Event Operations Manager

Bentley is seeking an experienced event operations professional to serve as a day-to-day project lead for the company’s flagship event portfolio, including the User Conference and Year in Infrastructure awards program. Working closely with the VP of Global Events, this role coordinates planning cadence, workstream management, operational readiness, agency activity, and cross-functional follow-through across a complex ecosystem of stakeholders and partners. Success in this role requires the ability to build strong working relationships, anticipate risks, and help teams move from ideas to execution with confidence. Responsibilities: Program Delivery & Workstream Leadership - Serve as a day-to-day operational project lead for Bentley’s flagship programs, including the User Conference and Year in Infrastructure Awards program. - Build and maintain integrated workback schedules, critical paths, and milestone plans across all phases of delivery. - Facilitate planning cadence, workstream meetings, readiness reviews, and issue-resolution forums that keep programs moving forward. - Coordinate accountability and follow-through across internal teams, agency partners, and stakeholders. - Identify risks, facilitate decisions, and escalate issues before they impact delivery. - Maintain visibility into cross-functional dependencies. - Partner closely with the VP of Global Events to ensure strategic vision and experience objectives are translated into executable plans. Operational Readiness & Event Execution - Coordinate operational readiness across registration, housing, transportation, food and beverage, staffing, keynote, content, show floor, speaker logistics, executive programs, and onsite support workstreams. - Partner with Experience Design and Programming & Content Operations teams. - Facilitate operational readiness reviews and support issue resolution. - Provide onsite operational leadership during load-in, show operations, load-out, and post-event closeout activities. Agency & Partner Leadership - Serve as the day-to-day operational point of contact for agency and production partners. - Coordinate agency schedules, deliverables, and dependencies. Operational Excellence & Process Improvement - Document lessons learned and incorporate improvements into future planning frameworks, templates, and playbooks. - Identify opportunities to simplify workflows and improve team efficiency through practical application of AI-enabled tools, automation, and modern ways of working. - Contribute to the ongoing evolution and maturity of Bentley’s event delivery model. - Promote operational discipline and best practices across the event delivery team. 30% travel required, could be domestic and international. Qualifications: - 5–8 years of progressive experience in event operations, event project management, or a related field, including experience supporting the delivery of large-scale corporate conferences or other complex, multi-day events within a technology company. - Experience with enterprise technology events or other high-visibility corporate programs is preferred. - Demonstrated ability to create structure, maintain planning cadence, and coordinate work across cross-functional teams and external partners. - Strong project management skills with experience managing detailed schedules, multiple priorities, and tight timelines. - Experience coordinating agencies, production partners, venues, or other event vendors. - Strong communication skills and the ability to maintain momentum and alignment across cross-functional teams. - Ability to build productive relationships and encourage follow-through without direct authority. - Experience building workback schedules, tracking risks and dependencies, and escalating decisions or issues appropriately. - Curiosity and openness toward AI-enabled workflows, automation, and modern approaches to project management and event delivery. - Strong attention to detail and sound judgment when working through operational issues. - Experience with event technologies, project management platforms, and collaborative planning tools. - Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience. - Willingness to travel domestically and internationally.