VP, Audience Development

ARENA SNK, Inc•Beverly Hills, CA

2h•$270,000 - $320,000

About The Position

The VP of Audience Development leads The Arena’s audience growth and engagement strategy across social, community, creators, and earned channels. Reporting to the President, Marketing & Brand, this role builds a thriving social ecosystem that positions The Arena at the intersection of gaming, anime, and action-adventure fandoms. The role combines strategic leadership with expertise in digital platforms, content, and fan culture to drive audience acquisition, engagement, retention, and monetization. The VP will help establish The Arena as a cultural voice and destination for fans, converting audience passion into measurable brand and business impact. This is a hands-on leadership role in a fast-moving, lean team environment. The VP sets strategy while directly supporting execution, building partnerships, and turning ambitious ideas into impact.

Requirements

15+ years of experience in audience development, social, or digital marketing.
7+ years leading and building internal and external teams at an entertainment, gaming, anime, media, or culture brand.
Proven record of growing and monetizing communities on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, Discord, and other digital platforms.
Deep fluency in gaming, anime, and creator culture.
Experience building and managing creator or ambassador programs.
Hands-on experience with social listening and analytics, and comfort owning KPIs and budgets.
Entrepreneurial spirit, ability to thrive in ambiguity and move quickly, and ability to alternate between strategic leadership and hands-on execution.
Experience working with high-profile talent.
Creative production experience.

Nice To Haves

Global or multi-market experience.

Responsibilities

Own and execute The Arena’s global audience development strategy across brands, franchises, platforms, and markets, aligning growth and engagement objectives with business goals.
Grow reach and engagement through organic social, creators, platform partnerships, collaborations, and paid amplification.
Partner with Marketing to convert followers into owned audience relationships through CRM, community, and membership platforms.
Lead The Arena’s brand and franchise social channels, overseeing internal teams, agencies, and freelancers to develop growth and engagement programs, identify monetization opportunities, and build long-term fandom.
Develop The Arena’s digital tone of voice and ensure cultural relevance and platform-native execution across channels.
Build strategic relationships with digital platforms to maximize content distribution, discoverability, and growth.
Partner with Publicity, entertainment partners, and talent to amplify announcements, launches, and cultural moments.
Build and activate the creator and ambassador ecosystem to drive audience growth, cultural relevance, and fan participation.
Develop programs that turn fans into active communities and advocates through engagement, user-generated content, events, and co-creation.
Own community health, sentiment, and engagement standards, partnering with Communications on sensitive issues and fan-facing messaging.
Partner with the content team on creator-driven, direct-to-consumer content formats.
Partner with the COO/EVP of Digital Content to develop and execute a platform-native long-form content slate, including YouTube long- and short-form content and formats such as podcasts.
Develop audience monetization opportunities through platform revenue programs, creator partnerships, and integrated social offerings, supporting sponsorship and commercial partnerships.
Own audience measurement frameworks and reporting across growth and audience KPIs, including Monthly Active Fans, Community Health Index, engagement, CRM growth, community health, and commercial impact.
Drive continuous testing and optimization across content, channels, and creators; share performance insights, competitive intelligence, and recommendations with executive leadership.
Translate audience insights, platform trends, and performance data into content opportunities, formats, and distribution strategies, and share actionable audience insights with content teams.
Own audience development budgets, tools, and resources, building efficient, scalable processes suited to a fast-moving startup.
Collaborate across Brand, Content & Production, Product, Talent, Commerce, Sales, and Communications to drive integrated audience growth and business impact.