Senior Events Program Manager - Speaker Engagement and Content Curation (Global Events Team)

About the role

We're looking for an experienced Senior Project Manager to step into a role spanning the full Semrush events portfolio. You'll own content programming, speaker strategy, and program curation across multiple events. You'll be the person who knows who's speaking where, what topics are trending, which speakers deliver and which don't, and how Semrush shows up as a thought leader at every event it touches.

Responsibilities

• Spotlight: Program Strategy & Content Curation
• Define and execute the conference program strategy across 15+ content tracks
• Curate session topics, angles, and descriptions that align with attendee expectations and industry trends across two keynote stages
• Manage the Advisory Board: facilitate topic ideation, speaker profile validation, content review sessions, and program strategy alignment with internal and external SMEs
• Own the content review process: brief speakers, coordinate draft submissions, provide structured feedback, and run final rehearsal calls before the event
• Oversee Mastermind sessions: develop facilitator toolkits, provide additional support to speakers, etc
• Implement improvements based on attendee and speaker feedback data from previous editions
• Cannes Lions: Semrush Programming & Activations
• Develop and execute the content strategy for Semrush's presence at Cannes Lions, including hosted sessions, panels, fireside chats, and branded activations
• Source and secure speakers for those activations
• Coordinate with Semrush's marketing and brand teams to ensure programming supports broader brand positioning and partnership goals at the festival
• Manage the end-to-end speaker experience at Cannes: outreach, briefings, content development, on-site logistics coordination, and post-event follow-up
• Broader Events Portfolio & Cross-Event Strategy
• Manage speaker and content programming for Semrush's participation in regional marketing events, partner conferences, and sponsored industry activations
• Maintain a centralized speaker database and pipeline across all events
• Coordinate with Semrush's teams to ensure consistent thought leadership messaging across all external speaking engagements
• Support Semrush team members preparing for external speaking opportunities: deck review, messaging alignment, and rehearsal support
• Manage end-to-end speaker communications across the portfolio: outreach, negotiation, onboarding, briefings, technical requirements, and post-event feedback collection
• Build and nurture long-term relationships with speakers
• Coordinate with event producers and sponsorship managers on logistics and program while maintaining ownership of content quality and program fit
• Analyze attendee survey data and speaker feedback ratings across all events to inform programming decisions
• About you
• Move together. Raise the bar. Learn fast-grow faster. That's the default. And here's what else is needed to succeed in this role:
• 5+ years of experience in conference program management, content curation, or editorial leadership across multiple concurrent events
• Proven track record of scouting and securing high-profile speakers from major global brands for both owned events and third-party conference appearances
• Deep knowledge of the digital marketing ecosystem: SEO, content marketing, social media, AI/martech, performance marketing, brand strategy, and creative advertising
• Experience with the Cannes Lions ecosystem or similar tier-1 creative/marketing festivals - understanding the audience, the format expectations, and the speaker caliber required
• Familiarity with the search marketing conference circuit (SMX, BrightonSEO, MozCon, or similar) and the key players in the SEO/SEM speaking community
• Experience managing Advisory Boards or editorial committees for event programming
• Strong editorial judgment: you can review a keynote deck and identify gaps in logic, structure, audience fit, and storytelling
• Excellent relationship-building skills with C-level executives, marketing leaders, and industry influencers
• Outstanding organizational skills: you thrive managing 100+ speaker relationships simultaneously across multiple events while maintaining content quality standards
• Experience building and implementing AI workflows to streamline, auto

Additional Information

Semrush is a brand visibility platform, empowering marketers to command their online presence and create measurable impact. We unify SEO authority and AI visibility, so brands are found, cited, and chosen everywhere search happens. That's how Semrush gained the trust of over 28 million users-from scaling startups to Fortune 500 companies. Here, you own the way you work, but we move as one unbeatable team. We don't just lead the market, we're busy creating the world where Semrush is an unfair advantage for every marketer. We move fast in ways to help you grow. Here, you have room to experiment, keep what works, and learn quickly from what doesn't. Ready to share our ambition and make an impact? Then, this role may be for you.

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