Director, Events and Sponsorships

Full Time - Professional Staff Professional Staff Toronto, ON, CA

Salary Range: $ To $ Annually

The Director, Events and Sponsor ships is a hands‑on, strategic leader responsible for curating and executing the Vector Institute’s robust portfolio of marquee conferences, specialized workshops, and VIP engagements that drive Ontario’s AI ecosystem forward. Reporting to the VP, Marketing & Communications, this player‑coach leads a dedicated team to deliver over 100 events annually, including Vector’s flagship Remarkable conference, while ensuring all programming strictly aligns with Vector’s research mandate and provincial funding obligations.

By marrying world‑class event production with rigorous sponsor fulfillment and data‑driven reporting, the Director transforms events from standard gatherings into critical delivery mechanisms for AI adoption, commercialization, and talent development.

As program lead or in collaboration with programming committees, researchers, faculty, industry practitioners, and Vector’s AI Engineering Team, shape themes, secure speakers, and build session programming for Vector’s flagship events, including Remarkable and the AI Summit and Career Fair, ensuring content delivers value to Vector’s community/audiences and is mission‑aligned;

Assess, strategize, and evolve Vector’s event and programming operations and content, bringing forward new ideas, formats, and experiences that strengthen audience value, advance Vector’s mandate, and keep the portfolio relevant, and future‑focused;

Strategically lead the 6‑to 12‑month event calendar and oversee end‑to‑end logistics for 30‑40 events per quarter, ranging from intimate VIP stakeholder dinners to massive international conferences. Build and maintain a rich database of speakers and AI subject matter experts;

Ensure the events portfolio meets strict contractual reporting obligations to Vector’s funders, delivering a minimum of 50 community events (under 50 people), 4 marquee events or sponsor ships (50+ people), 5 talent/workforce events, 8 AI commercialization sessions, and other event activities annually in alignment from various work stream funding obligations;

Drive event and sponsorship‑based activations and on‑the‑ground ecosystem relationship activities/events to attract and retain enterprise sponsors, students, researchers/faculty, and SMEs (interfacing with the Director of Marketing & Brand on broader strategies);

Working with the Marketing Team oversee Swoogo and Salesforce data capture to ensure event registration and attendance metrics accurately feed into corporate KPI reporting; keep senior management informed through comprehensive post‑mortem presentations that tell the story of Vector’s impact on the AI ecosystem through events or sponsor ships;

Manage external production companies, AV contractors, and agencies  marquee events like Remarkable, oversee full technical production, hybrid broadcast integrations, staging, and run‑of‑show logistics working with a Manager and Event Coordinators;

Manage a substantial events and sponsorship budget, navigating tight fiscal measures, value‑for‑money principles, and public‑sector accountability frameworks required of a partially publicly funded organization;

Manage performance, mentor, and work alongside a Manager and Events Coordinators, providing strategic direction while remaining present on the floor to ensure flawless operational execution; and,

Other related duties as assigned from time to time.

Seamless technical production and delivery of Vector’s marquee events, continuing to elevate the international profile and participant experience of Remarkable (1,500+ participants) and…