Event/Field Marketing Manager

ABOUT ARENA INTELLIGENCE

Arena is the platform for evaluating how AI models perform in the real world. Founded by researchers from UC Berkeley's SkyLab, we're on a mission to measure and advance the frontier of AI for real-world use, and to build the foundation for everyone to understand, shape, and benefit from it.

Tens of millions of people use Arena each month to evaluate how frontier systems handle the work they actually do. The preferences they share power the most transparent, rigorous, and human-centered evaluations in AI. Leading AI labs, enterprises, and independent researchers rely on our work and open datasets to understand how models behave in real workflows: agentic coding, creative generation, professional productivity, and beyond. We go beyond leaderboards and decompose what human experience reveals about AI, so models advance toward the work people actually do.

We're a team of researchers, academics, builders, and creatives from UC Berkeley, Google, Stanford, and DeepMind. We seek truth, move fast, and value craftsmanship, curiosity, and impact over hierarchy. We're building a company where thoughtful, curious people from all backgrounds can do their best work together, in an office culture that radiates excellence, energy, and focus.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Arena is looking for an Event/Field Marketing Manager to bring Arena to life in person. Our community of millions is mostly online, and the people who rely on our evaluations (AI researchers, developers, creative professionals, and the teams at leading labs and enterprises) gather at a handful of events each year. In this role, you will own how Arena shows up in those rooms and create new ones of our own, from community meetups in the Bay Area to a major presence at the industry’s biggest conferences.

As a key member of the growing Marketing team, you will work closely with Product Marketing, Community, Research, Comms, and Partnerships. Your work will turn Arena’s credibility online into relationships offline: new users who become regular voters, researchers who trust our methodology, and enterprise and lab contacts who become customers and partners.

This is a hands-on, high-ownership role in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. You will plan, run, and measure events end to end, while preserving the scientific rigor, transparency, and community-first spirit Arena is known for. We believe evaluation should be grounded in real usage and shaped by the people who rely on AI every day. This role is for someone who can turn that belief into events and field programs people remember and talk about.

RESPONSIBILITIES

- Own Arena’s event and field marketing strategy, including the annual calendar, budget, and goals for brand awareness, community growth, and pipeline.

- Plan and run Arena-hosted events end to end, such as community meetups, model-launch gatherings, researcher and developer dinners, workshops, and VIP experiences, with a focus on the Bay Area.

- Lead Arena’s presence at AI research and industry conferences, including sponsorships, booths, side events, speaking slots, and on-site team coordination.

- Build repeatable playbooks for event planning, vendor and venue selection, run-of-show, staffing, and follow-up so Arena can scale its events program without losing quality.

- Partner with Community and Product Marketing to align events with product launches, major model releases, and campaigns, and to give attendees clear ways to engage with Arena afterward.

- Work with Partnerships and Sales to identify target accounts, labs, and enterprise contacts for events, and to design experiences that move those relationships forward.

- Translate Arena’s evaluation methodology and community into event content, talks, demos, and on-site experiences that are accessible without losing rigor.

- Manage event budgets, contracts, vendors, venues, swag, and travel logistics.

- Capture and repurpose event content (photos, video, on-site interviews, recaps, social posts, emails) in coordination with Comms and Community.

- Define and track success metrics such as attendance quality, user activation, pipeline influenced, and sentiment, and report on what worked and what to change.

REQUIREMENTS

- 5+ years of experience in event marketing, field marketing, or experiential marketing, ideally at a tech company in AI, developer tools, SaaS, or data-driven products.

- Must be based in, or willing to relocate to, the SF Bay Area, and willing to work on-site at our downtown office.

- Track record of planning and executing events of different sizes, from intimate VIP dinners to large conference programs, on time and within budget.

- Experience managing budgets, vendors, venues, and contracts, with strong attention to detail and logistics.

- Experience marketing to technical audiences such as researchers, engineers, and developers, and the instincts to build events they want to attend.

- Ability to measure event performance and connect it to business outcomes such as community growth, user activation, and pipeline.

- Excellent communication skills across written, verbal, and visual mediums, and comfort representing Arena in person to a high-caliber audience.

- Comfort operating in ambiguity and iterating quickly in an early-stage, fast-moving environment. Attention to detail and organization are critical.

- A proactive, self-directed work style with strong ownership and prioritization skills.

- Willingness to travel for conferences and events, and to work some evenings and weekends when events require it.

- Willing to be first on the ground at event venues, handling freight and shipment receiving, sponsorship item setup, and other hands-on logistics, often independently.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

- Experience with AI or machine learning conferences, research communities, or developer events.

- Background in communities, platforms, or products with network effects.

- Experience hosting events for enterprise or executive audiences alongside Sales or Partnerships teams.

- Familiarity with event attribution, lead capture, and follow-up workflows.

- Experience explaining scientific methodology and complex systems to target audiences.

- Familiarity with key software tools and software (such as Notion, Google Drive, Luma, Figma, etc.) a huge plus.

- Prior startup experience is a big plus.

WHAT WE OFFER

- We offer competitive compensation aligned to the markets where our team members are based. The compensation range for each role is listed on its posting and will depend on the candidate's experience and work location.

- Comprehensive health and wellness benefits, including medical, dental, vision, and additional support programs.

- The opportunity to work on cutting-edge AI with a small, mission-driven team

- A culture that values transparency, trust, and community impact

Come help build the space where anyone can explore and help shape the future of AI.

Arena Intelligence provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetics, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. We are committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce and welcome people from all backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and abilities.