Director of Festival Events (Chicago)

Rate is a fintech company with a wellness brand and we're going big with it. Nationwide outdoor events, 2,500 to 10,000 attendees, built to put our commitment to wellness in front of real communities instead of in a brand deck.

Here's the thing we're not looking for someone who wants to learn how to do this. We're looking for someone who's already done it. Festival-scale crowds, city permits, weather calls, medical and security plans, and the kind of 4 a.m. problems that only experience prepares you for. You've been there.

And you get that an event is more than a footprint and a schedule. Rate has a vibe fast, competitive, a little loud, genuinely fun. The right person feels that immediately and builds events that sound like us. Anyone can put up a stage. We want someone who knows exactly what this company should feel like when 10,000 people show up.

What you'll own

The national calendar — Which markets, how many events, what each one has to accomplish. Built around where our brand needs to show up, not where it's easiest to get a permit

The build — Site design, staging, vendor village, activations, registration flow, and the hundred decisions that make a field feel like an experience

The hard stuff — Municipal permitting, road closures, crowd management, EMS and security planning, insurance, and weather contingency. The parts nobody thanks you for until you need them

The numbers — Registration, turnout, participant satisfaction, earned media, sponsor value, brand lift. You build the scorecard and take it to the exec team

What you bring

• 8+ years producing large-scale public events
• Real experience at 2,500+ attendees — races, festivals, mass-participation or public brand events. Come ready to walk us through your best one and what nearly went wrong
• Municipal permitting fluency. You've sat across from a parks department and a police department and gotten to yes
• Crowd management, medical, and security planning experience, including working with local EMS and public safety
• Contract negotiation with production companies, staging and rental vendors, security firms, and municipalities
• Multi-market experience — you've run the same event in different cities and know why that's harder than it sounds
• Genuine comfort with weather, permits falling through, and vendors no-showing. Steady when it goes sideways, because it will
• Taste. You know the difference between an event that's organized and an event people post about

Nice to have

• Endurance, fitness, or wellness event experience race production especially
• Sponsorship sales or activation background
• Sustainability and waste-diversion planning at scale
• Experience with registration and timing platforms
• CMP or CSEP certification

Applications are accepted for the next 30 days.

The company offers a comprehensive benefits program to eligible employees, including eligibility to participate in a company-sponsored 401(k); vacation benefits; eligibility for medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug benefits; flexible benefits (e.g., healthcare and/or dependent day care flexible spending accounts); life insurance and death benefits; critical care insurance; personal accidental insurance; commuter benefits; pet insurance; certain time off and leave of absence benefits; well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program); and other supplemental benefits (e.g. legal planning assistance; identity theft protection; pet insurance; wellness resources).

To apply, please submit your resume and application via LinkedIn.

Please click to learn more about our benefit offerings for Washington State;

Rate is an Equal Opportunity Employer that welcomes and encourages all applicants to apply regardless of age, race, sex, religion, color, national origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital or parental status, ancestry, citizenship status, pregnancy or other reason protected by law