Overview
We’re seeking a highly organized, strategic, and proactive Senior Project Manager with significant trade shows and event experience to lead complex projects for major brands across trade shows, events, digital platforms, and experiential activations.
The Senior Project Manager serves as the internal hub for execution between Creative, Client Services/Account Management, Production, Operations, and external partners. This role is responsible for keeping complex, high-visibility projects moving forward, ensuring teams are aligned, risks are anticipated, and every detail is managed from concept through on-site execution and closeout. We’re a team of creatives, strategists, project managers, and builders who believe great work starts with strong relationships and smart thinking. In this role, you’ll work with leading brands, manage sophisticated programs and experiences, and help shape the future of trade show and experiential marketing. Job Description Storylink is a brand engagement agency located in the Twin Cities. We design and build custom brand engagement exhibits, digital assets, events, and activations. Our company culture is rooted in our values and a growth mindset. If you thrive in a growing, dynamic team environment and possess a strong desire to succeed, we would love to meet you. This role reports to the Director of Project Management. As a Senior Project Manager, you thrive in fast-paced, collaborative environments and confidently manage both the big picture and tactical day-to-day execution. You’ll take ownership of key accounts, complex trade show programs, events, and large-scale activations, guiding cross-functional teams from concept through execution. You’ll be expected to bring strong industry knowledge to the role and confidently navigate the complexities of trade shows and live events. You’ll partner closely with Account Management while building strong working relationships with clients, vendors, production partners, and internal teams. This is a high-impact role for someone who is proactive, collaborative, adaptable, and comfortable leading through complexity. The ideal candidate excels in creative problem solving, change management, relationship building, and anticipating challenges before they impact the project. Job Type: Full-time THIS IS A FLEXIBLE HYBRID POSITION - Must be local to the Twin Cities metro area and able to travel to/from our Maple Grove, MN work site weekly.
- Travel is required based on project and client needs, including travel for trade shows, events, installations, and other on-site execution.
Core Values Storylink is grounded in our Core Values of being: - Proactive
- Committed to Excellence
- Creative Problem Solvers
- Dedicated to Partnerships
Duties & Responsibilities - Lead complex, high-visibility trade show, event, and experiential projects from planning through execution and closeout.
- Serve as the primary internal point of contact for project execution across Creative, Digital, Production, Operations, Client Services, and other internal teams.
- Take ownership of key accounts and projects for large, complex organizations, including Fortune 500 clients.
- Act as a project leader, keeping momentum high, teams aligned, and quality of work consistently excellent.
- Partner closely with Account Management to ensure the appropriate level of client engagement while maintaining clear ownership of internal project execution.
- Build trusted, professional relationships with clients, vendors, general contractors, production partners, and other external stakeholders.
- Confidently lead project-related conversations with clients and vendors, including discussions involving timelines, budgets, logistics, scope, production, and issue resolution.
- Develop estimates and partner with Account Management on statements of work (SOWs), ensuring project scopes are clear and aligned with client and project goals.
- Build and manage comprehensive project timelines with interdependencies across creative, engineering, production, graphics, digital, logistics, and on-site execution.
- Oversee the end-to-end project management process, including timeline development, resource planning, task coordination, production, show services, logistics, and closeout.
- Manage multiple complex projects and workstreams simultaneously while maintaining visibility into priorities, deadlines, dependencies, and deliverables.
- Monitor project progress, anticipate risks and delays, and drive resolution through proactive planning, communication, and collaboration.
- Identify scope changes and partner with Account Management to ensure changes are documented, estimated, communicated, and approved appropriately.
- Coordinate external vendors and partners, ensuring expectations, deadlines, deliverables, and project requirements are clearly communicated and met.
- Own the internal routing of creative and production assets, managing review and proofing processes for accuracy, clarity, and deadlines.
- Partner with Account Management and Finance to monitor project budgets, billing, invoice tracking, and overall budget health.
- Support and oversee on-site execution as needed, including installation, show/event delivery, and dismantle.
- Remain calm and solutions-focused when managing last-minute changes, production challenges, and on-site issues.
- Contribute to continuous improvement of project management processes, tools, and best practices across the organization.
Required Qualifications The following experience is required for this Senior Project Manager role: - 5+ years of project management experience, with demonstrated responsibility for complex, client-facing projects.
- Agency experience within the trade show, experiential, event, or creative production industry.
- Professional trade show experience, including demonstrated knowledge of trade show production, logistics, show services, installation/dismantle, and on-site execution.
- Professional event experience, including management of live events, experiential activations, or similarly complex event-based programs.
- Experience managing multi-show programs or portfolios for large corporate clients.
- Significant client-facing experience, with the ability to communicate confidently and professionally with client stakeholders at multiple levels.
- Significant vendor-facing experience, including managing external production partners, suppliers, service providers, and other project vendors.
- Demonstrated ability to lead complex, cross-functional projects with multiple workstreams, stakeholders, dependencies, and deadlines.
- Strong understanding of experiential and trade show production workflows.
- Experience developing and managing project estimates, scopes, timelines, and budgets.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills with the ability to anticipate challenges and drive solutions.
- Ability to operate effectively in a fast-moving, deadline-driven environment while managing multiple concurrent projects.
- Strong attention to detail with a high degree of ownership and accountability.
- Proficiency with project management and business management tools such as NetSuite, Workfront, Smartsheet, or similar platforms.
- Ability and willingness to travel for client projects, trade shows, events, and on-site execution.
Nice to Have - Experience with digital integrations such as touchscreen applications, AR, interactive technology, or branded digital content.
- Experience with digital production, multimedia production, video, websites, or social media.
- Experience mentoring or supporting the development of other Project Managers or project team members.
What We Offer - Competitive base salary
- Flexible hybrid work environment
- Opportunities for career growth in a fast-paced, creative environment
- Access to a passionate, collaborative team of strategists, creatives, project managers, and makers
- The opportunity to work on exciting, award-winning projects for leading brands
Exhibit Partners LLC, {DBA Storylink and Storylink Creative} is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to creating a diverse and inclusive company culture. We do not discriminate against candidates because of disability, sex, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, age, veteran status, or any other protected status under the law.
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