Event Operations and Experience Manager at Zearn in New York, NY

The Purpose of Zearn

Zearn is the nonprofit educational organization whose mission is to inspire all kids to love learning math. Everything we do is driven by our belief that every kid is a math kid.

Our top-rated learning platform is designed to catch kids up and move them forward in grade-level math. And it works. Large-scale efficacy research shows students who use Zearn make significant gains in math proficiency, including the students who start multiple grade levels behind.

As a nonprofit, all of our work is driven by what is best for kids. At the same time, we operate as an intense and fast-moving technology company, inclusively solving hard problems that will impact current and future generations. The problems we solve require expertise in teaching, learning science, software development, design, video production, and countless other disciplines. As an organization that is always stretching to get to the next level of impact, every single person owns mission-critical work.

If you’re ready to join our Team of problem solvers, and own work that will drive us to achieve impact at scale, we are looking for you.

Learn more about us at https://about.zearn.org/.

The purpose of the Event Operations and Experience Manager role at Zearn is to bring Zearn’s team member experience to life by delivering impactful programs and events across the employee lifecycle. In this role, you will execute against touchpoints that define our culture, ensuring that every gathering, from in-person company-wide offsites to monthly virtual updates, is intentional and a high-impact reflection of our operating principles. By fostering a sense of belonging and shared purpose, you will play a critical role in sustaining our high-performance culture as Zearn continues to scale and evolve. This is achieved by:

Producing intentional all-hands Summit and team experiences that strengthen connection and belonging for all team members.

• Lead the end-to-end execution of Zearn's in-person full Team Summits (currently bi-annual), ensuring every operational detail contributes to a seamless, high-impact team member experience from planning through onsite delivery.
• Own the operational infrastructure that powers every company Summit experience by coordinating venue logistics, hotel accommodations, AV, materials, transportation, registration, and all access-dependent logistics.
• Lead all aspects of onsite event execution, partnering with the Director of People and team to ensure operational details come together seamlessly and participants have an exceptional experience.
• Partner with session owners, presenters, vendors, and internal teams to anticipate needs, solve problems before they arise, and deliver experiences that feel well designed and polished.
• Manage vendor relationships, contracts, event budgets, and payment milestones to ensure strong partnerships, clear accountability, and responsible financial management.
• Coordinate logistics and execution for functional team in-person gatherings, ensuring teams have the structure and support needed for a productive time together.
• Coordinate logistics to produce Zearn Updates and other organization-wide virtual meetings that connect team members to Zearn’s strategy and impact.

Bringing Zearn's culture to life through curated team member experiences and moments of connection.

• Execute the programs and touchpoints that reinforce Zearn's culture across the team member lifecycle, ensuring every interaction reflects our operating principles and helps team members feel connected, recognized, and valued.
• Own the execution of meaningful moments of connection and celebration, including but not exclusive to: work anniversaries, holiday gifting, personal team member milestones, and onboarding welcomes, that strengthen belonging and reinforce our shared identity.
• Partner with the Director of People on the identification, testing, and scaling of new team member experiences that deepen connection and bring our culture to life as Zearn continues to grow.
• Support and evolve Slack communities and other remote connection opportunities that help team members build relationships, celebrate one another, and stay connected between larger company experiences.
• Experiment with Generative AI and new communication tools to optimize touchpoints throughout the team member life cycle (i.e., onboarding, offboarding) to create a unified team member experience.

Operationalizing best practices to create scalable, high-impact team member experiences.

• Develop and maintain repeatable playbooks, processes, and best practices that support seamless execution of team-wide experiences from pre-planning through post-event closeout.
• Gather feedback, analyze learnings, and share insights with stakeholders to identify opportunities for continuous improvement across events, programs, and communication touchpoints.
• Continuously improve processes, documentation, communications, and post-event closeout practices to build efficient, scalable event operations.
• Stay informed on emerging trends and research in team member experience, events, and remote-first culture to bring new ideas and approaches to Zearn's programming.

The Next Problems for this Role to Solve

• What does it take to ensure every team gathering, whether in person or remote, is meaningful, seamlessly executed, and reflective of our operating principles and cultural identity?
• How can we operationalize team-wide, in-person events from pre-planning through execution in a way that optimizes resources?
• What experiences or memorable moments can we sustainably execute that honor our team’s contributions and demonstrate our sincere appreciation??
• How can the People Team ensure every team member touchpoint, from onboarding through offboarding, serves our audience by reflecting intention, and anticipating needs in order to effect change or drive outcomes?

Skills You Bring to the Table

• Intentional Orchestrator: You are a master of logistics who sees the impact of every detail on the team member experience. You proactively identify gaps and design solutions before they are requested to ensure every event is seamless and purposeful.
• Culture-Building Experience Creator: You understand how carefully crafted moments strengthen connection and belonging. You bring care and creativity to the touchpoints that celebrate milestones, reinforce culture, and help team members feel recognized and valued.
• Operational Excellence Builder: You build and refine the processes, systems, and playbooks that allow experiences to scale. You continuously test, improve, and operationalize ways of working that maximize resources, create consistency, and enable high-quality execution.
• AI-Curious Experimenter: You are energized by exploring Generative AI and emerging technologies to improve how you work. You enjoy testing new tools and approaches, using AI to streamline repetitive tasks so you can focus more time on designing thoughtful, high-impact team member experiences.
• Managing Projects for a Group: You bring clarity to complex work by managing projects at multiple altitudes, from defining milestones and coordinating cross-functional stakeholders to driving day-to-day execution. You know when to zoom out to align priorities and when to dive into the details that keep work moving forward.

Potential Markers of these Skills

• 4+ years of demonstrated experience project managing complex company events, ideally for organizations in the 150-300 team member range.
• A proven track record of designing and executing successful virtual events that drive high engagement and cultural connection.
• Experience using Generative AI to streamline workflows, optimize communication touchpoints, or analyze team member feedback.
• Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple vendors and complex budgets while maintaining a focus on the creative "experience" side of event ops.
• Commitment to Zearn’s mission and a desire to build a culture that enables everyone to do their best work.

This is an Individual Contributor Role

• Title: Event Operations and Experience Manager
• Reports to: Director of People

How We Work

• We aim to create a numeracy movement. This is no easy feat, and no one of us can solve this on our own. Given that, Zearn is a transparent, collaborative, and open-to-feedback culture.
• Our work is often collaborative in nature:
  • We own our deliverables in close collaboration with others
  • We communicate openly, and share early thinking and drafts often
  • We seek ways to create and improve systems, and work with each other to contribute thinking in both asynchronous and synchronous discussions.
  • We create a sense of community through regularly sharing context so we can collectively solve problems to drive Zearn’s velocity.

Location

This role is remote and can be performed in any of the following states/locations:

CA, CT, FL, IL, LA, MA, MD, NC, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI and Washington D.C.

Travel

This role requires travel for Zearn’s biannual Team Summits, with additional travel as needed to support event planning and execution.

Compensation & Benefits

The compensation range for this role is $85,000 - 105,000 per year.

We offer a competitive benefits package, including comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans, short- and long-term disability, life insurance, 401K matching, parental leave, and a generous PTO policy. We also offer a collegial and passionate culture and the potential to positively impact the lives of millions of children.

To Apply: https://apply.workable.com/j/D911A3D0A3

Zearn is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit, and business need.