NASA Science Meeting Manager
Hands-on meeting planner/manager with a strong technical aptitude. This position requires effective time management, attention to detail, and strong oral and written communications skills. The successful candidate will be a quick learner, proactive problem solver, and good negotiator.
This is a unique and rewarding opportunity for a meeting professional with a desire to travel and curiosity about the scientific world. It provides the opportunity to regularly interact with NASA officials and highly respected scientists from around the world, and to support their research, including climate science, by facilitating NASA-sponsored meetings in the US and overseas.
The Meeting Manager/Coordinator is a contractor position, through Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, to work in the NASA Earth Science Project Office (ESPO) at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. This is not a remote position, but the team does telework for a portion of the week.
Job duties will include but not be limited to:
● Work with stakeholders to define meeting parameters, agendas, and expectations
● Take notes during planning meetings, establish list of deliverables and deadlines
● Comply with government regulations for meetings and conferences
● Develop meeting budgets, pay invoices and track all accounting
● Request proposals from convention and visitors bureaus, hotels, and vendors as needed to source venues and services
● Negotiate contracts and provide detailed information for delivery, set up, BEOs, etc.
● Communicate meeting and destination information via web pages, emails, signage, etc.
● Set up registration forms, including abstract submissions for oral and poster sessions
● Collect presentation files and load onto meeting laptop
● Pack and ship materials and selected equipment
● Design, print, and distribute badges
● Travel to meeting destinations; some weekend and holiday travel and/or work will be required, as well as some long work days
● Set up and actively manage hybrid meetings including presentations, AV, coffee service, poster sessions, etc.
● Post presentations and/or recordings online as needed after each meeting
● Plan and/or support planning efforts for six to ten events per year, including meetings and symposiums for up to 300 attendees
● Support ongoing communications for multiple established groups/mailing lists
Candidate strengths and experience should include:
● Writing clear, concise communications
● Excellent organizational skills
● Proven ability to meet deadlines
● Sourcing meeting destinations, venues, and vendors
● Negotiating hotel and other contracts
● Specifying, setting up, and operating AV equipment
● Creating web pages
● Managing mailing lists and databases
● Proficiency with office software (Office 365, Google Suite including Forms)
● Creating simple graphic designs
● Power user of virtual meeting platforms including Teams and Webex; hybrid meeting experience preferred
● Computer and network savvy; Mac OS experience strongly preferred
Additional required qualifications:
● A minimum of five years of experience planning, coordinating, and executing meetings
● Current US Passport, or eligibility to immediately apply for US Passport
● Must be able to pass personal background checks for working with a variety of government agencies
● Ability to lift 25 pounds
Additional preferred qualifications:
About ESPO
The Earth Science Project Office (ESPO) at NASA Ames Research Center is a group of success-oriented individuals providing project management for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Earth Science Division. We provide planning, implementation, and post-mission support for large, complex, multi-agency, domestic, and international field campaigns. ESPO has led over 60 successful field campaigns since 1987. We support several of the NASA Earth Science Division’s programs, including Upper Atmosphere Research, Tropospheric Chemistry, Radiation Sciences, Weather and Atmospheric Dynamics, Ocean Biology and Biochemistry, Airborne Science, and the Earth System Science Pathfinder Program.
