Vice President of Brand Experiences, Culture & Events (Hybrid - 3 days per week onsite in Irvine, CA)
Overview:
We are seeking an experienced and dynamic individual to join our team as the Vice President of Brand Experiences, Culture & Events to help secure Weedmaps as the world’s most trusted source for all things cannabis globally. In this role, you will be responsible for developing and executing strategic brand experience initiatives across a variety of channels and managing a diverse portfolio of events. Your primary goal will be to enhance our brand image, cultivate customer loyalty, and drive revenue growth through engaging and memorable experiences.
The impact you'll make:
Brand Experience & Creative Strategy:
- Develop a comprehensive brand experience strategy that aligns with the company's vision, values, and target audience.
- Establish and communicate brand guidelines and ensure consistent brand representation across all touchpoints.
- Manage the overall creative manifestation of the Weedmaps brand.
- Oversee the brand creative strategy rooted in cannabis culture, consumer insights, competitive landscape and market opportunities.
- Collaborate with internal teams to integrate the brand experience strategy into marketing campaigns, product launches, and customer interactions.
Content & Social Media:
- Oversee a comprehensive content and social media strategy that aligns with the company's overall business objectives.
- Manage the company's brand voice, tone, and messaging.
- Ensure all content and social best represents the cannabis culture and aligns with the Weedmaps brand.
- Oversee the creation and production of a wide range of content including, but not limited to, blog posts, videos, infographics, and social media posts
Culture, Lifestyle & Event Management:
- Oversee event planning, including concept development, budgeting, venue selection, logistics, and post-event analysis.
- Manage a team responsible for event coordination, vendor management, and on-site execution.
- Develop creative event concepts that showcase the brand and create impactful experiences for attendees.
- Ensure compliance with local regulations and industry standards for cannabis-related events.
Stakeholder Engagement:
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including Marketing, Sales, Product Development, and Retail, to align brand experience initiatives with overall business objectives.
- Foster relationships with key industry influencers, strategic partners, and media to amplify brand presence and secure event partnerships.
Customer Engagement:
- Develop strategies to engage customers and enhance their brand experience throughout the customer journey.
- Leverage data and customer insights to personalize experiences, drive customer retention, and increase brand loyalty.
- Implement customer feedback mechanisms to continuously improve the brand experience.
Team Leadership:
- Lead and inspire a team of brand experience and event professionals, providing guidance, mentorship, and performance feedback.
- Foster a collaborative and inclusive work environment that encourages creativity, innovation, and professional growth.
- Develop and manage departmental budgets, ensuring optimal resource allocation.
- Industry Knowledge and Networking: Stay informed about industry trends, regulations, and best practices in event production and the cannabis industry, actively participating in industry conferences and networking events.
- Lead and manage a creative team, content and social, studio production, merchandising, social impact, and event managers/producers by providing guidance, support, and mentorship to help them develop their skills and achieve their goals.
What you've accomplished:
- Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Event Management, or a related field (advanced degree preferred).
- 15+ years of proven experience in brand management, event planning, and/or experiential marketing, preferably in the cannabis industry or other highly regulated industries.
- 5+ years in a senior leadership role.
- Strong understanding of brand positioning, consumer behavior, and market trends.
- Demonstrated success in developing and executing innovative creative strategy, brand experiences and events.
- Excellent project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, meet deadlines, and stay within budget.
- Strong sense of operational excellence: has the ability to drive performance in line with strategy, strong leadership and engagement skills, cultural fluency, vision, expertise in continuous improvement, knowledge of process transformation, and risk management.
- Exceptional leadership and team management abilities, with a track record of building and motivating high-performing teams.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate effectively with internal and external stakeholders.
- Knowledge of cannabis industry regulations and compliance considerations.
- Passion for cannabis advocacy, industry knowledge, and an understanding of the evolving cannabis landscape.
- Join our dynamic team and play a crucial role in shaping and elevating our brand experience in the fast-growing cannabis industry. Apply today and contribute to our mission of providing exceptional products and experiences to our customers.
Bonus Points:
- Excellent written and verbal communication, facilitation, and interpersonal skills.
- Excellent project management skills.
- Experience and passion for affecting culture change.
- Passionate/positive about the weed culture and movement.
- Experience working in the weed tech industry.
The base pay range for this position is $229,000.00 - $259,000.00 per year
2023 Benefits for Full Time, Regular Employees:
- Medical, Dental & Vision benefits (effective Day 1):
- Employee - employer paid premium 100%
- For plans that offer coverage to your dependents, you pay a small contribution
- Basic Life & AD&D - employer paid 1x salary up to $250,000
- 401(k) Retirement Plan (with employer contribution)
- Generous PTO, Paid Sick Leave, and Company Holidays
- Supplemental, voluntary benefits
- Family planning/fertility - including up to $10,000 towards cash-pay services
- Student Loan Repayment/529 Education Savings - including a company contribution of up to $1,000/year
- FSA (Medical, Dependent, Transit and Parking)
- Voluntary Life Insurance
- Critical Illness Insurance
- Accident Insurance
- Short- and long-term disability Insurance
- Pet Insurance
- Company-paid identity theft protection
- Legal services platform
- Paid parental leave
Why Weedmaps?
- You get an opportunity to shape the future of the cannabis industry
- You get to play a meaningful role that impacts the wellbeing of others
- Casual work environment, no fancy clothes required, but you are free to dress to the nines!
- Generous PTO and company holidays
- Numerous opportunities to learn and grow your professional skills
- Endless opportunities to network and connect with other Weedmappers through speaker series, Employee Resource Groups, happy hours, team celebrations, game nights, and much more!
Weedmaps is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions on the basis of merit. The Company prohibits unlawful discrimination against employees or applicants based on race (including traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture and protective hairstyles), religion and religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, military status, veteran status, uniformed service member status, sexual orientation, transgender identity, citizenship status, pregnancy, or any other consideration made unlawful by federal, state, or local laws. The Company also prohibits unlawful discrimination based on the perception that anyone has any of those characteristics, or is associated with a person who has or is perceived as having any of those characteristics. Our company uses E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, please visit www.dhs.gov/E-Verify.
Applicants are entitled to reasonable accommodations under the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act and applicable state/local laws, unless the accommodation presents undue hardship. Please email us at peopleoperations at weedmaps.com if you would like to confidentially discuss a potential accommodation during the interview process.
About Weedmaps:
WM Technology, Inc.’s (Nasdaq: MAPS) mission is to power a transparent and inclusive global cannabis economy. Now in its second decade, WM Technology has been a driving force behind much of the legislative change we’ve seen in the past 10 years.
Founded in 2008, WM Technology, is a leading technology and software infrastructure provider to the cannabis industry, comprising a B2C platform, Weedmaps, and B2B software, WM Business. The cloud-based SaaS solutions from WM Business provide an end-to-end operating system for cannabis retailers. WM Business’ tools support compliance with the complex, disparate, and constantly evolving regulations applicable to the cannabis industry. Through its website and mobile apps, WM Technology provides consumers with the latest information about cannabis retailers, brands, and products, facilitating product discovery and driving engagement with our retail and brand customers.
WM Technology holds a strong belief in the power of cannabis and the importance of enabling safe, legal access to consumers worldwide. Since inception, WM Technology has worked tirelessly, not only to become the most comprehensive platform for consumers, but to build the software solutions that power businesses compliantly in the space, to advocate for legalization, social equity, and licensing in many jurisdictions, and to facilitate further learning through partnering with subject matter experts on providing detailed, accurate information about the plant.
Headquartered in Irvine, California, WM Technology supports remote work for all eligible employees. Visit us at www.weedmaps.com.
Notice to prospective Weedmaps job applicants:
Our team has been made aware of incidents involving LinkedIn, Telegram, and Facebook accounts impersonating Weedmaps recruiters. These individuals are attempting to use our company name to solicit payment from prospective candidates interested in applying for jobs at our company. Our team is actively working to combat these attempts, but in the meantime, please be mindful of the following:
- Our recruiters will always communicate with candidates through an @weedmaps.com email address.
- CORRECT: jlebowski@weedmaps.com
- INCORRECT: jlebowski@gmail.com
- Our recruiters will NEVER ask for or attempt to solicit payment from applicants in order to apply, interview, or work for Weedmaps.
- If you are interested in a role at Weedmaps, please apply through our established channels.
- Weedmaps Careers Page or LinkedIn
If you are unsure if a communication is legitimate, please contact our recruitment team at talentops@weedmaps.com and they will happily confirm for you. Thank you for your vigilance and we appreciate your interest in working with us!
