Employment Type: Full-time
Region: Americas
Work Site Type: Hybrid
Building A Brand Starts With Our Story
FIRST is a leading global brand experience agency serving clients in various industries, including financial services, technology, new & traditional media, aerospace, healthcare, and professional services. FIRST has received numerous accolades, including being named one of the Top 150 Event Organizers & Agencies in the USA by Eventex, being listed among the "200 Top Marketing Agencies" in 2023, 2022 & 2021 by Chief Marketer, being recognized as one of the "50 Top Event Companies" by Special Events, being included in the Top 100 "Best Places to Work in NYC" by Crain's New York Business, and being listed as one of the "1000 Companies to Inspire Britain" by The London Stock Exchange Group.
Learn more at www.firstagency.com
Our story started over 25 years ago growing through collaboration, innovation, strong culture, and a focus on people, specifically our people. Our people inspired, developed, and grew FIRST to the incredible brand experience creator it is today.
And our hope is that you become the next page of our story in developing how our agency connects more people beyond what they thought was possible.
A welcoming, creative and ambitious workplace that offers personal and professional growth for all individuals. At FIRST, you'll find:
- A welcoming workplace that fosters diversity and belonging with a focus on team members feeling valued, respected, and supported.
- An experiential organization that cares about the development and career experience of each employee, focusing on excellence and flexibility with the right balance of structure to thrive.
- Creative teams that enjoy challenging work with an ability to make an impact on those around them.
Location: This is a hybrid role in Jersey City, NJ office, must be able to commute to office 3x a week.
What You Would Get To Do:
The Venue Sourcing Manager will support our Project Managers by securing hotels and other venues based on meeting-specific needs (location, meeting space, food and beverage, sleeping rooms and other miscellaneous concessions). In this capacity, the candidate would represent the FIRST brand as an implant in our Solutions account for a Financial Services company.
The ideal candidate for this role will have excellent communication and networking skills and the ability to successfully manage stakeholder relationships. This person should also have excellent knowledge of hotels and venues nationwide, having built relationships with these venues and negotiated contracts.
Your Contributions
Venue Sourcing / Contracting & Negotiations (80%)
- Venue Sourcing- providing site selection for meetings, conferences and events
- Develop and submit RFP’s (Request for Proposals) via Cvent
- Consolidate and present information in a formal PPT or excel proposal
- Review contracts and client addendums for accuracy and negotiate where applicable
- Maximize and closely monitor opportunities for increasing value adds, savings, and cost efficiencies
- Work with the Project Management & BCM team to ensure adherence to client and agency standards and deadlines
- Manage and ensure SLA’s (Service Level Agreements) are monitored and achieved
Relationships Management / Industry Knowledge (10%)
- Cultivate and maintain relationships with internal and external clients and suppliers
- Track vendor/venue usage (most cost effective) and feedback
- Field questions and offer advice to team members to assist with VS creative problem solving
- Be knowledgeable on best practices, new suppliers, services and venues, and present to broader team
- Create and maintain best practices and SOP for venue sourcing across the team
- Attend industry events as necessary
- Manage site visits for FIRST & Goldman Sachs teams
- Arrange team visits from vendors, including prep & briefings
- Provide ad hoc event management, project management and onsite support as necessary
Database Management/Reporting (10%)
- Ensure allocated work is correctly logged and updated for venue sourcing monthly reports to management
- Ensure CVENT is kept up to date with current vendor information
- Ensure client feedback on the venue is obtained post event and tracked
- Act as an ambassador for the FIRST brand, leading by example and displaying the company’s core values (Ambition, Creativity, Excellence, Integrity, Teamwork)
What We Are Looking For
Please be aware that we know experience does not always look like we describe it. If you believe you would be an excellent fit for this role, please apply - we would love to see how you could fit at FIRST. Please contact recruiting@firstagency.com if you need an accommodation at any stage of the recruitment process.
- Bachelor’s Degree required
- 3+ years experience in event management/venue sourcing
- Highly organized with excellent time management skills to handle multiple tasks and meet strict deadlines
- Ability to establish relationships and maintain a positive rapport with clients, vendors and suppliers
- Negotiate space, rates, costs, concessions and terms of contract agreements
- Contracting experience including risk management
- Knowledge of venues in regional destinations
- Strong knowledge of Cvent RFP
- Strong working knowledge of the MS Office Suite. Ability to produce creative, detailed and eye pleasing PowerPoint presentations
- Experience in conducting site visits
- Creative problem solver, resourceful, team player
- Calm and flexible approach to handling the pressure and stress of ever-changing demands
- Ambitious and proactive with creative solutions
- Willing to travel when required for site visits or on site support
United States Residents: The base pay for this position ranges from $70,000 to $100,000 This role is also eligible for an annual discretionary bonus.
#LI-KM1
FIRST is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. FIRST is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications without regard to race, color, religion or belief, national, social or ethnic origin, sex (including pregnancy), age, physical, mental or sensory disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital, civil union or domestic partnership status, past or present military service, family medical history or genetic information, family or parental status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. We stand firm: FIRST will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics.