Events & Operations Specialist

Events & Operations Specialist 

Job Title: Events and Operations Specialist

Department: Strategic Partnerships & University Relations (SPUR)

Reports to: Vice President for Strategic Partnerships & University Relations 

Location: Residential, In-Person

Employment Status: Full-Time Exempt Staff

Salary Range:  $60,000 - $90,000

About Palo Alto University (PAU)

Palo Alto University is a private, nonprofit university dedicated to advancing human understanding through innovative education, groundbreaking research, and impactful practice in behavioral science.

Founded in 1975 and located in the heart of Silicon Valley, PAU offers graduate and undergraduate programs in psychology, counseling, social work, and behavioral science, including the PAU-Stanford PsyD Consortium with Stanford Medicine. Grounded in human dignity, PAU's scholars, clinicians, educators, and learners share a single conviction: that understanding how people think, feel, behave, relate, heal, and make meaning is among the most essential work of our time.

The university enrolls over 1,200 students, has a network of more than 4,200 alumni, and employs over 150 faculty and staff united by a mission-driven commitment to advancing human understanding. PAU enters its sixth decade at a defining moment: a new president, a new provost, a bold new vision and strategic plan, and an urgent opportunity to shape how behavioral science responds to the challenges of an increasingly changing world. You will join a mission-driven community with the ambition to make a measurable impact on the human condition.

The Role

Reporting to the Vice President for Strategic Partnerships and University Relations, the Events and Operations Specialist is the production engine of SPUR's advancement event portfolio. This is a new role in a new and growing division, with growth potential as PAU's event calendar matures and expands.

The Specialist produces and executes events with precision, care, and institutional pride. Within SPUR, the functional Director owns the purpose, audience, content, and relationship strategy of every event. The Specialist owns project management, logistics, production, and execution of every event in the portfolio.

The right candidate is energized by complexity, thrives under deadline pressure, takes genuine pride in flawless execution, and understands that in advancement, events cultivate donors, partnerships, relationships, and brand. This is a focused, high-impact production role at the center of PAU's most consequential external moments.

Responsibilities

Event Production and Logistics Management

• Own the end-to-end production and logistics of SPUR's core advancement events, including the Annual Gala, President's Circle meetings and dinners, donor and partnership cultivation gatherings, alumni engagement events, and community convenings.

• Manage all event logistics, including venue selection and contracting, catering, audiovisual, signage, transportation, accommodations, staffing, accessibility, and on-site coordination, ensuring every event is executed seamlessly and reflects PAU's institutional standards.

• Develop and maintain comprehensive event production timelines, run-of-show documents, vendor contracts, budget tracking, and post-event debrief reports for every event in the SPUR portfolio.

• Serve as the primary on-site coordinator for all advancement events, managing setup, vendor relationships, staff and volunteer coordination, and real-time problem resolution to ensure every event runs without disruption.

• Build and maintain a preferred vendor network of caterers, venues, audiovisual providers, photographers, printers, and event technology partners that reflects PAU's commitment to quality, value, and mission alignment.

Commencement Week Planning and Execution

• Lead the full production and logistics of PAU's annual commencement week, a multi-day celebration and advancement cultivation series culminating in the commencement ceremony itself. SPUR owns the planning and full implementation of commencement as an advancement event. The University Registrar and Academic Affairs support degree conferral logistics, student participation lists, and academic ceremony protocol.

• Design and execute a week-long calendar of cultivation activities, community gatherings, student and family celebrations, donor receptions, and community engagement events that position commencement as PAU's most important annual advancement moment and the first touchpoint of every graduate's alumni life.

• Coordinate with the University Registrar solely on degree conferral logistics, student participation lists, and academic ceremony protocol.

• Own the full commencement event experience, including regalia management, speaker invitations, procession planning, security, media coordination, cultivation programming, and community engagement dimensions of the week.

• Develop commencement week invitation and RSVP management systems for students, families, alumni, donors, partners, faculty, and community guests, ensuring every constituent receives a personalized, timely, and welcoming communication.

• Partner with the Director of Alumni Relations to design cultivation activities during commencement week that introduce graduating students to the alumni community and engage families and parents as prospective donors and institutional advocates.

• Coordinate with the Director of Development to identify and steward donor and prospect touchpoints during commencement week, ensuring high-priority cultivation relationships receive intentional, personalized engagement throughout the celebration.

Silicon Valley Convenings and Thought Leadership Events

• Once the Director of Strategic Partnerships, VP, or President establishes the strategic objective, target audience, and relationship goals for a convening, own full production from that point forward, translating the strategic vision into a logistically flawless event experience.

• Manage all production dimensions of Silicon Valley convenings, including venue contracts, speaker logistics, sponsor recognition, registration systems, audiovisual and production technology, promotional materials, and on-site coordination.

• Develop post-event communications, participant follow-up sequences, and partnership cultivation touchpoints in coordination with the Director of Strategic Partnerships and the Director of Brand, ensuring every convening generates sustained relationship momentum beyond the event itself.

• Maintain a Silicon Valley convenings calendar that allows the VP, President, and SPUR directors to plan cultivation and partnership development activities around each event with sufficient lead time and strategic intentionality.

Presidential Advancement Events

• Execute all events connected to the President's advancement agenda, including President's Circle gatherings, major donor cultivation dinners, Silicon Valley leadership convenings, and community engagement events hosted in the President's name, once the VP or President has established each gathering's purpose, audience, and cultivation objectives.

• Prepare event briefing materials, guest lists, seating arrangements, and personalized guest communications for presidential events, ensuring the President and VP are fully prepared, and every guest feels the intentionality of PAU's hospitality.

• Coordinate post-event follow-up communications and stewardship actions in collaboration with the Director of Development and Director of Alumni Relations, ensuring every presidential event generates sustained donor and partner engagement.

Invitation, RSVP, and Guest Management

• Design and manage invitation and RSVP systems for all advancement events, ensuring timely, personalized, and brand-consistent communications that reflect PAU's commitment to relationship and hospitality.

• Maintain accurate, up-to-date guest lists, attendance records, and post-event participation data in HubSpot and related CRM platforms, ensuring every event interaction is captured and available for donor and partner cultivation follow-up.

• Coordinate with the Director of Development and Director of Alumni Relations on guest list strategy for cultivation events, ensuring the right prospects and donors are invited to the right events at the right moments in their relationship with PAU.

• Manage dietary, accessibility, and other guest accommodation needs across all events, ensuring every attendee feels welcomed, respected, and fully included in the PAU community.

Operational Support

• Provide operational support that is directly connected to the event and advancement calendar, including coordination of event-specific vendor agreements, production files, and advancement materials. Handle broader administrative functions through the appropriate university administrative offices.

• Support the development and maintenance of SPUR's event calendar, ensuring all advancement events are coordinated across the division without conflict or duplication.

• Assist with the production of event-specific advancement materials, including printed collateral, event programs, donor recognition materials, and signage, coordinating with the Director of Brand to ensure all materials reflect PAU's visual identity and voice.

• Maintain SPUR's event files, production timelines, vendor relationships, and institutional event history in an organized, accessible system that enables continuity, institutional memory, and continuous improvement across the event portfolio.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in event management, communications, hospitality, marketing, public relations, or a related field.

• Two or more years of progressive experience in event production, advancement operations, or a related role, with demonstrated success managing complex, multi-stakeholder events from planning through execution.

• Exceptional organizational and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple events and workstreams simultaneously under deadline pressure without losing attention to detail.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to draft guest communications, event briefings, and post-event reports that reflect institutional voice and advancement purpose.

• Experience with invitation and RSVP management systems, event registration platforms, and CRM tools; familiarity with HubSpot preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to manage vendor relationships, negotiate event-specific contracts, and coordinate logistics across catering, audiovisual, venues, and other event service providers.

• Genuine enthusiasm for PAU's mission, behavioral science, and the opportunity to build an event portfolio that positions the university as a Silicon Valley thought leader.

Preferred

• Experience producing advancement events in higher education, nonprofit, or mission-driven organizational settings.

• Familiarity with Silicon Valley professional and community networks, convening culture, and event venues.

• Experience supporting commencement ceremonies, multi-day celebrations, or large-scale institutional events.

• Background in donor cultivation events, presidential advancement support, or major gift stewardship programming.

• Experience with event marketing, social media promotion, or digital event communications.

Qualities

• A doer above all else, energized by the satisfaction of flawless execution and the knowledge that every well-produced event advances PAU's mission and relationships.

• Meticulous and proactive, anticipating logistical challenges before they arise and resolving them without escalation or drama.

• Warm, hospitable, and genuinely invested in making every guest feel welcomed, valued, and connected to something meaningful.

• Collaborative and flexible, able to support four directors and the VP simultaneously without losing track of priorities or quality standards.

• Calm under pressure, creative in problem-solving, and unwavering in commitment to the institutional pride and hospitality that every PAU event must reflect.

Work Hours and Location

This is a full-time hybrid position requiring residency in the San Francisco Bay Area. Regular in-person presence at PAU's campuses in Palo Alto and Mountain View is expected and essential, especially during event planning, production, and execution. Regular evening and weekend availability is required during peak event periods, including commencement week, the Annual Gala, Silicon Valley convenings, and President's Circle gatherings. This is a high-energy, high-visibility role that requires physical presence and genuine enthusiasm for bringing people together in service of PAU's mission.

Equal Opportunity and Accommodations

Palo Alto University is an equal opportunity employer firmly committed to non-discrimination in its hiring and employment practices. In compliance with all applicable federal and state laws, employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, sex, marital status, citizenship status, military service status, sexual orientation, medical condition, disability, or any other status protected by law.

As provided by law, PAU will offer reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities who are otherwise qualified to perform the essential functions of the position without undue hardship to the university.

PAU is committed to building a high-quality work environment that attracts and welcomes employees from a wide range of backgrounds. In your application or cover letter, please share how your background and experience have prepared you to work at a high level with colleagues from a variety of different backgrounds.