marketing, or a related field.
Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation.
Experience working with professional associations, charitable foundations, nonprofit organizations, political organizations, or membership-based organizations.
Established relationships with hotels, venues, caterers, audiovisual companies, event professionals, sponsors, funders, and community partners.
Experience using Asana, Airtable, Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Planner, Monday.com, or similar project-management or CRM tools.
Experience with event registration platforms, survey tools, webinar platforms, and digital engagement tools.
Experience developing sponsorship decks, prospect lists, sales reports, fulfillment reports, and return-on-investment summaries.
Experience supporting fundraising campaigns, donor events, foundation activities, or political events.
Experience coordinating volunteer committees, board committees, advisory groups, or member-led initiatives.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is:

A natural relationship builder who earns trust quickly and maintains relationships over time.
Commercially minded without being transactional.
Comfortable asking for the sale, renewal, upgrade, referral, or commitment.
A skilled negotiator who is prepared, persistent, fair, and strategic.
Polished enough to represent the organization with senior executives and high-profile professionals.
Warm, upbeat, personable, and genuinely enjoyable to work with.
Confident while remaining humble, receptive, and collaborative.
Able to make others feel valued, respected, and well supported.
Calm and diplomatic when resolving conflict or addressing dissatisfaction.
Comfortable working with committee co-chairs, volunteers, executives, sponsors, and other stakeholders with varying communication styles and priorities.
Creative, resourceful, and comfortable solving problems in real time.
Technology-minded and interested in improving systems and processes.
Accountable, dependable, proactive, and consistently prepared.
Energized by event environments and capable of maintaining a positive presence under pressure.
Able to bring enthusiasm and optimism to the workplace and to every interaction.

Suggested Success Measures

Performance in this role may be evaluated using measures such as:
Sponsorship retention and renewal rates.
Growth in sponsorship, advertising, membership, and fundraising revenue.
Number and quality of new qualified prospects.
Sponsorship upgrades, expansions, and multi-year commitments.
Sponsor satisfaction and fulfillment results.
Budget performance and negotiated savings or concessions.
Vendor and venue performance.
Timely completion of event deliverables.
Accuracy and completeness of project, sponsor, committee, and financial tracking.
Timely completion and follow-through of Conference Committee and Education Committee action items.
Quality and consistency of committee agendas, materials, meeting records, and status reporting.
Committee member engagement and satisfaction.
Successful implementation of process and technology improvements.
Quality of relationships with sponsors, members, speakers, vendors, committee members, leadership, and other stakeholders.

What We Offer:

Competitive Salary (Base + Commission) $100,000 to $120,000
Generous PTO Plan
401k + 5% Company match
Health, Dental, Vision, short-term and long-term disability (100% premiums paid for Employee)
Term-Life Insurance Provided
Mostly Remote work environment with monthly internet and phone stipend
Professional Development opportunities
Small, collaborative team with clear impact and ownership

Pay: $95,000.00 - $120,000.00 per year

Benefits:

401(k)
401(k) matching
Cell phone reimbursement
Dental insurance
Disability insurance
Employee discount
Health insurance
Health savings account
Life insurance
Paid time off
Vision insurance

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Austin, TX 78702