Essence Festival Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Department: Live Events

Reports To: Executive Producer/Vice President, Live Events

Location: Remote, USA 

Position Type: Full-time / Salaried / Exempt

Supervises: N/A

Estimated Travel: 20 - 30%

SOLOMON GROUP

Join Solomon Group’s Live Events team and help create high-profile, one-of-a-kind events and experiences. Whether planning and executing exceptional custom brand activations or large-scale fan events, the team provides innovative productions, best-in-class consumer engagement, and world-class fan experiences. Solomon Group’s Live Events team is responsible for all aspects of live events, including concepting and ideation, budgeting, production and operations, activation execution, and fulfilling on-air look-ins and integrations.  The group also works closely with sponsors and activation agencies to ensure seamless partner integration into the events.  In the past year, the team has produced events, fan experiences, and brand activations at NCAA Men’s and Women’s Final Four, Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup, NFL Draft, College Football Playoff, NHL Winter Classic, MLB All-Star, and Essence Festival.

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Manager will play a key role on the Live Events team focusing on both client management and brand activation execution at live experiences managed by Solomon Group.  The role combines client relationship management, creative activation development, and live event execution.  The ideal candidate is equally comfortable leading sponsor strategy discussions, collaborating with creative and production teams, and managing activations onsite.  They will oversee projects from initial concept through onsite execution, ensuring every event delivers against business objectives, elevates brand presence, and creates meaningful attendee engagement.

Within the partner management-focused responsibilities, this role will collaborate with internal event teams, outside agencies, and brand partners to ensure activation builds seamlessly integrate into Fan Fests, Music Festivals, and other Solomon Group-managed events.  Leading efficient weekly client calls, communicating clear benchmarks and deadlines, and strategically addressing challenges will be essential to success.

Within the activation-focused responsibilities, this role will work with brand partners, creative teams, and producers to create impactful, turnkey activations for clients at consumer-focused fan events.  Leading client discussions around activations ideas, collaborating with creative teams to build out concepts, creating decks to pitch concepts, and executing the agreed upon vision will all be part of the key responsibilities.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Account / Partner Management

• Serve as the primary point of contact for brand partners and agencies integrating into events while building trust through responsive communication
• Lead recurring client calls, establish project priorities, communicate milestones, and ensure alignment across stakeholders
• Manage approval processes for creative, branding, and operational plans
• Compile and track requests from brands and agencies and ensure confirmed requests are delivered
• Ensure sponsor obligations and partners deliverables are met
• Build and maintain deep relationships with clients and key stakeholders to understand client goals and anticipate future needs
• Lead discovery sessions, planning calls, and align objectives with measurable outcomes
• Develop and manage timelines, budgets, and staffing plans
• Coordinate with internal and external groups to determine operational and technical needs based on client objectives
• Guide development of branding and content while ensuring alignment between brand voice, messaging strategy, and experiential design
• Partner with creative and marketing teams to shape narrative, messaging, and audience journey
• Responsible for budget development, management and reconciliation of complex budgets (often $500K–$2M+)
• Participate in team brainstorming and ideation sessions for new business and RFP responses. Assist team members with ideating, research and executing activations for other projects.

 Brand Activation Management 

• Build and maintain deep relationships with clients and key stakeholders to understand client goals and anticipate future needs
• Lead discovery sessions, planning calls, and align objectives with measurable outcomes
• Develop and manage timelines, budgets, and staffing plans
• Coordinate with internal and external groups to determine operational and technical needs based on client objectives
• Guide development of branding and content while ensuring alignment between brand voice, messaging strategy, and experiential design
• Partner with creative and marketing teams to shape narrative, messaging, and audience journey
• Responsible for budget development, management and reconciliation of complex budgets (often $500K–$2M+)
• Participate in team brainstorming and ideation sessions for new business and RFP responses. Assist team members with ideating, research and executing activations for other projects. 

EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS:            

• 4+ years of experience leading sponsor activation programs from concept through execution
• Ability to balance creative development with operational execution
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including experience presenting concepts, leading client meetings, and building executive-level presentations
• Understanding of production, staging, and AV technologies
• Proven experience forecasting, managing and reconciling budgets of $1mm+
• Ability to evaluate activation success and identify opportunities to improve future partner experiences
• Exceptional attention to detail and organizational skills
• Ability to multitask and be highly productive in a fast-paced environment
• Excel in a dynamic team, and can communicate effectively to a variety of stakeholders
• Strong work ethic and an ability to quickly learn new skills and adapt to a variety of event environments
• Comfortable being on video for virtual meetings
• Experience in corporate meetings and conferences (e.g., sales meetings, leadership summits, conferences, investor events)
• High level of proficiency in Microsoft Office products, including MS Teams, Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Willingness and ability to travel up to 20 – 30% of the year, including weekend and holidays

BENEFITS:  

• Health Insurance with Employer Contribution  
• Dental, Health, Vision  
• Employer-Provided Life Insurance  
• Flexible Paid Time Off  
• 401K with employer match  
• Supplemental Benefits  

ABOUT SOLOMON GROUP  

www.solomongroup.com  

Solomon Group uses its unique art to bring stories to life through Live Events, Exhibits, and Environments for a wide variety of national and international clients. For Live Events, we blend creative, design, and production that delivers effective, award-winning events. For Exhibits and Environments, we use our art of integrating exhibit fabrication with AV technology, offering a single-source solution that delivers unparalleled craftsmanship with efficiency.  

OUR CULTURE: 

Solomon Group prides itself on our values and dedicates ourselves to living them daily. For more information on what we’re made of, see our culture page: www.solomongroup.com/culture. 

Apply today and find your great career opportunity as a leader on the Solomon Group team!

www.solomongroup.com

Solomon Group is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for candidates and employees regardless of their membership in protected classes. Solomon Group does not discriminate based on race, color, age, national origin, sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, and pregnancy), religion, physical or mental disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, and/or any other legally protected class under applicable federal, state, or local laws. This anti-discrimination policy applies concerning all employment decisions, including but not limited to hiring, promotion, discipline, and discharge. Solomon Group is committed to equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in compliance with the Americans Disabilities Act and state law. If you feel you need accommodation for a disability, please inform us. Accommodation requests will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. If you request an accommodation, you must participate fully in the interactive process.