Programme & Experience Design Coordinator, Venture Café Manchester

Are you ready to be at the heart of Manchester's innovation scene? Venture Café Manchester is on the lookout for a passionate Programme and Experience Design Coordinator to support our flagship Thursday Gathering and other groundbreaking initiatives. Join us in creating a dynamic and inclusive community where innovators connect, collaborate, and drive change. If you're excited about making a real impact and fostering a vibrant ecosystem, you belong at Venture Café Manchester!

Venture Café believes that isolation is the enemy of innovation and our mission is clear: connect innovators to make things happen. We are a neutral and trusted centre of gravity that connects the entire innovation ecosystem and is available for everyone. Our flagship programme, the Thursday Gathering, is a dynamic and intentionally designed experience freely accessible to all. Featuring vibrant networking sessions activated with captivating demos or immersion in the night’s theme by attending thought-provoking sessions led by inspiring speakers. Here, curiosity meets opportunity, connections flourish, and innovation thrives.

Your day-to-day work will involve coordinating an impactful programme of events for a community of innovators at the Thursday Gathering. Your role would include:

• Coordinating programs and speakers before, during, and after the event.
• Setting up and breaking down Thursday Gathering events, including managing programme partner bump-ins and outs, setting up the Venture Café Kiosk, and placing signage.
• Coordinating local Venture Café Ambassadors to assist at the Thursday Gatherings.
• Connecting with the Venture Café Global Institute to share learnings and support the relationship between Venture Café Manchester and its global counterparts.
• Identifying and mitigating risks to the effective operation of the Thursday Gathering.
• Collaborating with the ARIA team to ensure a delightful event experience.
• Maintaining great hospitality skills to keep community members engaged and happy even while resolving problems.
• Enforcing the Venture Café credo/guidelines in a friendly but firm fashion.

About you: With a background in event management, you bring creativity and flexibility to Venture Café Manchester, driven by a passion for mission-driven work and a commitment to hosting successful events. You excel in executing and innovating event experiences, engaging diverse community members, creatively using spaces, communicating effectively in various settings, and leveraging social media to promote events. Additionally, you have:

• Ideally at least 1-3 years of professional events experience.
• English fluency.
• Familiarity with social media channels and ability to leverage them as part of your work.
• Willingness for domestic and international travel as needed.
• Ability to legally work in the UK.

We are unable to sponsor visas for this role at this time.

Our offer includes a competitive salary, 25 days of annual leave plus bank holidays, supplemental medical and dental insurance, a monthly commuter allowance, life insurance, business travel insurance, payment protection, and an employee assistance program. The hybrid work model requires three days per week in the office, with Thursdays as a core in-office day.

Attractions of the job: In addition to helping to make the world a better place, we work to ensure each talented team member feels nurtured by many benefits, including joining a team of driven and bright collaborators eager to lend their unique skills to building our inspiring community, learning and developing skills within the epicentre of the innovation community, and travelling to Venture Café locations across the globe.

Venture Café is committed to building teams that reflect the fabric of the cities we support. We welcome all candidates regardless of race, colour, ancestry, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected status. Any other human expressions and experiences not mentioned here are equally welcome. If you require accommodation, please let us know. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analysing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans.