The Role
The Event Sales Manager is responsible for driving private event revenue, building the outbound sales pipeline, managing guest relationships, and overseeing the overall sales performance of the Waterworks events business.
This is a sales-first leadership role that manages the Events team and ensures opportunities are actively pursued, properly converted, accurately priced, professionally communicated, and financially tracked.
Reporting to the Director of Operations, the Event Sales Manager works closely with the Senior Events Coordinator, Events Coordinator, Director of Marketing, & Operations Managers to ensure events are sold, detailed, marketed, and executed in a way that supports revenue growth, guest experience, and the broader Waterworks brand goals.
The Key Responsibilities
Event Sales & Pipeline Growth
- Own the event sales strategy, outbound sales plan, pipeline priorities, and revenue-growth targets for Waterworks Food Hall.
- Generate new business through external outreach to corporate offices, agencies, planners, residential buildings, hotels, cultural groups, neighbourhood partners, hospitality networks, and other qualified prospects.
- Build and maintain a disciplined prospecting cadence, including target accounts, warm leads, dormant leads, referral opportunities, repeat guest opportunities, and new business outreach.
- Own corporate prospecting, third-party partner relationships, repeat guest strategy, pricing direction, negotiation, and final contract review.
- Identify opportunities to increase revenue through minimum spends, packages, beverage upsells, restaurant participation, rentals, service fees, premium experiences, and repeat bookings.
- Partner with the Senior Events Coordinator on repeat guest relationships, ensuring past guests are followed up with, nurtured, and converted into future bookings.
Inbound Conversion & TripleSeat Ownership
- Own the TripleSeat guest touchpoint workflow from inquiry through proposal, contract, deposit, BEO handoff, post-event follow-up, and rebooking opportunity.
- Ensure all incoming leads through the website, phone, email, event portals, and third-party platforms are captured, assigned, qualified, and followed up within expected timelines.
- Oversee the Senior Events Coordinator’s ownership of incoming lead conversion, site tours, proposals, and guest follow-up, ensuring every qualified inquiry has a clear next step.
- Create and maintain response templates, proposal standards, lead stages, follow-up cadences, lost lead reasons, and guest communication expectations within TripleSeat.
- Review active leads weekly to ensure no qualified inquiry is sitting without an owner, value, event date, follow-up date, or defined path to close.
- Use TripleSeat reporting to identify lead-source performance, response time, conversion rate, lost business patterns, revenue forecast, and repeat guest opportunities.
Revenue Reporting, Forecasting & Profitability
- Own weekly and monthly event sales reporting, including incoming leads, confirmed bookings, tentative pipeline, lost leads, conversion rates, lead source, projected revenue, actual revenue, and forecast risk.
- Build clear reporting structures that show event profitability, including room rental, bar, catering, engaged service team, rentals, security, cleaning, service fees, direct costs, and margin by event type.
- Prepare and lead weekly events updates with the Director of Operations and relevant stakeholders, clearly identifying confirmed revenue, upcoming events, sales opportunities, risks, and decisions needed.
- Analyze event performance and recommend pricing, package, labour, restaurant participation, service provider, and sales-process improvements to support stronger profitability.
- Partner with Finance and Operations where required to ensure event revenue, costs, commissions, and reporting categories are accurate and useful.Event Sales Manager
Events Team Leadership & Department Management
- Manage the Events team directly, including the Senior Events Coordinator and hourly Events Coordinator, with clear weekly priorities, role ownership, timelines, follow-up, and accountability.
- Provide direct leadership to the Senior Events Coordinator, ensuring coordination work supports the larger sales plan and that BEOs, proposals, portals, trackers, sales decks, and phone inquiries remain current and accurate.
- Set expectations for guest communication, proposal quality, site-tour standards, internal handoff, BEO accuracy, restaurant coordination, third-party service provider coordination, and post-event follow-up.
- Coach the team on sales confidence, urgency, organization, hospitality tone, guest service, and conversion discipline.
- Participate in key events, high-value guest moments, site tours, and internal planning meetings where leadership presence supports sales, execution, or relationship management.
Guest Experience, Event Detailing & Execution Oversight
- Own the guest relationship through the sales and negotiation process, ensuring the experience feels polished, responsive, professional, and hospitality-forward.
- Ensure confirmed events are handed off clearly to the Senior Events Coordinator and operations partners with accurate details, expectations, financial terms, and timelines.
- Oversee event detailing and execution standards, including BEO accuracy, guest communication, setup requirements, bar needs, restaurant participation, AV needs, and service expectations.
- Review event feedback, guest experience issues, service misses, and guest concerns with the appropriate operations partners to strengthen future sales, planning, and delivery.
Marketing, Sales Materials & Brand Positioning
- Work with the Director of Marketing to ensure event decks, brand language, website content, listings, portals, and promotional materials are current, polished, and aligned with Waterworks standards.
- Support Marketing by providing the sales direction, package accuracy, pricing references, event priorities, and conversion insights needed to strengthen event collateral.
- Co-own event photography inventory with the Director of Marketing, ensuring photography is organized, current, and useful for sales decks, guest proposals, event portals, website updates, and seasonal campaigns.
- Ensure sales materials clearly communicate venue capabilities, packages, capacities, bar offerings, restaurant participation, seasonal opportunities, premium upgrades, and ideal event use cases.
- Identify content gaps, unclear sales language, outdated packages, or missing visuals that may reduce conversion and recommend updates quickly.
Third-Party Agreements, Partnerships & Networks
- Build and manage relationships with third-party venue, catering, event planning, corporate, hospitality, agency, hotel, concierge, and community partners who can drive event leads and referrals.
- Own third-party event agreements and service relationships, including rental equipment, caterers, engaged service team partners, AV, entertainment, décor, ticketing, photography, and other event support services.
- Ensure third-party agreements, pricing, service expectations, insurance requirements, lead times, renewal timelines, partner contacts, and performance notes are organized and current.
- Represent Waterworks professionally in external sales conversations, networking opportunities, partnership meetings, and market-facing event opportunities.
Internal Programming & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Support internal ticketed events where sales, sponsorship, partnership, reporting, or guest conversion opportunities are required.
- Recognize that internal ticketed events are primarily owned by the Operations Manager, Beverage & Hospitality and Senior Events Coordinator, with this role supporting where sales strategy, guest data, pipeline opportunity, or partner relationships can add value.
- Work cross-functionally with Operations, Marketing, Beverage & Hospitality, Vendor & Property, restaurants, and third-party service providers to ensure events are sold with operational reality in mind.
- Attend regular planning, BEO, sales, and strategy meetings as required.
- Make recommendations on sales, reporting, pricing, process, and operational updates based on guest interactions, lead patterns, event feedback, and execution learnings.
Qualifications & Skills
Required
- 5+ years of experience in event sales, venue sales, hospitality sales, corporate events, catering sales, or a similar senior event revenue role.
- Proven ability to generate new business, build sales pipeline, convert leads, manage revenue targets, and maintain repeat guest relationships.
- Strong understanding of event profitability, pricing, proposals, contracts, BEOs, engaged service team planning, rentals, beverage, catering, and direct event costs.
- Experience managing CRM systems, event sales trackers, reporting tools, and sales workflows; TripleSeat experience is strongly preferred.
- Confident guest-facing presence with strong written and verbal communication skills, polished hospitality instincts, and comfort leading sales conversations and negotiations.
- Experience managing or coaching event coordinators, sales coordinators, or hospitality team members.
- Strong organization, follow-up, judgment, and ability to balance sales urgency with operational reality.
Preferred
- Experience working in a multi-venue, food hall, hotel, restaurant group, event venue, or mixed-use hospitality environment.
- Experience managing third-party service agreements, rental partners, caterers, event teams, AV providers, and referral networks.
- Experience partnering with Marketing on sales decks, brand language, photography inventory, websites, listings, campaigns, and guest-facing materials.
- Experience building outbound sales systems, corporate prospecting lists, referral networks, and event profitability reporting.
Pay: From $80,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Disability insurance
- Discounted or free food
- Flexible schedule
- Life insurance
- On-site parking
- Store discount
Experience:
- Event Sales : 5 years (required)
Work Location: In person
