Job Summary:

Sponsorships and charitable donations are strategic investments in the communities Mercer Advisors serves. Done well, they build local brand awareness, create goodwill, and open doors to new client relationships through organizations deeply rooted in each market. The Event Operations Manager (Sponsorships) is a key contributor to the operational success of these investments, working alongside the Director of Event Marketing Acquisition and broader sponsorship team to ensure opportunities are thoughtfully evaluated, consistently executed, and measured against defined business objectives.

This role plays a key role in supporting the sponsorship and charitable giving process from intake and evaluation through negotiation, formal approval, payment, activation, and measurement, while also supporting the operations of key event programs and third-party partnerships.

Working closely with the Director of Event Marketing Acquisition and broader sponsorship team, this role will partner with market leaders, advisors, Marketing, Vendor Management, Compliance, Finance, and Accounts Payable to help ensure sponsorships are thoughtfully evaluated, properly approved, consistently executed, and tied to measurable business outcomes.

This is an individual contributor role that blends hands-on operational support, cross-functional collaboration, and strategic judgment. The Event Operations Manager (Sponsorships) will be responsible for:

Sponsorship & Charitable Giving Operations:

• Intake & evaluation
• Partner with the sponsorship team to support the intake and coordination of sponsorship and charitable giving requests, helping ensure requests move through the appropriate process and stakeholders remain informed along the way.
• Participate in the internal review of opportunities against the firm’s criteria, including employee or client involvement, community impact, ROI potential, attendee or participant data capture, and alignment with market goals and budgets.
• Work alongside market leaders to gather necessary information, facilitate discussions, and support documentation of move-forward decisions before the organization is engaged.
• Negotiation & documentation
  • Serve as the single point of contact with third-party organizations and negotiate terms, benefits, and activation rights on behalf of Mercer Advisors.
  • Identify branding and collateral needs, including logo placement, branded merchandise, and content.
  • Collect and maintain required documentation, including W-9s and invoices, for every sponsorship and donation.
• Formal approval & payment
  • Assist in guiding each request through formal review and sign-off by the local leadership, Marketing, Vendor Management, Compliance, and Finance.
  • Build the 10- to 15-business-day approval cycle and three- to four-week payment window into planning so commitments to organizations are met on time.
• Program administration
  • Assist the Sponsorship team in maintaining a central sponsorship tracker covering status, spend by market, contract terms, deliverables, and renewal dates.
  • Monitor sponsorship and donation spend against market and national budgets.

Sponsorship Strategy & Portfolio Management:

• Support the development and maintenance of a consistent evaluation framework and scorecard to help the sponsorship team compare opportunities based on audience alignment, relationship value, activation potential, and expected return.
• Participate in regular sponsorship portfolio reviews, providing data, insights, and recommendations to help the broader sponsorship team determine whether investments should be renewed, optimized, or discontinued.
• Partner with the Director of Event Marketing Acquisition and sponsorship team to develop activation strategies that extend beyond logo placement, including speaking opportunities, hosted events, advisor participation, contact capture, and structured follow-up.
• Help identify and evaluate new sponsorship and nonprofit partnership opportunities within priority markets and audiences, including opportunities that support business development and community marketing objectives.
• Support the sponsorship team in providing guidance to market leaders and advisors on opportunities where sponsorship investments may have the greatest potential impact.

Activation & Event Operations:

• Collateral & activation
  • Coordinate the creation and delivery of branded items, logos, and content to partner organizations on schedule.
  • Make sure attendee and participant information is captured where possible and handed off to local teams for follow-up.
• Event support
  • Assist Event Manager in managing logistics for sponsorship-related events, including vendors, timelines, budgets, onsite coordination, and post-event reconciliation.
  • Support the Event Marketing programs, including timelines, communications, onsite roles, and follow-up materials.

Measurement & Reporting:

• Define success metrics for each sponsorship before commitment.
• Support the Sponsorship Project Manager in creating Salesforce campaigns for approved sponsorships and charitable donations, and partner with local teams to help ensure outcomes are accurately tracked and recorded.
• Report on sponsorship-sourced activity, including contacts, leads, pipeline, new clients, and spend by market.
• Translate results into clear recommendations that inform future sponsorship investments.

Process, Tools & Enablement:

• Work alongside the Director of Event Marketing Acquisition to maintain and update Sponsorship and Charitable Donations Guidelines, approval workflows, and supporting templates as needed.
• Partner with the broader sponsorship team to develop playbooks, checklists, intake forms, and supporting tools that create consistency and clarity across markets.
• Collaborate with the Director and Sponsorship Manager to educate local teams on the sponsorship process, providing ongoing guidance and support as questions arise.
• Identify bottlenecks and improve cycle time while keeping the process compliant with firm policies.

Qualifications:

• Five or more years of experience in event operations, sponsorship management, marketing operations, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated experience managing sponsorship or partnership programs end to end, including negotiation, vendor onboarding, and payment.
• Strong project and process management skills, with the ability to manage many concurrent requests and deadlines.
• Experience working with Compliance, Finance, and vendor management teams, ideally in a highly regulated industry.
• Proficiency with Salesforce or another CRM system, including campaign setup and reporting.
• Analytical mindset, with experience using data to evaluate return on investment and recommend where to invest.
• Strong negotiation, communication, and relationship-management skills with internal and external stakeholders.
• Exceptional attention to detail and comfort operating as both a strategic thinker and hands-on executor.
• Ability to manage programs across multiple markets from a remote position.
• Experience in financial services, wealth management, or professional services preferred.
• Experience with nonprofit, philanthropic, or institutional audiences is a plus.
• Familiarity with ticketing and event registration tools (Halo, Cvent, or similar) is a plus.
• Must be able to travel 25-30%

What Success Looks Like:

Success in this role means every sponsorship and charitable giving request moves through a clear, consistent, and predictable process, with stakeholders having visibility into status, decisions, and next steps.

It means working closely with the broader sponsorship team to help ensure decisions are thoughtful, data-informed, and aligned with business goals, with defined success metrics, Salesforce campaigns, and follow-up plans established for each investment.

Over time, the Event Operations Manager (Sponsorships) becomes a trusted and valued contributor to the sponsorship team, helping keep the program organized, compliant, and efficient while partnering with others to continuously improve the business value and overall effectiveness of Mercer Advisors’ sponsorship investments.