Events Manager

Powell's Books is seeking to hire an Events Manager at our City of Books location in Downtown Portland.

The Events Manager oversees events programming at the Burnside Store and supports events offsite and at other Powell’s locations as needed. They act as part of the Manager on Duty team supporting store operations, and supervise a team of employees in the store. The Events Manager acts as a host and welcoming face of the company, playing an active role to ensure customers have a positive experience at events.

Powell’s Books is known worldwide as a premier independent bookstore and an icon in the Portland community. We’re committed to fostering a culture and environment of inclusion, empowerment, and respect – a place where everyone can show up fully as themselves and do their best work every day.

All regular full-time employees enjoy benefits including:

• Generous healthcare plan (medical, vision, and dental)
• 401(k) savings plan
• Education benefit
• Childcare subsidy
• Substantial employee discount that is also available to your significant other, children, parents, and siblings
• Book borrowing privileges

Pay: $23.08 per hour, or more, depending on experience.

Schedule: The regular schedule is to be determined, but will focus on evenings and weekends, with some flexibility required, depending on event schedule.

Closing Date: Sunday, September 6th, 2026

• Position Title:
  
  Events Manager
• Location:
  
  Burnside
• Group: X5-B
• Date: 8/2026

This position is part of the management team at our Burnside Location in downtown Portland- a high volume, fast paced environment with over 100 employees. The Events Manager works independently and as a part of the management team to oversee events programming at the Burnside Store and support events offsite and at other Powell’s locations as needed. Responsibilities include providing an exceptional in-store customer experience, managing staff on the events team and the retail floor, and coordinating workflow and staffing of events.

The Events Manager hosts events when needed and spends much of their time playing an active role to ensure customers have a positive experience ervises the Burnside Events Coordinator and a team of events-focused employees and other generalists. This position acts as part of the Manager on Duty team supporting store operations and staff throughout the store. Major decisions are reviewed/approved in advance by the Burnside Store Managers or Flagship Store Director.

May report to a Burnside Store Manager or Flagship Store Director.

• Supervises or coordinates the supervision of Burnside store events and offsite events. Prioritizes event tasks and projects for their team. Schedules event hosts and directs their work. Coordinates with managers and employees at all locations to ensure that events are properly staffed.
• Oversees all aspects of event execution, including room setup, crowd flow, safety, accessibility, signing lines, AV coordination, teardown, and post-event recovery to ensure a seamless customer and author experience.
• Trains, coaches, and develops event hosts and event staff, ensuring consistent execution and customer service standards.
• Responds quickly to changing event conditions, making sound operational decisions to resolve scheduling conflicts, customer concerns, author requests, and other unforeseen issues.
• Ensures all events comply with safety procedures, occupancy limits, accessibility standards, and emergency response protocols.
• Represents Powell's professionally while building positive relationships with authors, publishers, community partners, and customers. Partners with the Burnside Store Managers, Flagship Store Manager, and Marketing Department to plan, coordinate, and execute events, promotions, and community activations that support sales, customer engagement, and the Powell's brand.
• Communicates regularly with purchasing and Retail Distribution Center managers to ensure event inventory is adequately stocked.
• Supports and demonstrates a culture of passionate bookselling including active engagement with customers, hand selling, and making recommendations via staff picks, shelf talkers, etc. Holds staff accountable to…