Engagement Programs Manager (Hybrid - Madison, WI)

Job Purpose:  
Leads a high-performing team of brand engagement consultants and/or specialists responsible for designing, planning and delivering impactful brand experience engagements and activities (hosted or attended by TruStage) that strengthen relationships, advance enterprise priorities, facilitate business outcomes and elevate the brand. This role combines people leadership, strategic program oversight, and operational excellence to ensure consistent, high-quality experiences across our meetings and events practice.  

Job Responsibilities:  
People Leadership & Team Development 

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of consultants and/or specialists; set clear priorities, goals, and performance expectations  

• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement  

• Provide ongoing feedback, career development guidance, and workload management to maximize team effectiveness  

Program Strategy & Oversight 

• Accountable for the daily oversight of the end-to-end strategy and execution of engagement programs and activities (meetings, events, etc.), ensuring alignment to enterprise objectives, business goals and brand standards  

• Establish planning frameworks, playbooks, and best practices to scale consistency across meetings and events  

• Partner with senior stakeholders and planners to translate business goals into high-impact brand and sales engagement strategies  

Execution Excellence 

• Oversee planning and delivery of meetings, events, and experiences from concept through execution and post-event evaluation  

• Ensure seamless execution via operational excellence, strong attendee experience, and adherence to brand strategies, timelines, budgets, and compliance requirements  

• Serve as escalation point for complex or high-profile engagements  

Stakeholder & Cross-Functional Partnership 

• Act as primary liaison between business stakeholders, internal partners (marketing, communications, procurement), and external vendors  

• Build trusted relationships with senior leaders to influence meeting, event and engagement strategy and priorities  

• Align engagement programs and activities with broader marketing, brand, and sales initiatives  

Vendor & Budget Management 

• Oversee vendor contracting and performance management  

• Hold the team accountable to ensure cost discipline, budget tracking, and ROI-focused decision making across all programs  

Measurement & Continuous Improvement 

• Provide thought leadership to influence success metrics, measurement frameworks, and drive post-event measurement (e.g., attendee experience, business impact, ROI)  

• Leverage insights and data to continuously optimize engagement strategies and team performance  

The above statement of duties is not intended to be all inclusive and other duties will be assigned from time to time. 

Job Requirements: 

• Bachelors degree ; course work in business, hospitality management, marketing and/or communications is strongly preferred  

• 7+ years of experience in B2B meetings, events, tradeshows/conferences or brand experience management   

• Certified meeting Professional preferred  

• 2+ years of people leadership experience with demonstrated ability to develop high-performing teams   

• Proven ability to manage multiple, complex programs concurrently   

• Strong stakeholder management and executive communication skills   

• Experience managing budgets, vendors, and contract negotiations   

• Highly organized with strong attention to detail and operational rigor  

• May require 15% travel