Senior Manager, Events & Industry Engagement
SOSi · Reston
Company Description
Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Reston, Virginia, SOSi is a private defense and government solutions business specializing in advanced technology systems and mission support. Its capabilities include data science, software development, network engineering, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), and logistics.
Job Description
Overview
SOSi is seeking a Senior Events Manager to lead the company’s strategic event marketing and industry engagement program from our operational headquarters in Reston, Virginia. This is a senior-level role responsible for developing and executing an integrated events strategy that strengthens SOSi’s position within the government contracting, national security, defense, and federal technology markets.
The Senior Events Manager will serve as a strategic advisor to Marketing & Communications, Business Development, Business Units, and Executive Leadership, translating business priorities into high-impact industry events, association engagement, executive visibility opportunities, sponsorships, and customer-facing experiences.
This role will have significant ownership of SOSi’s presence at industry associations, trade shows, conferences, executive forums, customer engagements, and other strategic external events. The Senior Events Manager will also lead select internal corporate events, including employee summits and leadership engagements that support company culture and organizational priorities.
The ideal candidate is an experienced B2B event marketing professional with demonstrated experience in the government contracting industry. Success requires an understanding of the federal contracting ecosystem, industry associations, government and defense conferences, executive-level engagement, sponsorship strategy, and the business objectives behind corporate events.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Event Marketing & Leadership
- Develop and own SOSi’s annual strategic event marketing plan, aligning event investments with corporate priorities, business development objectives, brand strategy, and executive engagement goals.
- Establish event priorities, participation strategies, sponsorship levels, budgets, and success metrics across SOSi’s event portfolio.
- Advise senior leaders and business stakeholders on event strategy, audience engagement, sponsorship opportunities, speaking opportunities, and executive visibility.
- Serve as the strategic owner for event planning and execution, providing direction across programming, logistics, creative, communications, staffing, vendors, and on-site execution.
- Build repeatable processes, standards, and best practices that elevate the quality, consistency, and effectiveness of SOSi’s event presence.
- Manage multiple complex events and competing priorities simultaneously while maintaining a high level of organization, accountability, and attention to detail.
Government Contracting Industry & Association Engagement
- Serve as a primary point of contact for SOSi’s key government contracting, defense, national security, technology, and professional industry associations.
- Develop and maintain relationships with association executives, conference organizers, industry leaders, and other strategic external stakeholders.
- Evaluate association memberships and sponsorship opportunities based on strategic business value, audience alignment, executive engagement, thought leadership, and return on investment.
- Identify opportunities to leverage association memberships for speaking engagements, executive leadership roles, panels, thought leadership, customer engagement, networking, and brand visibility.
- Manage the association calendar and ensure SOSi maximizes the value of its memberships and sponsorship investments.
Trade Shows, Conferences & External Events
- Lead SOSi’s participation in major industry conferences, trade shows, symposiums, customer events, and other strategic external engagements.
- Develop event-specific strategies and activation plans based on business objectives, target audiences, customer priorities, and executive participation.
- Oversee sponsorship selection and fulfillment, exhibit strategy, booth design and production, meeting spaces, branding, promotional assets, collateral, staffing, registration, hospitality, and on-site logistics.
- Coordinate executive participation, including speaking engagements, panels, keynote opportunities, customer meetings, receptions, and other high-value engagements.
- Prepare and coach executives and subject-matter experts to ensure they are well positioned to represent SOSi and communicate key messages effectively.
- Conduct post-event evaluations and develop recommendations for future participation, investment, and strategy.
Internal Corporate Events
- Lead the strategy, planning, and execution of select internal corporate events, including employee summits, leadership meetings, company-wide gatherings, and other high-impact employee experiences.
- Ensure internal events reflect SOSi’s brand, culture, leadership priorities, and employee communications strategy.
- Establish consistent standards for event experience, production, communications, branding, and execution.
Budget, Contract & Vendor Management
- Own event budgets and manage expenditures across the event portfolio, ensuring investments align with approved business objectives.
- Negotiate contracts and manage relationships with event agencies, production companies, venues, exhibit houses, association partners, and other strategic vendors.
- Review scopes of work, contracts, proposals, and invoices to ensure accuracy, appropriate pricing, and fulfillment of contractual obligations.
- Manage vendor performance and hold external partners accountable to deadlines, quality standards, and agreed deliverables.
- Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, negotiate cost savings, and maximize the value of event investments.
Measurement, Analytics & Optimization
- Establish and track event performance metrics, including attendance, executive engagement, customer engagement, brand visibility, lead generation, pipeline contribution, sponsorship value, and ROI.
- Develop post-event reporting that provides actionable insights and recommendations for future investments.
- Use event data, stakeholder feedback, and market intelligence to continually refine SOSi’s event strategy.
- Maintain visibility into the annual event calendar, budgets, sponsorship commitments, and deliverables.
Cross-Functional Leadership
- Serve as the central event marketing resource and strategic partner across Marketing & Communications, Business Development, Business Units, Executive Leadership, and other internal stakeholders.
- Establish clear roles, timelines, deliverables, and communication plans for cross-functional event teams.
- Provide leadership and direction to internal team members and external partners supporting event execution.
- Ensure event activity is coordinated with broader corporate communications, brand, business development, and customer engagement strategies.
Qualifications
Minimum Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, Event Management, or a related field; or equivalent professional experience.
- Minimum seven years of progressive experience in B2B event marketing, corporate events, or industry event management, with significant experience supporting the U.S. government contracting, defense, national security, federal technology, or related industries.
- Direct experience planning and executing events for a government contractor, federal technology company, defense organization, or related B2B organization is required.
- Demonstrated experience managing industry conferences, trade shows, association memberships, sponsorships, executive engagements, and customer-facing events.
- Proven ability to develop and execute strategic event programs tied to business, brand, customer engagement, and/or business development objectives.
- Experience managing complex event budgets, contracts, vendors, sponsorships, and multiple concurrent events.
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively with senior executives, business development leaders, and cross-functional stakeholders.
- Strong project management skills with exceptional organization, attention to detail, and ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex business and technical topics into clear, audience-focused event experiences and communications.
- Demonstrated ability to operate independently, make sound decisions, solve problems quickly, and manage high-visibility projects with minimal oversight.
- Experience with Cvent, or similar CRM and event management/automation platforms.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience working within the government contracting, defense, intelligence, national security, or federal technology ecosystem.
- Established relationships with relevant government contracting and defense industry associations, conference organizers, and industry stakeholders.
- Experience managing major industry events such as AFCEA Events, AUSA, SOF Week, AFCEA TechNet, or other comparable industry conferences.
- Experience developing executive speaking opportunities, thought leadership activations, sponsorship strategies, and customer engagement programs.
- Experience using CRM, event management, and analytics platforms to measure event performance and business impact.
- Experience managing event agencies, production partners, exhibit houses, and other external event partners.
Additional Information
Work Environment
- Standard office environment with a hybrid schedule (three days onsite, two days optional remote).
- May require non-traditional work hours, including evenings and weekends, based on event and business requirements.
- Regular travel may be required to support industry conferences, trade shows, customer engagements, and other strategic events.
- This position requires the ability to manage multiple high-priority events and business initiatives in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
Working at SOSi
All interested individuals will receive consideration and will not be discriminated against for any reason.