About Discover Halifax

Since 2002, our goal has been to promote the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) as a destination of choice for leisure and business travellers. We are a non-profit, aiming to maximize economic and social benefits resulting from the tourism industry for the benefit of the people who live, visit, and invest in our region. We showcase the best of our region to the world, and alongside our industry partners, we seek to shape the future of tourism through good planning, investment, and design.

This Position

As Discover Halifax supports a growing range of major and local events, the Manager, Event Development helps turn early-stage event ideas into well-planned, well-supported opportunities. Reporting to the Vice-President, Festivals & Events, this role takes early-stage opportunities from partners and organizers, clarifies the practical requirements, risks, and trade-offs involved. The role also identifies and mitigates the real-world delivery constraints and leads the assessment and development work so leadership and partners can make informed, confident decisions. Working closely with internal teams and a wide range of external partners, the Manager coordinates bids, feasibility work, and development plans, and stays connected through delivery and post-event review to ensure commitments made during development are carried through, reported on, and translated into learning for future opportunities.

This work helps ensure that the time, effort, and investment behind events translate into meaningful economic and cultural benefits for Halifax and the people who live here.

Key responsibilities

Event & Bid Development

•     Lead the development and coordination of select major and complex event opportunities working collaboratively with internal teams, senior leadership, venues, host societies, and external partners.

•     Design clear development pathways for events, defining scope, delivery requirements, governance models, timelines, and resource needs, including venue coordination and accommodation strategies where required.

•     Assemble and manage bid teams, ensuring roles, responsibilities, timelines, and deliverables are clearly defined and achieved.

•     Coordinate senior leadership engagement at key decision points, preparing materials, briefing inputs, and coordination support as required.

•     Maintain momentum between decision points by proactively advancing preparatory work, resolving dependencies, and preventing drift across multi-party development processes.

Strategic Analysis & Local Event Growth

•     Own a defined portfolio of local event development initiatives, identifying, assessing, and advancing growth opportunities aligned with strategic priorities, and bringing forward recommendations for approval.

•     Conduct early-stage analysis to align opportunities with regional strategy, investment readiness, and capacity considerations.

•     Work directly with event organizers to assess objectives, constraints, governance structures, and organizational capacity, developing practical development pathways and multi-year growth plans aligned with regional strategies.

•     Support the advancement of approved local event development initiatives by coordinating partners, tracking progress, and maintaining continuity through delivery and post-event review.

Analysis, Reporting & Sector Development

•     Lead and manage analytical work and reporting, including feasibility studies, economic impact assessments, and performance reporting to support informed decision-making.

•     Support sector-wide development initiatives such as advisory groups, forums, and capacity-building programs that improve the quality, readiness, and sustainability of the event ecosystem.

Education and Experience

Required

•     Post-secondary education in business, public administration, planning, event management, economics, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience.

•     4-7 years of progressively responsible experience managing complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives, or projects.

•     Demonstrated experience working in complex partnership environments such as events, sport, culture, festival, arts production, public-sector initiatives, destination organizations, or partnership-driven programs.

•     Experience developing feasibility analyses, business cases, or bids for complex initiatives requiring structured assessment and judgment.

•     Proven ability to translate ideas or requests into structured plans, including defining scope, timelines, governance considerations, risks, and resource requirements.

•     Strong written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing briefings, analysis, recommendations, or decision-support materials for senior leadership.

•     Demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent initiatives over extended timelines while maintaining momentum, coordination, and accountability.

•     Comfort operating in ambiguous or evolving environments, exercising judgment to advance work independently, manage risk, and escalate appropriately.

•     Proven ability to build and maintain credible relationships with event organizers, venues, public agencies, and cross-jurisdictional partners.

•     Proficiency with CRM systems, project management tools, online collaboration platforms, and spreadsheets for tracking, analysis, and reporting.

Assets

•     Experience working with or within event delivery organizations such as host societies, organizing committees, or delivery partners.

•     Familiarity with economic impact methodologies or event ROI frameworks.

Position details

The Manager, Event Development will work a hybrid schedule from the office and home, 37.5 hours/week, Monday to Friday during business hours. There may be the occasional need to work evenings and/or weekends to meet with stakeholder groups. Occasional conference attendance.

How to apply

Interested candidates submit a cover letter and resume, as well as complete  all  pre-screening questions.