Events and Activations Manager

Location: This role can be based in either Birmingham or London.

Salary: Base salary: £38,550- £45,350 Birmingham / £41,750-£49,100 London depending on skills and experience. In addition, we offer a flexible benefits fund of 15% which is paid on top of the base salary and is fully pensionable, as well as a range of competitive benefits.

HS2 Ltd endeavours to ensure everyone working for us and with us feels included, thrives, and achieves their full potential. This means we are positive and inclusive about making adjustments, providing flexible working, encouraging our staff networks to flourish, and providing personal and professional development opportunities.

As an Events and Activations Manager at HS2, you will work as part of a proactive and agile team that creates and delivers HS2's events & activations programme, ranging from industry-focused corporate events to consumer-facing experiential activations that bring the railway to life.

About the role:

• Managing the delivery of individual HS2-led corporate events, including industry-facing conferences and major internal events.
• Managing HS2's presence at third-party trade shows, conferences, and exhibitions, promoting the opportunities associated with HS2.
• Managing the delivery of consumer-facing activations aimed at rail-users and the wider general public, promoting the benefits associated with HS2.
• Coordinating the production of any creative content required for events and activations in collaboration with relevant colleagues.
• Supporting the management of external events and activations suppliers that provide logistical support to the HS2 events and activations programme.
• Identifying, liaising, and negotiating with events venues and activation locations.
• Supporting the management of budgets and resources across the HS2 events and activations programme.
• Managing the effective evaluation and continuous improvement of HS2 events and activations.
• Managing internal stakeholder relationships as part of event planning and management activities.
• Ensuring compliance with HS2 event management processes, including Risk Assessment Method Statements (RAMS).
• Using and updating the Stakeholder Relationship Management System (SRM) as part of pre and post-event communications activities.
• Actively promoting and embedding Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) in all work, and supporting and complying with all organisational initiatives, policies, and procedures on EDI.

About You:

Skills:

• Corporate and industry event management skills, including project management ability, with high attention to detail.
• Consumer activation and experiential event management skills, including creative and innovative thinking.
• Event content coordination and production skills.
• External supplier management ability.
• Internal stakeholder management ability, including influencing and facilitation skills, as part of collaborative event planning and delivery.
• Resource and financial planning ability - supporting overall event budget and resource management.
• Evaluation and continuous improvement skills.

Knowledge:

• Knowledge of how to successfully deliver best practice industry-facing corporate events including conferences, exhibitions, and trade shows.
• Knowledge of how to successfully deliver interactive consumer-facing activations, including pop-up events and experiential activities.
• Knowledge of how to effectively evaluate the effectiveness of both industry-facing corporate events and consumer-focused activations.
• Understanding of how to integrate events within wider communications plans and support related promotional activities.
• Knowledge of project management tools and processes.
• Knowledge of customer relationship management systems used in event planning and promotion.
• Political understanding with awareness of wider current affairs context.
• Understanding of the construction, infrastructure, transport, and economic development sector.

Types of Experience:

• Experience of managing client-led corporate events, including conferences, exhibitions, and award ceremonies.
• Experience of managing presence at third-party events including exhibitions and trade shows.
• Experience of delivering consumer-facing activations and experiential activities.
• Experience of supporting wider communications plans and projects.
• Experience of internal stakeholder management.
• Experience of managing external suppliers.
• Experience of managing and coordinating the production of event content across print and digital channels.

Behavioural competencies:

The post-holder is expected to behave at all times in a manner consistent with HS2's Health and Safety strategy and principles.

Company values:

It is expected that you will actively promote and embed Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) in all your work and support and comply with all organisational initiatives, policies, and procedures on EDI.

As HS2 Ltd do not hold a sponsorship license from the Home Office, we are not able to provide sponsorship to any applicant. Applicants must already have the Right to Work in the UK at the time of application. Our process involves a Right to Work validation prior to the interview stage. Note, there are certain types of time-bound visas that we cannot accept. Any offers made to applicants will be subject to satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks which include Nationality & Immigration Status, employment references, DBS, Financial and Education checks.

We ask for a variety of detail in your online application; however, we perform the first assessment of suitability for a role based solely on the information in your CV. In a further development of our efforts to create a more diverse workforce, your CV will be anonymised and personal information will be removed during the first stage of the application review. This removes bias from the process and makes it even more important that you attach an updated word version of your CV for each new application ensuring you include evidence directly related to the criteria in the job advert. Any applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

About Us:

High Speed 2 (HS2 Ltd) will be the UK's new high-speed rail network. As well as improving capacity, the new scheme will shorten journey times between a number of Britain's major population centres, boost the economy, and create thousands of jobs. HS2 Ltd will create a skills legacy and develop a diverse range of talent. We aim to be a leader in EDI practice by creating a safe & inclusive working environment for all our staff - living our values of Safety, Respect, Integrity, and Leadership. HS2 Ltd is also a safety-critical organisation. Employees are required to ensure reasonable care of their own and others' health and safety by taking personal responsibility for working to our 'Safe at Heart' programme principles and following safe working procedures at all times.