Community Events & Venue Manager

About the role

The Council on Recovery is Houston’s leading nonprofit provider of prevention, education, treatment, and recovery support services. The Community Events & Venue Manager oversees the scheduling, coordination, and execution of meetings and events across The Council’s 63,000-square-foot campus, including multiple meeting spaces and a newly renovated auditorium.

Responsibilities

• Support community partnerships, conduct venue tours, respond to inquiries, and cultivate recurring clients to increase utilization and earned revenue.
• Manage operations of The Council’s Welcome Center reception area and venue spaces, ensuring all shifts are covered and exceptional client and guest experiences are provided.
• Coach and develop the Welcome Center reception team; establish service standards, develop and maintain SOPs, checklists, templates, and training documentation.
• Establish the Welcome Center as the operational hub ("Mission Control") for visitors, room schedules, event information, and day-of coordination.
• Coordinate logistics for internal and external events, including space reservations, setup, vendor coordination (catering, audiovisual services, security, and cleaning), and operational support.
• Own the client experience from initial inquiry through post-event follow-up. Conduct venue tours, lead event-readiness walkthroughs, and coordinate cross-functional teams.
• Assess, implement and continuously improve scheduling, booking, reporting, workflow, and venue-management technologies that improve efficiency and enhance the client experience.
• Collaborate with the Marketing team to promote venue spaces, support outreach efforts, and increase awareness of rental opportunities.
• Support expansion, renovation, space-planning projects and future campus utilization initiatives.

Revenue and Budget Management

• Manage venue pricing, packages, payment schedules, deposits, receivables, and invoicing processes in coordination with Accounting.
• Maintain packages, payment schedules, deposits, receivables, cancellations, and coordinate invoicing with Accounting.
• Track revenue, receivables, collections, and expenses related to events and venue operations.
• Monitor budgets and ensure cost-effective operations.

Contract Management

• Review and manage contracts for venue rentals, client events, and service providers.
• Manage certificates of insurance, vendor deliverables, payment milestones, and contracts.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for contract negotiations, ensuring clear terms, pricing, and expectations.
• Manage relationships with AV, catering, cleaning, linen, coffee, and other venue vendors.
• Coordinate with leadership as needed for contract review and approval.
• Track contract timelines, deposits, insurance certificates, and key deliverables.
• Develop standardized templates and contract workflows.
• Maintain organized records of all contracts and related documentation.
• Monitor compliance with contract terms and proactively address issues or discrepancies.

Qualifications

A Bachelor’s degree is preferred. Three to five years of progressively responsible experience in venue management, event operations, hospitality, project management, facilities coordination, partnerships, venue sales, conference services, or a related field is required.

Experience in managing multi-use event spaces, including meeting rooms, conference centers, and auditoriums, as well as experience supervising direct reports, is necessary.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong organizational, project management, relationship-building, systems thinking, and process-improvement skills.
• Professional presence with clients, vendors, executives, and community partners.
• Excellent customer service, written communication, and verbal communication abilities.
• High attention to detail and strong problem-solving skills.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships across departments and with external partners and vendors.
• Ability to manage ad hoc projects and perform assigned duties effectively.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite.
• Experience with booking platforms, e-signature tools, CRMs, accounting software, payment systems, or venue management platforms is a plus.