Community Events Lead

Job Overview

The Community Events Lead supports Citadel's strategic community presence through the planning, management, and evaluation of sponsorship opportunities, community events, and community visibility initiatives. This role serves as a key liaison between community organizations, internal business units, Marketing, Retail, HR, and the Citadel CARES team to ensure community-facing opportunities are executed consistently, professionally, and in alignment with organizational priorities.

The Community Events Lead helps advance Citadel's community impact goals by developing proactive sponsorship and event plans, managing sponsorship activation and community event participation, and coordinating high-visibility initiatives that strengthen Citadel's presence throughout the communities we serve. Through planning, execution, measurement, and continuous improvement, this role helps ensure Citadel's community investments deliver meaningful value and measurable outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

Sponsorship & Event Portfolio Planning

• Lead development of annual and quarterly sponsorship and event plans aligned with organizational priorities.
• Collaborate with Regional Managers, Retail leadership, and business units to understand market priorities and incorporate business objectives into sponsorship and event planning.
• Evaluate sponsorships, events, and community visibility initiatives to determine future participation, investment levels, and strategic focus areas.
• Balance community impact, organizational visibility, and business unit priorities when making sponsorship and event recommendations.
• Analyze participation, investment, and outcome data to identify trends, opportunities, and areas for improvement.
• Establish and maintain a forward-looking portfolio of sponsorships, events, and community visibility opportunities.

Sponsorship Activation & Community Event Management

• Manage sponsorship opportunities through established intake, review, and approval processes.
• Negotiate sponsorship benefits and participation opportunities.
• Manage fulfillment of sponsorship commitments, including registrations, tables, tickets, speaking opportunities, and other sponsorship assets.
• Lead coordination of Citadel's participation in community events, sponsorship activations, conferences, and community visibility initiatives.
• Represent Citadel at select community, chamber, nonprofit, university, and partner events.
• Serve as a liaison between community organizations and internal stakeholders to support successful execution of community-facing opportunities.
• Support planning and execution of signature community programs, recognition events, and special initiatives.

Strategic Community Presence & Partnerships

• Provide guidance and support to Retail leadership and business units, fostering collaborative relationships that maximize community impact and participation opportunities.
• Collaborate with Philanthropy team members to support Citadel CARES priorities, signature programs, community education initiatives, volunteer activities, and special projects.
• Partner with Marketing to ensure sponsorship assets, advertisements, logos, signage, promotional materials, and event-related deliverables are developed and delivered.
• Support a consistent, professional, and recognizable Citadel presence throughout the community across sponsorships, events, and community visibility initiatives.
• Help establish and maintain standards for community representation, sponsorship fulfillment, and event execution.

Reporting, Insights & Administration

• Track sponsorship activity, investments, participation, outcomes, and business unit feedback.
• Prepare reports, dashboards, evaluations, and community event summaries.
• Maintain historical sponsorship and event participation records.
• Develop recommendations to improve future sponsorship investments, events, and community visibility initiatives.
• Maintain supporting processes, agreements, approvals, and payment documentation.
• Perform other duties and special projects as assigned in support of Citadel CARES and the department's community impact objectives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Communications, Marketing, Business, Public Relations, Community Development, Event Management, or a related field preferred.
• 5+ years of experience in community engagement, event management, sponsorship management, project management, marketing, nonprofit engagement, or related fields.
• Strong relationship-building and communication skills.
• Excellent project management and organizational abilities.
• Experience managing multiple stakeholders, initiatives, and priorities simultaneously.
• Strong attention to detail and process management skills.
• Experience with reporting, budgeting, tracking, and program administration.
• Experience evaluating performance data and developing recommendations based on outcomes.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and related business systems.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across departments.