VP, Global Events - Philadelphia - Bentley

Description

VP, Global Events

Bentley Systems is seeking a Vice President, Global Events to architect, operationalize, and scale a world-class events organization for a global infrastructure engineering-software leader. Bentley software is used by civil engineers to support the design, build, operate and maintain lifecycle of the world's critical infrastructure. This is a highly strategic leadership role responsible for transforming our events function into a unified, global center of excellence.

The ideal candidate is a seasoned leader with experience leading event teams in best-in-class B2B software. They should be able to showcase success building global, scaled event portfolios that drive brand elevation, thought leadership, customer engagement, and pipeline generation.

They will lead a global team, modernize operations, bring rigor to planning and budgeting, and elevate the strategic impact of events across the entire company.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Vision

• Build and lead a multi-year global event strategy that aligns with Bentley's corporate priorities, go-to-market motions, and revenue targets.
• Transform decentralized events activities into a unified global function with consistent standards, measurement, and operating models.
• Serve as Bentley's senior expert on event portfolio strategyhosted, owned, third-party, partner, and virtual events.
• Responsible for

Portfolio Ownership

• Flagship Hosted Events: Annual Going Digital Awards, regional field event series, executive programs, and an expanded Bentley user conference
• Third-Party Events: Tiered global event portfolio across industries, regions, and strategic product areas.
• Virtual Events & Digital Experiences: Webinars, digital summits, product-launch events, on-demand libraries, and hybrid extensions of major shows.

Operational Excellence

• Build a world-class operating model that covers annual planning, quarterly prioritization, vendor management, and a unified production framework.
• Implement scalable systems, processes, and dashboards across planning, design, budgeting, creative, production, measurement, and field enablement.
• Introduce standardized processes across booth design, modular architecture, logistics, content workflows, and attendee experiences.
• Own and manage a global events budget of $1015M, ensuring optimal allocation of resources to maximize ROI and brand impact.
• Demonstrate fiscal responsibility and accountability, balancing innovation with cost efficiency to deliver world class experiences within financial parameters.
• Establish and monitor financial controls, forecasting, and reporting processes to maintain transparency and alignment with corporate objectives.
• Negotiate vendor contracts and partnerships strategically, driving value while safeguarding profitability.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner deeply with Product Marketing, Brand, Field, Sales Engineering, and Executive Leadership to ensure the events program supports product narratives, customer success storytelling, industry thought leadership, and pipeline goals.
• Act as a trusted advisor to C-level leaders on event strategy, ROI, customer engagement, and executive communications.

Team Building & Talent Development

• Build, mentor, and scale a global events team team members) across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC.
• Develop capabilities in strategic planning, program management, creative, production, field coordination, digital event operations, and analytics.
• Foster a culture of excellence, clarity, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Measurement & Impact

• Establish clear KPIs for each event typebrand metrics, pipeline metrics, attendance, engagement, customer satisfaction, and cost-per-outcome.
• Build a global event analytics capability to measure impact, optimize investments, and continuously refine the portfolio.
• Partner with Marketing Ops and Sales Ops on attribution, lead capture, follow-up orchestration, and ROI reporting.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in event strategy, corporate events, or experiential marketing, with at least 5+ years leading a global or large multi-regional team.
• Proven experience in large-scale B2B SaaS or enterprise software environments (Databricks, Salesforce, Cisco, Adobe, Oracle, Qualtrics, or similar).
• Demonstrated experience transforming event organizations through building process, systems, teams, and multi-year strategies at scale.
• Confidence and expertise planning and operational rigor: budgeting, vendor management, multi-program orchestration, and measurement.
• Experience leading multiple event formats: large conferences (5,000+ attendees), executive programs, global roadshows, top-tier trade shows, virtual summits, partner events.
• Strong executive presence and communication skills; comfortable advising C-suite and influencing cross-functional leaders.
• Experience implementing a multi-tier global event portfolio and modular booth architectures is a plus.
• High learning agility, collaborative leadership style, and a builder mindset.

What Success Looks Like

In the first 1218 months, the VP of Events will:

• Deliver a unified global events strategy with clear tiers, purpose, and investment levels.
• Improve pipeline contribution from third-party events through sharper targeting and follow-up rigor.
• Create scalable operations with consistent forecasting, workflows, vendor strategy, and a flexible booth architecture.
• Integrate virtual experiences into a consistent digital engagement model.
• Build a cohesive, high-performing global events organization that is energized, aligned, and executing with excellence.

Competencies (What "Great" Looks Like)

1. Strategic Thinking

• Designs multi-year, multi-tier event portfolio
• Connects events to corporate strategy, GTM, product launches, and pipeline needs
• Prioritizes ruthlessly

2. Operational Excellence

• World-class planner
• Implements scalable processes
• Deep experience with logistics, creative, production, budgeting

3. Leadership & Team Building

• Builds global teams
• Raises the bar for talent
• Coaches, develops, and creates followership
• Strong culture carrier

4. Executive Presence & Influence

• Confident with C-suite
• Synthesizes complex data into clear narratives
• Navigates cross-functional alignment

5. Financial Acumen

• Owns large global budgets
• ROI-focused
• Strong understanding of pipeline, measurement, and attribution

6. Bias for Clarity and Action

• Brings order to ambiguity
• Moves quickly without sacrificing quality
• Drives accountability across teams

Cultural Match for Bentley

• Thrives in transformation
• Systems thinker
• Highly collaborative across product, brand, campaigns, field, and sales
• Calm operator under pressure