Manager, Venue Procurement

About Emerald

Emerald’s talented and experienced teams grow our customers’ businesses 365 days a year with products that create connections, deliver content, and drive commerce. We produce over 140 annual events, create and deliver content through print and digital channels, and power commerce through our seamlessly integrated in-person and digital platforms and channels. For more information, please visit http://www.emeraldx.com.

The Venue Procurement Manager supports the strategic sourcing, contracting, administration, and ongoing management of hotel and venue agreements across the organization's event portfolio. Working closely with the venue procurement team, event operations teams, third-party sourcing and housing partners, hotel and venue representatives, Legal, Finance, and other internal stakeholders, this role manages the day-to-day procurement workflow from sourcing through contract execution and post-contract administration.

The position serves as a key operational extension of the venue procurement team, independently managing routine procurement activities and negotiations while escalating material financial, contractual, operational, or risk-related matters.

Key Responsibilities

Contract Review & Negotiation

• Review hotel, venue, and room-block agreements against approved organizational contracting standards and templates.
• Manage routine contract negotiations with hotels, venues, and third-party sourcing partners.
• Review key business terms including room rates, room blocks, concessions, commissions, rebates, attrition, cancellation, rate protection, construction/renovation provisions, and other commercial terms.
• Identify deviations from established contract standards and escalate material exceptions to the Director of Venue Procurement and/or Legal as appropriate.
• Coordinate revisions, redlines, and clean agreements through final approval.

Procurement & Sourcing Support

• Support hotel and venue sourcing initiatives across assigned events.
• Prepare and distribute RFPs and organize proposals and responses for review.
• Develop comparison summaries highlighting rates, concessions, financial terms, contractual obligations, and significant areas of risk.
• Conduct initial negotiations and follow-up with venues and sourcing partners.
• Maintain sourcing documentation and decision history.

Contract Administration & Quality Control

• Serve as the primary quality-control checkpoint before contracts are escalated for final approval.
• Confirm approved commercial terms are accurately incorporated into final agreements.
• Track contract status, outstanding redlines, approvals, deadlines, and next actions.
• Coordinate signature routing and maintain executed contract documentation.
• Manage routine amendments and room block adjustments within established approval parameters.

Third-Party & Hotel Partner Management

• Serve as a day-to-day point of contact for hotel partners, cvb partners, sourcing agencies, and housing providers.
• Monitor outstanding deliverables and drive timely responses and contract turnaround.
• Ensure third-party partners follow established procurement procedures, templates, and contracting standards.
• Resolve routine issues independently and escalate significant negotiations or exceptions to the Director.

Financial & Commercial Administration

• Review contracted commissions, rebates, and other financial concessions for accuracy.
• Maintain visibility into contracted financial terms and supporting documentation.
• Coordinate with housing and sourcing partners regarding commission/rebate reporting and documentation.
• Support reconciliation, audit, and reporting initiatives as needed.

Process & Portfolio Management

• Maintain contract templates, negotiation playbooks, SOPs, and procurement tools.
• Track assigned sourcing and contracting projects and proactively identify items requiring action.
• Maintain standardized documentation and contract records.
• Identify recurring negotiation issues and recommend improvements to templates and processes.
• Support development of preferred terms and repeat-use agreements with strategic hotel partners.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in venue sourcing, hotel sales, hospitality operations, meeting planning, or procurement.
• Strong understanding of hotel contracts, room blocks, attrition, cancellation, concession management, and group housing practices.
• Demonstrated experience utilizing Cvent technology solutions, including sourcing/RFP distribution, venue search and evaluation, and supplier relationship management.
• Experience working with hotel brands, convention centers, CVB/DMO partners, and housing providers.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel, Smartsheet, and data analysis/reporting tools.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple sourcing, contracting, and event support projects simultaneously.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience coordinating contract negotiations and stakeholder communications.
• Highly organized with strong attention to detail and the ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience developing and maintaining process documentation, templates, and operational best practices.

Preferred Qualifications

• CMP, CMM, or similar industry designation.
• Experience supporting a multi-event or large-scale tradeshow/event portfolio.
• Experience with convention-center and complex citywide hotel contracting.
• Familiarity with master agreements, multi-year agreements, and hotel term agreements.
• Experience with third-party sourcing and housing providers.

About Emerald

At Emerald, we strive to foster a diverse and inclusive community. We actively recruit and champion candidates who bring new perspectives from varied professional backgrounds and experiences, and we are intentional about ensuring a positive hiring experience for everyone. Our job postings don’t contain experience inflation, and most don’t require college degrees. Instead, they’re crafted to focus on outcomes and transferable experiences that are assessed in a structured interview process carried out by trained hiring teams.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

Target Compensation: $80,000 - $85,000 plus Bonus

Please note that this range reflects a reasonable estimate of the target compensation for this position. This range may ultimately vary based on a candidate’s qualifications and may be higher where required by applicable law.

We offer a competitive benefits package designed to strengthen our employees’ physical and mental health, including unlimited vacation for exempt employees, flexible working locations, 401(k) plan with a company match, medical/dental/vision coverage with inclusive provisions including transgender services and fertility benefits, parental and caregiver leave, dependent, commuter and FSA benefits, professional development programs like Toastmasters, and mental wellness tools.

If you need accommodation in our application process or have questions about our posted salary range, please email our Talent Acquisition team at [email protected].