Senior Conferences and Events Manager

Do have experience delivering high profile, high exposure events successfully? Would you like to lead the strategic delivery of our conferences and events, maximising engagement opportunities and ensuring those affected by dementia are considered and represented appropriately?

We are recruiting for a Senior Conferences and Events Manager to join on a full-time, 35 hours per week, maternity cover contract for 12 months. This is a home-based role, with monthly travel required for conferences, events and in-person stakeholder or team meetings.

As Senior Conference and Events Manager you will be responsible on the strategic delivery of an annual portfolio of conferences and events, which range from Society owned conferences and events, to external public and professional events and conferences. You will work to maximise engagement and influencing opportunities for our research and influencing stakeholders, including a national conference, research events and roundtables.

In this role you will oversee and line manage the Conferences and Events team, in addition to overseeing business and financial planning and monitoring. You will be responsible for budget management of the events programmes, including setting, managing, reporting on and reforecasting the team budget.

By working collaboratively with colleagues and key stakeholders you will ensure the voice of those affected by dementia is considered appropriately in the events we deliver and attend. You will plan the involvement of lived experience across all events, including co-producing all or parts of the conferences and events we deliver. In addition to this, you will build in meaningful equality, diversity and inclusion into our conferences and events programme, ensuring that our events are inclusive to all attendees, and representative of a diverse range of voices.

About you

Joining us, you’ll have experience of working at a senior level in an events role and experience managing budgets effectively and using project management skills to remain organised. You’ll also have experience of successful management in conference production, organising successful large-scale events and conferences – in person, hybrid and virtually.

Due to the nature of this role, you’ll need to have good interpersonal and communication skills and the experience required to manage, motivate and inspire staff and volunteers to create a high performing team. You’ll have experience of leading a team to achieve success, including developing and working to briefs, workload planning and managing a team to deliver high standards with agreed timeframes.

Crucially, you’ll have experience building relationships with senior stakeholders, third party event partners and agencies with the ability to influence and negotiate effectively.

What you’ll focus on:

• Delivering a portfolio of events for our research and influencing stakeholders, including a national conference, research events and roundtables.
• Supporting the creation of strategies for improving events activity and maximising opportunities.
• Managing the budget of the events programmes, including setting, managing, reporting on and reforecasting the team budget.
• Line managing the Conferences and Events team and temporary staff and volunteers as necessary.
• Ensuring the voice of those affected by dementia is considered appropriately in the events we deliver and attend. Planning the involvement of lived experience across all events, including co-producing all or parts of the conferences and events we deliver.
• Effectively evaluating all activity, measuring the impact of projects against set objectives and outcomes in line with our strategy, and ensuring continuous improvement.
• Working collaboratively with brand, marketing and communications colleagues to create robust communications plans for events that ensure the right promotion prior to, during and after events.

Dementia is the UK's biggest killer. One in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia in their lifetime.

At Alzheimer's Society, we're the UK's leading dementia charity and the only one to tackle all aspects of dementia by giving help and hope to people living with dementia today and in the future. We give vital support to people facing the most frightening times of their lives, while also funding groundbreaking research and campaigning to make dementia the priority it should be.

Together with our supporters, we're working towards a world where dementia no longer devastates lives.

Our values make sure that our focus is clear for the challenges and opportunities ahead and remind us of what we all stand for.

Our commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We need to ensure the voices around our table better reflect and understand the communities we exist to serve. We strongly encourage individuals to apply who have a disability, impairment or health condition or individuals who identify as Black, Asian or from another minority ethnic background, as these groups are currently under-represented at Alzheimer's Society.  

We want everyone we work with, as a colleague, volunteer, supporter, or someone we support, to feel included and that they belong at Alzheimer's Society. 

Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy here along with our internal employee forum and Employee Lived Experience network groups help us promote inclusion and belonging, becoming an engaged and inclusive organisation for all our people. 

Our hiring process

During your recruitment process we want to make sure that you bring your whole self and can be at your best. We are working hard to ensure our recruitment process is as inclusive as possible, so please do inform us of your experience and anything you think we could do better by completing our candidate survey when you apply.  Please also contact Alzheimer's Society Talent Acquisition Team via [email protected] for application support or any adjustments you might need.

To ensure fairness and consistency to select the best candidate for this role, all our applications are anonymised up until an interview has been confirmed. We recognise the benefits of AI, but if you're considering using it to submit your application, we encourage you to reflect on the value it truly adds. AI tools often lack the personal touch and authenticity that set candidates apart. We want to hear your unique perspective, experiences, and skills, so we encourage you to showcase them in your own voice.

We try to avoid closing roles early where possible, however if we receive a high volume of applications, we may close earlier than the advertised closing date. Should this occur, we will aim to provide you with at least 48 hours' notice.

We are committed to safer recruitment and ensuring the welfare of those we work with, due to the nature of some of our roles, we might need to carry out a Criminal Record Check at the relevant level. You can read more information via our Website.

Giving back to you

Our employees work hard every day to make a true difference in people's lives. We are proud to support them with a range of benefits, recognition and many options for working agilely, all contributing to a strong work life balance. We also have various learning programmes to support you in your development and help you grow to realise your potential and shape a career with Alzheimer's Society. 

You can also visit our Working for Us pages, which give you more information about what it's like to be an employee at the Society.