Director of Events and Experiences

Perplexity; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Perplexity is seeking a Director of Events to lead our global events portfolio, from hosted experiences to speaking engagements and sponsorships. You will own the strategy, production, budget, and team building, ensuring events align with Perplexity’s product and brand.

This role requires shaping the calendar, driving measured outcomes, and being on-site for key gatherings. The ideal candidate has 12+ years in events, a track record of large budgets and executive programs, and the ability to

Qualifications

• 12+ years producing events, including large hosted events, sponsorships, and field programs.
• Has built or led an events team.
• Has owned large budgets, agency relationships, and vendor contracts.
• Has negotiated sponsorships and knows a bad deal when they see one.
• Has run an executive speaking program: selecting stages, preparing speakers, managing the day.
• Knows production: run of show, staging, AV, registration, staffing, security, permits.
• Drives measurement. Has built event attribution and tracked brand sentiment, and reports what each event returned.
• Can partner with Sales, Product, Comms, Brand, Finance, Legal, and executives.
• Power user of AI tools. Most of your work already runs through them, and you can show us how.

Responsibilities

• Own events. Hosted, speaking, sponsored. Strategy, budget, production, results.
• Set the calendar. Decide which events we run, which we speak at, and which we skip.
• Produce hosted events. Launches, dinners, summits, roadshows. Concept, programming, venue, vendors, run of show.
• Run the speaking program. Pick the stages. Prepare the speakers.
• Manage sponsorships. Negotiate terms, design our footprint, and account for the spend.
• Run field events with Sales. Get the right customers in the room. Make sure someone follows up.
• Be Perplexity. Our events should look and feel like our product. Work with Brand and Creative on every one.
• Lead the team. Equal parts IC and manager.
• Build the system. Playbooks, event tiers, intake, vendors, agencies, budgets.
• Measure. Attendance, coverage, pipeline, signups. Know which events worked and stop doing the ones that didn't.
• Be on site. For the events that matter, you are in the room.

Skills

Event leadership

Budget management

Sponsorship negotiation

Vendor management

Executive speaking program

Measurement & attribution

Cross-functional collaboration

AI tools proficiency

Job description

Perplexity is seeking a Director of Events to own our events worldwide: the ones we host, the stages we speak on, and the ones we sponsor. You will set the strategy, run production, manage the budget, and build the team. If you have produced a flagship and a dinner in the same week, know what a good sponsorship deal looks like, and want to build an events function from the ground up, this role is for you.

Responsibilities

• Own events. Hosted, speaking, sponsored. Strategy, budget, production, results.

• Set the calendar. Decide which events we run, which we speak at, and which we skip.

• Produce hosted events. Launches, dinners, summits, roadshows. Concept, programming, venue, vendors, run of show.

• Run the speaking program. Pick the stages. Prepare the speakers.

• Manage sponsorships. Negotiate terms, design our footprint, and account for the spend.

• Run field events with Sales. Get the right customers in the room. Make sure someone follows up.

• Be Perplexity. Our events should look and feel like our product. Work with Brand and Creative on every one.

• Lead the team. Equal parts IC and manager.

• Build the system. Playbooks, event tiers, intake, vendors, agencies, budgets.

• Measure. Attendance, coverage, pipeline, signups. Know which events worked and stop doing the ones that didn't.

• Be on site. For the events that matter, you are in the room.

Qualifications

• 12+ years producing events, including large hosted events, sponsorships, and field programs, ideally in-house at a technology company.

• Has built or led an events team.

• Has owned large budgets, agency relationships, and vendor contracts.

• Has negotiated sponsorships and knows a bad deal when they see one.

• Has run an executive speaking program: selecting stages, preparing speakers, managing the day.

• Knows production: run of show, staging, AV, registration, staffing, security, permits.

• Drives measurement. Has built event attribution and tracked brand sentiment, and reports what each event returned.

• Can partner with Sales, Product, Comms, Brand, Finance, Legal, and executives.

• Power user of AI tools. Most of your work already runs through them, and you can show us how.

• Based in San Francisco or New York. Willing to travel internationally.