Head - MICE Commercial & Contracting

Department: M.I.C.E Commercial & Contracting

Location:

Mumbai

Experience:

10–15 years (preferably from the MICE, events, experiential marketing, hospitality, or travel industry)

Job Summary
Maximus Events is seeking an experienced and commercially astute Head – M.I.C.E Commercial & Contracting to lead the commercial, costing, contracting, and financial governance function for its MICE business. The ideal candidate will possess a strong understanding of the MICE and event management ecosystem, with proven expertise in commercial negotiations, vendor contracting, costing, procurement, risk management, and profitability across large-scale domestic and international programmes.

The role requires a strategic and hands-on professional who can establish strong commercial controls, negotiate effectively with clients and partners, protect margins, and work closely with Business Development, Client Servicing, Operations, Production, Finance, and Procurement to ensure commercially sound and operationally executable programmes.

Key Responsibilities

· Lead the overall commercial and contracting function for the MICE business, ensuring strong commercial discipline, profitability, and governance across projects.

· Own end-to-end costing, pricing, commercial evaluation, and budget validation for MICE proposals, pitches, tenders, and confirmed programmes.

· Develop and review commercial models, rate structures, mark-ups, margins, payment terms, cancellation policies, taxes, forex exposure, and other financial considerations relevant to MICE programmes.

· Lead commercial negotiations with clients, hotels, airlines, DMCs, venues, transport partners, production agencies, AV partners, and other suppliers to secure competitive rates and favourable terms.

· Draft, review, negotiate, and manage commercial agreements, work orders, vendor contracts, client contracts, and other contractual documentation in coordination with Finance and legal stakeholders, wherever required.

· Ensure all commercial commitments are aligned with approved budgets, client agreements, operational requirements, and internal approval processes.

· Identify commercial risks and exposures—including scope changes, attrition, cancellations, minimum guarantees, force majeure, forex fluctuations, credit terms, and vendor liabilities—and establish appropriate mitigation measures.

· Work closely with Business Development and Client Servicing teams during pitches and negotiations to provide commercially viable solutions without compromising business objectives or delivery feasibility.

· Partner with Operations and Production teams to evaluate supplier quotations, negotiate procurement costs, validate budgets, and ensure commercial alignment through execution.

· Establish and maintain a structured vendor and partner commercial framework, including rate benchmarking, negotiated rate cards, preferred supplier terms, and periodic commercial reviews.

· Monitor project-wise profitability, commercial deviations, additional scope, change requests, and budget overruns, ensuring timely corrective action and escalation where required.

· Drive standardisation of commercial processes, costing formats, approval matrices, contracting practices, and SOPs across the MICE business.

· Support collections and payment discipline by ensuring commercially agreed payment milestones, credit terms, advances, and documentation requirements are clearly captured and followed.

· Provide regular commercial MIS and management-level insights on revenue, gross margins, project profitability, outstanding commercial risks, and key contractual exposures.

· Build, mentor, and lead the commercial and contracting team, establishing clear ownership, accountability, review mechanisms, and high standards…