Manager, Meetings Operations

Role Description

As the Manager, Meetings Operations, you serve as a connector across AGU’s meetings portfolio, ensuring that processes are consistently implemented, attendee inquiries are resolved efficiently, and the financial infrastructure underpinning all meetings runs smoothly. You are essential to the operational health of the department, providing the structure and follow-through that allows meeting planners and experience designers to focus on execution and innovation.

Reporting to the Assistant Director, Annual Meetings, you work across the full meetings portfolio—including the Annual Meeting and all strategic and specialty meetings—and serve as the primary point of accountability for process compliance, customer support operations, contract routing, and invoice management.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Communications, Hospitality, or a related field, with 3–5 years of experience in meetings operations, administrative management, or a closely related function; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Demonstrated experience managing administrative or operational processes in a complex, multi-project environment.
• Experience with invoice processing, contract routing, or financial administration preferred.
• Experience in an association, nonprofit, or scientific organization is a plus.
• Organizational skills with a demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent workflows, deadlines, and stakeholders.
• Professional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to draft clear, professional responses to attendee and stakeholder inquiries.
• Attention to detail, particularly in financial processing, contract tracking, and documentation.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook); experience with project management tools, contract management systems, or financial software is a plus.
• Ability to work independently and exercise sound judgment in routing, escalating, and resolving issues without requiring day-to-day direction.
• Professional interpersonal skills and a service-oriented mindset, with the ability to interact professionally with staff, vendors, and attendees.
• Capable of exercising the highest level of discretion on confidential financial and contractual matters.
• Ability to perform with composure under the pressure of deadlines and high-volume periods.

Requirements

• Develop, document, and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs) for key meetings operations functions, ensuring consistency and compliance across all events.
• Monitor adherence to established processes across the meetings portfolio, identifying gaps or breakdowns and working with relevant team members to resolve them.
• Serve as the primary resource for process-related questions from internal staff, ensuring teams have clear guidance on how key operational workflows function.
• Maintain a centralized operations library, including timelines, checklists, templates, and process documentation that supports the full team.
• Partner with the Director, Meetings and Assistant Directors to implement new processes or update existing ones in response to lessons learned, team feedback, or changing organizational needs.
• Partner with other team members to ensure sustainable practices are implemented, monitored, and measured across all activities of the Meetings & Events team.
• Oversee the management of incoming attendee and stakeholder inquiries across all meetings-related inboxes, ensuring timely, accurate, and professional responses.
• Triage and route inquiries to the appropriate team member, escalating complex issues to Assistant Directors or the Director, Meetings as needed.
• Develop and maintain a library of standard responses, FAQs, and escalation protocols to improve response consistency and efficiency, especially during peak periods.
• Monitor inbox volume and response times, reporting regularly to meetings leadership and recommending staffing or workflow adjustments during high-traffic periods.
• Ensure that the attendee and stakeholder experience reflected in all support interactions aligns with AGU’s quality and professionalism standards.
• Serve as the central coordinator for all meetings-related contracts, ensuring documents are routed to the appropriate reviewers and approvers in a timely manner.
• Ensure executed contracts are filed accurately and accessible to relevant team members, maintaining organized and complete records.
• Alert Assistant Directors and the Director, Meetings to contract risks, renewal windows, or compliance issues as they arise.
• Own the end-to-end invoice management process for the meetings department, including receipt, coding, approval routing, and submission to finance.
• Ensure all invoices are accurately coded to the correct budget lines and processed within established timelines to avoid late payments or accrual discrepancies.
• Maintain an invoice tracking log, providing regular updates to meetings leadership on outstanding payables and flagging items that require attention.
• Coordinate with the finance team to reconcile invoices against budgets, resolve discrepancies, and support month-end and year-end close processes.
• Support the accrual process by tracking anticipated vendor charges and communicating projections to the relevant Assistant Director or Director.
• Work closely with both Assistant Directors and the Director, Meeting Experience to ensure that operational processes support event execution and attendee experience goals.
• Support the team as needed during heavy operational loads.
• Identify recurring inefficiencies and proactively recommend solutions, seeking to continuously improve the operational backbone of the department.
• Support onsite operations at major meetings as needed, serving as a resource for process questions or administrative needs during live events.
• Perform other duties as required or assigned which are reasonably within the scope of the duties in this job classification.

Benefits

• Work-life balance: remote-first organization, flexible work hours, unlimited PTO, Flexible Fridays, paid holidays, military leave, parental leave.
• Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, life insurance, disability coverage, employee assistance program, wellness, tuition reimbursement, 403(b) retirement plan, FSA, HSA, theft protection, personal and professional development, and much more.

Company Description

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) supports a global community of more than half a million professionals and advocates in the Earth and space sciences. Through broad and inclusive partnerships, AGU aims to advance discovery and solution science that accelerates knowledge and creates solutions that are ethical, unbiased, and respectful of communities and their values. Our programs include serving as a scholarly publisher, convening virtual and in-person events, and providing career support.

This is an exciting time to work at AGU. Every day we approach our work with a sense of purpose, and we look for others who share that passion and desire for a career with impact.