Head of Production & Operations (Westport)

Head of Production & Operations

Westport, Connecticut (on-site) | Full-time

JLB Search has been retained by an early-stage sports video and software company to hire its Head of Production & Operations. This is a founding team hire with real ownership of a business line from day one.

About the company

Starlight works with high school sports recruiting events to film them to broadcast standard, giving players and teams better footage for college recruitment. That film goes straight into their recruiting platform, which is used by athletes, club directors and college coaches. They recently closed a seed round and are looking to grow.

They are scaling from a handful of events to 50 to 75 a year, with several events running across different markets on the same weekend. This role is responsible for making that happen.

The role

In season (Summer and Fall) you'll run the events side of the business. In the off-season (Winter and Spring) you'll focus on customer acquisition.

Contractor network

• Recruit, onboard and train a national bench of local videographers and event managers, hired market by market rather than one travelling crew
• Build the structure for each market: event director, transport and logistics, and film crew

Live production

• Run event execution across elevated camera setups
• Own the full equipment lifecycle: purchasing, moving kit between events and regional storage, maintenance, loss and replacement
• Be on site during peak season, roughly 2 to 4 weekends a month

Event partnerships

• Manage relationships with existing event operators, and source and close new ones
• Handle venue requirements, COIs and on-site logistics

Platform

• Co-lead go-to-market strategy with the CEO to bring on teams and college coaches

What you'll bring

• 2+ years running live event production, field operations or multi-site logistics
• Experience hiring and managing distributed contractors or crews
• Hands-on confidence with camera and A/V equipment
• Happy to be on a field in July and in a spreadsheet on Monday
• A valid driver's licence, clean record, and ability to travel and do physical setup
• Bonus: a youth or club sports background, knowledge of the lacrosse world, or early-stage startup experience

Package

• Base salary of $70,000 to $80,000
• 2.5% to 5.0% equity (4-year vest, 1-year cliff)
• Annual base increases of 3% to 8%

This is a small team, and whoever takes this on will own a whole business line, not a small part of one.

To find out more, apply here or message Dan Burke at JLB Search directly.

All conversations are treated in confidence.