Event Manager at British Council Nigeria

The British Council is the world's leading cultural relations organization and creates opportunities for people in the UK and worldwide to understand each other, to work together and learn from one another. We see this as crucial to building secure, more prosperous and sustainable futures for us all. We build trust and understanding between different countries and cultures and develop strong international links that are of benefit to people in Britain and the rest of the world.

We are recruiting to fill the below position of:

Job Title: Event Manager

Region: Sub Saharan Africa
Location: Lagos
Department: Art
Pay Band: Pay Band 7
Reports to: Director Art

Purpose of the Job

• To lead on all the event production, management and delivery linked to the high profile events in the UK NG 15/16 Programme. This position will work directly to the Director Arts Nigeria and closely with the arts team.
• The Arts Events Manager will deliver high profile, media catching arts events spread across Abuja, Lagos and Calabar and support external event producers to deliver events under the UK/Nigeria 2015-16 programme banner

Context and Environment

• The British Council in Nigeria works in three strategic business areas; Arts, English, Education and Society.
• The Arts programme delivers in excess of 25% of our overall programme impact.
• As part of a global programme of big seasons of arts activity in the organisation, Nigeria will have a programme aimed at strengthening artistic exchange and collaboration between Nigeria and the UK in key arts sub sectors. The programme is tagged UKNG:2015/2016

The season will focus on:

• Strengthening and growing UK - Nigeria creative partnerships and collaborations
• Reciprocal showcasing between Nigeria and the UK
• Developing skills and leadership in the creative sector
• Harnessing the power of arts in achieving international development goals

UKNG 15/16 will establish new and larger audiences for British Council Nigeria that are four times the current size. It is expected that this scale will be maintained going forward and will continue to require large scale and flag ship events management.

Accountabilities, Responsibilities and Main Duties

Event production, management and delivery:

• Develop, produce and deliver high profile events, sometimes working through vendors, partners and/or suppliers, in compliance with corporate event management standards and to agreed production objectives, audience targets, budget and timelines.
• Manage relationships with venues and event management vendors
• Work with Partnership Manager ( UKNG 2015/2016) to ensure appropriate branding of high profile events in line with corporate, sponsor and /or partner requirements
• Co-ordinate Health and Safety and Access checks of event venues ensuring adherence to corporate standards on health and safety and corporate policy on equality, diversity and inclusion
• Research event venues and trends and gather competitive information to support recommendations on the strategy for events.
• Manage marketing, and promotion of large scale events using digital, print and broadcast media to meet objectives required with guidance and support from the Marketing and Communications team
• Monitor and Evaluate event quality, audience numbers and demographics and customer satisfaction using British Council M&E framework. 

Financial Management and Reporting:

• Plan, manage, monitor and reforecast budgets for large events according to British Council corporate financial standards
• Manage cost effective procurement of event management services following established corporate policy and procedures;
• Manage cash flow profiling and monthly reporting of budgets managed

Relationship and Contract Management:

• Work with Director Arts, Partnership Managers and Project Managers to manage relationships with key industry stakeholders, donors and partners.
• Ensure CRM database is updated with relevant contact details and meeting information on a timely basis
• Prepare and manage contracts for event suppliers and, vendors ensuring roles and, responsibilities are clearly outlined using established corporate contract templates
• Prepare and manage event partnership and sponsorship agreements ensuring roles, responsibilities and benefits are clearly outlined using established partnership agreement templates

Risk Management:

• Identify and manage all risks associated with running large scale events including financial, reputational, security, health and safety etc.
• Be responsible to maintaining and updating corporate risk registers with event management risks
• Participate in regular risk review meetings

Key Relationships:

• Director Arts Nigeria, Partnerships Manager (UKNG 2015/2016), Arts Programme Manager, UK Programme Manager, Arts Project Team Nigeria, wider British Council team in Nigeria
• Creative Industry Stakeholders.
• Corporates, Government, Trusts , Foundations that are corporate partners
• Suppliers and vendors

Other important features or requirements of the job
Required candidate will also need to possess: 

• Strong organisational and event management skills
• Ability to work with senior leadership, external clients and suppliers and strong interpersonal skills.
• Attention to detail
• Ability to work effectively with tight deadlines
• Regular attendance at evening and weekend events are a normal part of the job.
• Significant knowledge and experience in the Nigerian arts and creative industries sectors is desirable
  

Person Specification

Behaviours

• Being accountable (more demanding)
• Connecting with others (more demanding)
• Working together (more demanding)
• Making it happen (most demanding)
• Other behaviours needed for the job but not evaluated at interview
• Shaping the future (more demanding)
• Creating a shared purpose (Essential)

Assessment stage:

• Interview

Qualification

• Bachelor’s Degree
• Project/Event Management qualification

Assessment stage:

• Short listing and Interview

Experience

• At least 5 years' recent experience of managing and delivering high profile events (Essential)
• Experience of researching and identifying trends that support event delivery strategy (Essential)
• Proven ability to manage relationships with vendors (Essential)
• Track record of managing risk (Essential)
• Experience of delivering events in the arts / creative sector (Desirable)

Assessment stage:

• Short listing and Interview

Skills and Knowledge

• Managing projects - Level 4 (Essential)
• Planning and organising - Level 3 (Essential)
• Managing risk - Level 2 (Essential)
• Managing Finance and Resources - Level 3 (Essential)
• Using technology - Level 1 (Essential)
• Communicating and Influencing - Level 4 (Essential)
• An understanding of the opportunities for cultural relations through the arts within an international context. (Desirable)

Assessment stage

• Short listing and Interview

Application Closing Date
27th September, 2015

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Click here to download job details MS Word

Click here to download BC Behaviour (pdf)

Click here to download BC Core Skills (pdf)