Event Planner: Sports & Community Programming

Hi! We're SPARK Social

We activate outdoor spaces through food, events, and vibrant shared experiences. Our venues bring communities together through food trucks, beer/wine gardens, games, and dynamic programming.

SPARK Social San Jose is a brand-new location in the Creekside neighborhood near Diridon Station. Unlike our established sites, this park is in its audience-building era. Events are not just programming, they are the primary engine for:

• Word-of-mouth
• First-time visitation
• Habitual return visits
• Community opinion of our business

This is an outdoor venue, and the work happens at the intersection of hospitality, production, and community life.

Job Description

As an Events Planner, you will design and host high-energy, sports-adjacent, game-based, and competition-driven events that bring all demographics of people together through movement, teamwork, local pride, and playful competition. This role blends event production with the spirit of athletics, recreation, and community energy.

This role blends strategy, logistics, partnership development, and on-the-ground hosting. You are not only producing events. You are using events as a vehicle to build our audience and drive the foot traffic needed to ensure our success in San Jose, turning first-time visitors into regulars.

You will work traditional business hours for planning and coordination, and attend events on evenings and weekends as part of your regular 40-hour work week (not in addition to it).

This IncludesEvent Creation & Strategy

• Creating sports viewing parties, tournaments, leagues, competitions, fitness programming, game nights, and interactive social experiences
• Pitching event ideas to leadership, sponsors, and partners
• Designing programming that builds rituals and repeat visitation, revenue, press interest, and community engagement
• Staying tapped into San Jose trends, community conversations, and cultural moments

Partnerships & Sponsorships

• Identifying partners that expand reach, credibility, offerings, or revenue, like local businesses, nonprofits, creators, and community groups
• Helping partners see participation as a win for them and delivering on that promise. We have an all-boats-rise standard for events

Production & Logistics

• Coordinating all event details with food vendors, bar team, park staff, performers/talent, and other vendors and contributors
• Managing event copy, timelines, layouts, permitting, budgets, and production logistics
• Ensuring your event planning does not create downstream friction for other teams via clear documentation, realistic timelines, and strong cross-team communication
• Providing clear creative direction and event messaging inputs for the Marketing team, who will promote events via email, social, press, and community channels

On-Site Event Leadership & Hosting

• Leading day-of logistics and staffing
• Welcoming and coordinating guests, sponsors, partners, and vendors
• Acting as a facilitator and host when needed, bringing high, positive, team-captain energy to events and rallying guests into participation so events come alive

Documentation, Records, Insight, and Growth

• Maintaining organized partner/vendor directories, resources, and event documentation
• Tracking production details (equipment, timelines, staffing, layouts) to support other teams
• Following up after events to document outcomes, learnings, and data that enable the team to measure impact, troubleshoot issues, spot opportunities, and continuously improve ROI, guest experience, and production quality

About You

High-Energy Host – You bring enthusiasm and momentum into group environments.

Sports-Fluent – You understand sports culture, competition psychology, and how to translate that into community experiences.

Team Builder – You love creating environments where people cheer, play, and connect.

Highly Organized – You manage multiple moving parts without dropping details.

Community-Minded – You understand different stakeholders’ perspectives and know how to build buy-in.

A Natural Connector – You seek partnerships that increase reach, credibility, and value for all parties.

Culturally Aware – You keep your finger on the pulse of what’s happening in San Jose.

Proactive – You anticipate issues before they become problems.

Calm Under Pressure – Events are high-energy and time-sensitive.

Collaborative – You work as part of a team, not in isolation.

Comfortable Outdoors – This is an outdoor venue and on-site role.

Background & Experience

• Experience in sports programming, recreation, fitness events, leagues, tournaments, game facilitation, or competitive social events
• Experience planning events or programming in an office environment, not just supervising execution
• Interest in community programming, sports culture, and local trends
• Spanish is required. Additional languages are a plus.

Schedule

• Full-time
• On-site hybrid: 4 days on site, 1 day WFH
• Planning during business hours
• Events occur evenings/weekends as part of the regular work week

How We Measure Success

Success in this role is defined by your ability to create events that are well-produced, financially sound, and community-impactful.

We look at:

• Attendance & RSVPs
• Park, bar, and vendor revenue
• Profitability & production efficiency
• Sponsorship participation
• Guest, vendor, and partner satisfaction
• Press and influencer engagement
• Community goodwill and neighborhood response
• Brand impact and audience growth

Real Talk

Events are joyful for guests and intense for producers. You’ll often work while others are celebrating, which means frequently giving up your nights and weekends. If helping create those experiences feels meaningful to you, you’ll thrive here.

Compensation & Benefits

Salaried: $65,000 – $68,000 annuallyAfter 90 days of employment, Sick Pay, Health Insurance, 401k, Pre-Tax Transit, and Paid Time Off are available to full-time employees.

Application & Interview Timeline

Apply by February 16

Interviews: Feb 16–19

Start date: Early March

Interview Process & Work Sample

As part of our interview process, select candidates will complete a brief work sample designed to understand their creativity, event strategy, and communication approach.

This exercise is for evaluation only. All ideas and materials you present remain your intellectual property and will not be used by SPARK Social.

You do not need to submit a work sample right now. Our team will provide instructions later in the interview process.

Equal Opportunity

We are an equal opportunity employer and consider all qualified applicants equally without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or disability status. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Pay: $65,000.00 - $68,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Paid time off

People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply

Work Location: In person