Senior Events Marketing Manager

Who we are

At CarGurus (NASDAQ: CARG), our mission is to give people the power to reach their destination. We started as a small team of developers determined to bring trust and transparency to car shopping. Since then, our history of innovation and go-to-market acceleration has driven industry-leading growth. In fact, we’re the largest and fastest-growing automotive marketplace, and we’ve been profitable for over 15 years.

What we do

The market is evolving, and we are too, moving the entire automotive journey online and guiding our customers through every step. That includes everything from the sale of an old car to the financing, purchase, and delivery of a new one. Today, tens of millions of consumers visit CarGurus.com each month, and ~30,000 dealerships use our products. But they're not the only ones who love CarGurus—our employees do, too. We have a people-first culture that fosters kindness, collaboration, and innovation, and empowers our Gurus with tools to fuel their career growth. Disrupting a trillion-dollar industry requires fresh and diverse perspectives. Come join us for the ride!

Role overview 

CarGurus is seeking a talented Senior Events Marketing Manager to join our Brand Marketing team. As our Senior Events Marketing Manager, you’ll be responsible for our overarching B2B events strategy and designing exceptional event experiences from conception to execution that deliver measurable pipeline contribution, support customer retention, and strengthen our brand perception. Through both your strategic and hands-on mindset, you'll partner with various high-level and cross-functional stakeholders to make a significant impact on our overall marketing objectives. 

What you'll do

• Develop and communicate event strategy: Develop, communicate, and implement a comprehensive event strategy for our extensive global events portfolio (tradeshows, sales customer events, speaking opportunities, and more), that aligns with the company's overall objectives and supports the delivery of revenue growth goals and customer perception. This will include defining the broader strategy, defining key metrics, soliciting buy-in from key stakeholders, ensuring the proper support and resources and timelines are in place, the individual events’ goals, measurement of goals, target audience, messaging, budget, and timelines. Candidate must demonstrate business acumen and a solid understanding of CarGurus’ business priorities in order to best create a strategy to achieve them. 
• Progress and strengthen CarGurus’ brand Integrate the overall brand strategy and value proposition into event strategy and execution. This will include developing content or speaker recommendations, directing creative development and execution, and identifying opportunities to bring our brand  to life. 
• Optimize event impact : Responsible for defining the measures used to determine success and impact and reporting on event success.. This includes tracking attendance, engagement, business impact, customer feedback, as well as  leveraging the data to show wins/opportunities for improvement. The events manager will devise an action plan for future events to reinforce what worked well and problem-solve to strengthen success metrics.
• Plan and Execute Events: Plan and execute all aspects of the events, including logistics, vendor management, contractor management, content development, and attendee engagement. The event marketing manager will manage key cross-functional collaborators and an event contractor to assist with the planning and execution, as well as utilize their expertise and familiarity with event marketing to incorporate industry trends and best practice.
• Manage Event Budget: Responsible for managing the event budget (including vendor contracts, marketing spend, travel expenses), ensuring the event stays within budget. Candidate should demonstrate a financial and business acumen where they are able to leverage their judgment to make decisions on what events we choose to focus on as part of our broader strategy while taking into account fiscal responsibility and potential ROI. 
• Manage Event Contractors: Responsible for managing contractor hiring process and contracts, onboarding, and day to management, both virtually and on the ground at events
• Engage Attendees: Responsible for engaging attendees before, during, and after the event. This includes developing marketing campaigns to drive attendance, partnering to create engaging content, and providing a memorable experience for attendees. It will require a deep understanding of the customer, as well as an ability to create and drive greater understanding moving forward. 
• Build Strong Relationships: Build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including cross-functional teams, vendors, sponsor