Senior Event & Engagement Manager

Crawford Group (www.crawfordgroup.com) is seeking a Senior Events & Engagement Manager to join our embedded team supporting a mission-driven nonprofit client dedicated to defeating Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). This is a part-time, hybrid role in the Detroit, MI area with a consistent week-to-week in-office presence, plus travel for pre-planned events and committee site visits. As a Crawford Group consultant, you will be embedded with our client as the dedicated owner of its signature events and a steward of its mission.

This role is accountable for end-to-end delivery of the organization's three signature events — holding one annual calendar, shaping the attendee experience, stewarding sponsors and vendors, managing the budget, and building the systems that create continuity year over year. The client funds cutting-edge scientific research toward a cure while providing direct financial and emotional support to families caring for a child with the disease, and every gathering exists to advance that mission.

We are seeking a seasoned expert who delivers from day one and is a quick study of the nuances of the organization while being rapidly additive to it. What we select for on top of that is heart: the humility to absorb this community's voice and the drive to share ownership of its mission. You care about the work you do in both quality and impact, and you treat event production as an act of active service. Similar nonprofit or mission-driven event experience is required.

About Crawford Group

We are revolutionizing how marketing gets done! Crawford Group provides expert marketing, digital, creative, events, and communications talent solutions for marketers. Our customers want flexibility in their workforce solutions and need experts with the skills and capabilities to deliver on revenue and pipeline growth through marketing activities. At Crawford Group we believe in developing collaborative customer relationships to create the best talent solution for their marketing organization's needs.

What You'll Own:

• Serve as the central coordinator across all three signature events — holding one annual calendar, aligning timelines, workflows, and deliverables, and giving leadership a bird's-eye view of progress year-round
• Own the calendar, cadence, and accountability that bring each gathering to life, working ahead so nothing slips (Trello)
• Provide structure, visibility, and continuity across all three signature events, aligning timelines, workflows, and deliverables throughout the year
• Shape a thoughtful, welcoming attendee experience that fosters connection, ease, and belonging, from first invitation to final goodbye
• Cultivate meaningful pre-event communication, drafted in the organization's voice with guidance from leadership, so guests feel cared for before they arrive
• Steward sponsor and partner relationships year-round with warmth and professionalism, keeping touchpoints alive between events, not just around them
• Manage the event budget as a careful guardian of mission dollars, tracking expenses, finding efficiencies, and reporting clearly to leadership
• Build and own technical run of show documents with leadership and committees, all structured around attendee experience and emotional flow, so every moment lands
• Serve as a calm, steady, solutions-oriented presence on-site, anticipating needs and resolving issues quietly so the community can simply be present
• Lead and support volunteers and small teams with clarity and care — sometimes a team of one, sometimes many; never a lone ranger, always leading the vision
• Facilitate committee meetings: set agendas, capture decisions and action items, and hold stakeholders accountable to deadlines so work stays on schedule between gatherings
• Source and negotiate vendors, venues, and production partners with discernment and an eye for quality, value, and fit
• Gather and organize community insights that shape programming grounded in lived experience and authentic conversation
• Build and update the systems, documentation, and playbooks that protect what's learned, creating continuity as the community and its programs evolve
• Capture insights from honest post-event reflection and complete a post-event KPI analysis (to be defined) — what moved people, what to do differently, and how each gathering makes the next one better

The Experience You Bring:

• Direct experience producing events for a similar nonprofit, mission-driven, or cause-based organization is required
• 7+ years producing curated, mission-driven events end-to-end, with high ownership and autonomy, across in-person gatherings, golf tournaments, large-scale fundraisers, and virtual conferences, for groups of roughly 25 to 300
• Deep project-management discipline, owning calendars, cadences, timelines, and dependencies, and running multiple events and priorities at once without dropping a thread (Trello or similar)
• Strong budget development, tracking, and management across multiple concurrent events, with clear reporting and an eye for efficiencies
• Proven vendor, venue, and production-partner sourcing, negotiation, and contract management, including hotel/venue liaison, BEOs, and F&B coordination
• Fluent in building and managing both technical and content run of show — agenda development, session timing, speaker coordination and prep, and AV coordination with venues
• Hands-on with registration platforms (e.g., Jotform), fundraising and auction tools (e.g., Give Butter), and virtual platforms (e.g., Whova, Zoom), plus attendee tracking, check-in/QR, and live troubleshooting
• Committee facilitation and stakeholder accountability, running meetings, tracking action items, and keeping multi-stakeholder projects on schedule
• Experienced steward of sponsor and partner relationships, tracking, benefit fulfillment, and a year-round warm-touchpoint cadence
• Command of production logistics, timelines and checklists, materials/merch/print sourcing, shipment and drop-ship coordination, signage, seating, setup/teardown, day-of logistics, and checkout
• Skilled at drafting event communication touchpoints (invitations, reminders, sponsor outreach, surveys) across email and social, in the organization's voice and with guidance from leadership
• A track record leading and supporting volunteers and small teams through execution, plus committee scheduling, follow-ups, and action-item tracking
• Disciplined at building systems, documentation, and playbooks, and at post-event KPI tracking, reporting, and recommendations

What Sets the Right Person Apart:

• A connector, not just a doer — leads the room, listens to lived experience, and absorbs the voice of an organization rather than imposing their own
• A strategist and an executor — brings ideas and anticipates what's next, then makes them real with the discernment of a tactical chess player
• Understands the why behind structure, sequence, and pacing; treats event production as an act of active service, always tying back to mission and to how the community should feel
• A calm, grounded, emotionally intelligent presence under pressure — steady and quietly resourceful when things shift in the moment
• Comfortable being embedded and builds trust fast with leadership, takes direction on voice and vision gracefully, and operates with the autonomy of an owner
• Eager and humble enough to say “teach me your voice,” and to immerse in a community, not just join an organization
• Seeking meaningful, mission-aligned work, drawn to creating dignity, belonging, and authentic connection through gathering

Location: Detroit, MI; Hybrid, in-office presence as required for collaboration, plus travel for pre-planned events and committee site visits

Duration: Part-time (~20 hours per week), ~12 months, consulting

Rate: W-2 consultant of Crawford Group; benefits available if eligible (Our hourly ranges are determined based on skills, experience and location)

Committed to Diversity

We believe in approaching every interaction with honor, respect, and positive intent. Building diverse teams that foster creativity, innovative thinking, and opportunity for all. Ultimately, we know that our commitment to inclusion across race, gender, age, religion, identity, and experience drives us all forward every day.

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