There are a lot of options.
Are you creating a custom content type for some related purpose? You can specify an event receiver to operate on your custom content type while you're making the definition.
Are you creating a custom list template instance? You can give the type a custom id and bind your event receiver to lists of that id.
A feature receiver can execute code for you when you Activate or Deactivate the feature. You can pick the list (based on name, type, url, whatever) at this time. Use the web.config to hold values if necessary.
Use any of the tools mentioned in the related post pointed out by KodeKreacher which range from custom console app to available tools you can get from the web. Keep in mind all of these tools (that I can see) require the code to be run on the SharePoint server. Your admin might want a heads up on what you plan to do so s/he can appropriately try to roadblock you.