Live Events Director

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Develop Chess.com's strategy for live events and establish a long-term vision for the event portfolio.

• Determine how events can enhance audience growth, community engagement, brand visibility, content creation, partnerships, and revenue generation.

• Formulate an annual roadmap that includes competitions, fan experiences, company gatherings, premieres, partner activations, and innovative concepts.

• Act as the principal event leader for significant experiences such as the Speed Chess Championship Finals.

• Combine creative, competitive, broadcast, content, hospitality, and operational elements into cohesive plans.

• Collaborate with creative and content leaders to shape event concepts, along with developing budgets, schedules, teams, and production plans.

• Manage the master event plan, physical run of show, space utilization, programming, activations, and content capture.

• Facilitate coordination among internal teams and external partners around a unified plan.

• Source, assess, negotiate, and oversee venues, hotels, agencies, fabricators, and production vendors.

• Cultivate a reliable global network of venues and production partners.

• Create and oversee event budgets, monitor expenses, manage reconciliation, and navigate financial and contractual processes with Finance and Legal.

• Establish success metrics related to attendance, fan experience, content performance, community growth, partner value, revenue, and brand impact.

• Assist with live experiences across Chess.com, including premieres, creator tournaments, fan zones, partner events, and courtside chess sets.

• Set benchmarks for hospitality, staffing, communication, and the overall experience for attendees and crew.

• Implement tools, roles, approval processes, budget models, production standards, and conduct post-event reviews.

• Assess new formats, markets, and partnerships, including conventions, festivals, and touring concepts.

• Report to the VP, Media & Content and collaborate closely with the sports Commissioner.

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 10 years of experience in executing major live events.

• Strong background in live, experiential, and/or broadcast production.

• Experience in a lead role for complex events centered around broadcast, content, or competition.

• Ability to navigate between long-term strategy, executive communication, and detailed execution.

• Proven track record of managing large event budgets, including forecasting, vendor negotiation, contracting, and reconciliation.

• Experience in sourcing and operating venues, hotels, and production partners across various markets or countries.

• Strong creative judgment paired with operational expertise.

• Experience in leading teams and collaborating with external partners without direct reporting authority.

• Excellent communication skills and an ability to foster alignment in a fully distributed organization.

• Calm and decisive leadership in changing conditions and when information is limited.

• A strong sense of ownership and genuine concern for team members.

• Willingness to travel internationally several times a year and work occasional weekends or nontraditional hours as needed for events.

• Particularly beneficial: experience in esports, sports, music, entertainment, gaming, or large-scale brand experiences.

• Particularly beneficial: experience with fan conventions, festivals, expos, or other audience-centric event formats.

• Particularly beneficial: experience in managing production agencies, fabricators, technical vendors, and local crews.

• Particularly beneficial: experience in establishing an events function or developing new event concepts from inception.

• Understanding of how live events, broadcast, social content, creators, partnerships, and community growth interconnect.

• A curiosity for chess and enthusiasm for innovating ways for people to engage with the game together.

• No need to be a strong chess player.

• Applicants must be located in the United States.

🏝️ Benefits

• Fully remote work environment.

• Opportunities for international travel as required.

• Chance to build and lead an internal team as the live event portfolio expands.

• Mission-driven, flat organizational culture that celebrates life, free from corporate constraints.