Commercial Director - Vendor Partnerships - Exhibitions

As our Commercial Director - Vendor Partnerships, you will build and run Tahaluf’s non-space revenue engine - owning monetisation of all revenue streams beyond space sales. This is a senior, high-impact role responsible for creating new revenue streams, scaling them across the portfolio, and installing the governance and operating discipline required to deliver consistent, measurable profit contribution year-on-year.

What you will do

This role is a head-of-function, reporting into the VP, Production & Vendor Partnerships, with the remit to operate as a specialist commercial capability supporting event teams to grow non-space revenue without compromising exhibitor experience.

Key Responsibilities

1) Build the non-space revenue strategy

• Define and deliver the non-space revenue strategy and roadmap across Tahaluf’s portfolio (services, vendor programmes, and attendee-related monetisation).
• Identify, prioritise, and launch new revenue streams beyond space sales, turning commercial opportunities into repeatable, scalable models.

2) Own commercial outcomes and execution

• Own an annual non-space commercial target (set internally) and deliver against it through structured planning, execution, and reporting.
• Develop category-level commercial plans and ensure each event team has clear routes to monetisation that are practical, compliant, and executable.

3) Create scalable partnership models

• Build partnership frameworks and programmes that drive revenue while improving exhibitor outcomes (clear value exchange, clear rules, clear accountability).
• Establish commercial guardrails that protect rate integrity and ensure consistent application across events.

4) Governance, optimisation, and commercial discipline

• Implement commercial governance over non-space revenue streams to ensure:
  • strong performance management
  • consistent reporting cadence
  • commercial compliance and transparency
  • prevention of leakage and value loss
• Drive optimisation of non-space commercial performance, ensuring programmes remain attractive, competitive, and profitable.

5) Revenue tracking and reconciliation

• Build the end-to-end revenue tracking, reporting, and reconciliation process for non-space streams.
• Create dashboards and routines that give leadership clear visibility of performance, risks, and upside opportunities.

6) Team build and leadership

• Build the Vendor Partnerships commercial team from scratch (approx. ~6 people), including capability design, hiring, ways of working, targets, and performance culture.
• Lead and develop a high-performing team with a commercial mindset, high standards, and strong stakeholder management.

7) Stakeholder leadership across the business

• Work cross-functionally across event/portfolio leadership, operations/exhibitor services, sales, finance, legal, marketing, and ticketing/product functions to build alignment and deliver results.
• Act as a commercial partner to event teams — enabling them with programmes, tools, partners, and governance that make monetisation easier and outcomes more predictable.

Decision Rights & Authority

• Owns day-to-day commercial terms and vendor decisions, escalating only major/strategic deals where appropriate.
• Works in partnership with Finance and Legal to ensure commercial structures are robust, compliant, and enforceable.

What Success Looks Like (KPIs)

The Commercial Director will be measured on:

• A) Non-space revenue growth
• B) Profit / margin contribution from non-space streams
• C) New revenue streams launched and scaled
• G) Adoption/conversion to preferred partner programmes where relevant
• E) Rebate capture / leakage reduction / reconciliation accuracy