Event & Field Marketing Manager (Fractional)

Job description

Government technology has failed the public for decades, and Americans have been conditioned to expect websites from the 90s for essential public services. Kaizen exists to strengthen trust in American public services by building technology that residents and public servants are proud to use. We partner with local, state, and federal agencies to replace legacy systems with modern, AI-native software that is worthy of the people they serve. We started in outdoor recreation, and now we're building toward something much larger — the software layer that powers how Americans access any government service. Our platform reaches 55 million Americans across 50+ agencies. Our goal: build technology that touches the lives of 100 million residents by the end of the year. Founded in 2022 and based in New York City, Kaizen has raised $35 million from NEA, a16z, Accel, 776, and Carpenter Capital. We're builders, designers, and operators who believe that beautifully designed software shouldn't be a luxury in government. It's how you earn trust back. BEFORE YOU APPLY... This is Kaizen's first dedicated events hire, and it's a build role. Our events have been run part time alongside other responsibilities. We have a conference presence, a set of shows we return to, and a handful of rooms that have worked well, but no owner and no playbook. You'll set the strategy, own the calendar and the budget, and be accountable for what the program produces. The center of the role is the federal conference circuit: the Washington-area shows and agency-facing conferences where our federal buyers gather, the field motion that surrounds them, and the executive dinners and briefings we run alongside them. State and municipal events sit underneath the federal calendar rather than beside it. Kaizen-hosted events are a real ambition and you'll scope what we should own, but that work follows the circuit rather than leading it. Events at Kaizen are a growth function, measured against pipeline and qualified meetings rather than attendance. Our buyers are public servants, and how we show up in a room is a direct statement about the quality of what we build. Politics is not a criterion at Kaizen: we don't screen for ideology, and we expect you to build trusted relationships on both sides of the aisle. ENGAGEMENT, LOCATION & TRAVEL This is a contract role, not a full-time position, roughly 10 hours per week. Extension and conversion to full-time are both on the table. Location is remote with a preference for New York City based candidates. You'll report to the Business Operations team and work closely with Design, Sales, and our cofounders. WHO YOU ARE - You've built an events program rather than inherited one, owning the strategy, the budget, the vendor bench, and the measurement - You know the federal conference landscape, or you'll learn it quickly, and you can tell a show that draws program offices and CIOs from one that only draws vendors - You have strong taste and can defend it. You've walked a venue and known it was wrong, and you've ended a sponsorship everyone assumed would renew - You think in pipeline rather than attendance, and you've defended an events budget with something more rigorous than photos and a headcount - You're comfortable in the operational detail: shipping, badge scans, AV failures, staffing, and the seating chart that determines whether a dinner works - You're credible with senior government audiences, from a two-star Army general to an agency CIO to a contracting officer - You manage vendors, agencies, and production partners by directing their output rather than depending on it - You thrive with high autonomy in ambiguous, fast-moving environments, and you self-generate the agenda rather than waiting for one - You're AI-pilled and default to these tools in your daily workflows - You're emotionally intelligent, thoughtful, and empathetic toward public sector missions WHAT YOU'LL DO - Own Kaizen's events strategy end-to-end. Build and run the annual calendar, anchored to the federal buying year: fiscal year-end, agency budget windows, and the conferences where our buyers actually show up - Decide where Kaizen shows up and where it doesn't. Evaluate conferences and sponsorships, negotiate levels and booth placement with organizers, and be willing to walk away. A defensible no matters as much as a good yes - Own our physical presence. Booth design, demo staging, collateral, and swag that match the caliber of the product, along with the vendors and production partners who build them - Run the field motion alongside sales. Account targeting, pre-event outreach, on-site meeting scheduling, team travel and staffing, and the follow-up that determines whether the show produced anything - Own the satellite program around major shows. Executive dinners, agency roundtables, and closed-door briefings, most of them in Washington, where the highest-value conversations often happen off the show floor - Land Kaizen leadership on stage and in the content. Speaker placement, panel submissions, and awards in partnership with Brand & Storytelling and Government Affairs, with photo, video, and customer story capture planned into the run-of-show - Scope and build Kaizen-hosted events. Define what we should own, whether a summit, a dinner series, or a recurring briefing, and determine whether we host it outright or co-host with a govtech company, consulting firm, or systems integrator - Own the budget and the reporting. Manage spend and tradeoffs across the program, and build reporting with BizOps that ties events to pipeline, qualified meetings, and cost per meeting - Navigate federal ethics rules. Gift and hospitality limits vary by agency and shift again at the state and local level. Work with Legal to design programs that are both generous and compliant WHAT YOU'LL BRING - 5-15 years in events, experiential marketing, or field marketing, with direct ownership of strategy and budget rather than execution alone - Demonstrated experience owning a conference circuit: which shows to commit to, what a sponsorship is worth, how a booth gets built, and how the week runs - Experience running events for federal or public sector buyers is a significant advantage, as are relationships with the Washington venues, producers, and association organizers who make things happen - A track record of building an events program up from part-time or fractional coverage - Experience partnering with sales on targeting and follow-up, and comfort being measured against pipeline - Experience producing owned events such as dinners, roundtables, and summits alongside conference work - Excellent written and verbal communication; comfortable drafting invitations, event briefs, run-of-show documents, and executive prep for senior audiences - Sound judgment under time pressure and public visibility WHAT KAIZEN OFFERS Health & Insurance - 100% coverage across the board: medical through Oxford/United (Gold and Platinum PPO plans), dental through Guardian PPO, and vision through Beam — all fully covered for employees, with 100% coverage for dependents. - $100,000 in fully paid life insurance. FSA and Dependent Care FSA. - One Medical membership, on us — same-day primary care, 24/7 virtual visits, and offices all over the city. - Fertility and family-building support through Carrot. - 401(k) through Guideline, with a 2% company match. Family & Time Off - 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave for birthing parents. 10 weeks fully paid for non-birthing parents. - Unlimited PTO, with a two-week minimum (we mean it when we say take time off!) - Closed for all federal holidays. - Company-wide winter break the week of Christmas. - Company offsites throughout the year. Office & Remote Setup - Up to $750 one-time home office or desk setup stipend for NYC-based employees. $500 for remote employees. - $50/month commuter benefit (company contribution). - Expensed lunch while in the office. - Company-provided laptop of your choice. Wellness - Fully covered gym membership at Grindhouse https://grindhousemhttn.com/ — right across the street from our office at 47 W 17th St (and in Williamsburg). A $225/month value, on us. For remote employees, $100/month dedicated to gym or physical fitness reimbursement. Stipends - $100/month utility stipend. - $500/year professional development. - $250/year recreation. - $300/quarter pet care stipend.