Event Specialist
San Francisco
Who We Are
General Catalyst is a global investment and transformation company that partners with the world’s most ambitious entrepreneurs to drive resilience and applied AI. We support founders with a long-term view who challenge the status quo, partnering with them from seed to growth stage and beyond. With offices in San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Berlin, Bangalore, and London, we have supported the growth of 800+ businesses, including Airbnb, Anduril, Applied Intuition, Commure, Glean, Guild, Gusto, Helsing, Hubspot, Kayak, Livongo, Mistral, Ramp, Samsara, Snap, Stripe, Sword, and Zepto.
About the Role
We are seeking a highly organized and proactive Event Specialist to join our team. This role will primarily focus on planning, organizing, and executing events, including dinners, happy hours, networking events, etc., across a variety of sectors and stages. This role will also assist in the planning and execution of large-scale summits and activations at third-party events. This is an exciting opportunity to develop event management skills in a fast-paced and collaborative environment while working with a global investment and transformation company. This role is based in San Francisco.
Responsibilities
- Investor-Led Events:
- Partner with investors to plan and execute small, intimate gatherings such as dinners, roundtables, and networking events.
- Support end-to-end execution of investor events, including dinners, happy hours, roundtables, and networking events.
- Manage logistics, including venue selection, vendor selection, menu planning, audience management, guest communications, event setup, breakdown, and on-site support and troubleshooting.
- Ensure all events align with GC’s brand, quality, and strategic goals.
- Manage all event documents (timelines, budgets, run of show, etc.).
- Manage post-event surveys, reporting, and data management.
- Provide on-site support for all investor-led events.
- Industry Events:
- Assist our events team with the execution of GC’s participation in major third-party conferences and gatherings.
- Manage registration, travel logistics, and materials preparation for team members as needed.
- Flagship Events:
- Collaborate on planning and executing large-scale summits for portfolio founders, operators, and industry leaders.
- Support pre-event research, attendee communications, and on-site execution.
- Support the team with guest management
- Learn and assist in creative programming, vendor management, and event evaluation.
- Operational Support:
- Act as project manager for all investor events.
- Maintain detailed briefs, timelines, budgets, and project plans for events.
- Develop and track post-event feedback to improve future events.
- Build relationships with vendors, venues, and other external partners.
- Help manage all event materials, inventory, and storage unit.
- Manage event platforms and ensure guest lists are being kept up to date.
Requirements
- 3–5 years of experience in event planning, operations, marketing, or related fields.
- Strong organizational and multitasking skills, with attention to detail.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- A proactive, problem-solving mindset with a willingness to learn.
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment and collaborate with cross-functional teams.
- Comfortable working in-office (3 days/week), supporting evening events, with occasional travel.
Preferred Experience
- Familiarity with event management software and tools (Gatsby, Affinity, Google Sheets, Canva, Figma).
- Experience in or passion for the venture capital or startup/tech ecosystem.
- Previous hospitality and/or marketing experience is not required, but is a bonus.
- Experience in community building or management is not required, but is a bonus
What We Offer
- Competitive compensation and benefits package.
- Opportunity to work with a dynamic, mission-driven team.
- Exposure to a global network of innovative founders and companies.
- Career development and mentorship in event management.
If you’re excited about building exceptional experiences and learning from a world-class team, we’d love to hear from you!
General Catalyst is an equal-opportunity employer.
General Catalyst embraces our responsibility to create a sense of belonging for all races, identities,
genders, and backgrounds across our industry. We are committed to diversifying our industry in terms of both investors and the founders we back.
Skills Required
- 3-5 years of experience in event planning, operations, marketing, or related fields.
- Strong organizational and multitasking skills, with attention to detail.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- A proactive, problem-solving mindset with a willingness to learn.
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment and collaborate with cross-functional teams.
General Catalyst Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about General Catalyst and has not been reviewed or approved by General Catalyst.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is considered competitive, particularly for senior investing and engineering roles and in key locations such as New York, San Francisco, and Cambridge. Higher compensation bands in these areas and functions indicate strong market alignment.
General Catalyst Insights
What We Do
General Catalyst Partners is a venture capital firm that makes early-stage and transformational investments. The firm backs exceptional entrepreneurs who are building innovative technology companies and market leading businesses, including Airbnb, BigCommerce, ClassPass, Datalogix, Datto, Demandware, Gusto (fka ZenPayroll), The Honest Company, HubS
