City Activation Lead

About the Role

We're hiring a City Activation Lead to own and scale Bounce's owned inventory strategy across our launch metros. This person will be responsible for building the programs that help Bounce activate cities: clinics, camps, competitions and social events. The goal is to create a repeatable playbook where Bounce partners with clubs and coaches, fills courts with players, generates revenue, and builds demand in each market. This is not a traditional events role. It is a city growth role. You will use programming as a lever to grow players, prove demand to clubs, create repeatable revenue, and build the foundation for future offerings.

What You'll Own

Owned Inventory Strategy

You will design, launch, and optimize Bounce-owned programming formats across priority cities, including:

• 101: beginner-friendly intro clinics across pickleball, padel, and tennis
• Racket Social: social-first play experiences for young professionals and active adults
• Youth Clinics & Camps: junior programming that helps clubs reach parents and families
• Leagues, ladders, round robins, and open play
• Other formats that create repeat player engagement and marketplace liquidity

You'll decide which formats to launch, where to launch them, how to price them, and how to measure success.

Club + Coach Partnerships

You will work with clubs and coaches to secure inventory and execute programs, including:

• Negotiating court access, especially off-peak time
• Structuring revenue-share or hybrid guarantee deals with clubs
• Recruiting coaches and hosts to run sessions
• Creating clear operating expectations for each program
• Ensuring clubs see Bounce as a demand engine, not just a listing platform

City Launch Execution

You will help determine how owned inventory supports city activation. That means identifying where we need controlled programming to create demand, fill marketplace gaps, and give players a reason to register through Bounce. You will work closely with the Product, Growth and CX teams to ensure that all programs are supported by:

• Marketplace listings
• City newsletters
• Facebook group/community promotion
• Social media content
• Paid acquisition where appropriate
• Post-event follow-up and retention flows

Unit Economics + Reporting

You will be responsible for making owned inventory economically viable. You'll track:

• Registrations
• Fill rate
• Revenue per event
• Court/coach/host costs
• Gross margin
• CAC payback
• Repeat attendance
• Referral behavior
• Club satisfaction
• Coach satisfaction

The goal is to understand which formats are worth scaling and which should be killed quickly.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and manage Bounce's owned inventory roadmap
• Launch and operate recurring city programs
• Negotiate court access and revenue-share structures with clubs
• Recruit coaches, hosts, and local operators
• Set pricing and capacity assumptions
• Coordinate marketing support across newsletter, social, Facebook groups, and paid
• Own event/session performance reporting
• Improve program formats based on data and feedback
• Build SOPs so owned inventory can scale beyond founder-led execution
• Work cross-functionally with product, growth, and partnerships

Ideal Candidate

You may be a fit if you:

• Have experience running local events, sports programming, fitness/community programming, or marketplace city launches
• Are comfortable negotiating with venues, clubs, coaches, and local operators
• Think like an operator and a growth person, not just an event planner
• Can manage messy logistics while still focusing on unit economics
• Are highly organized, resourceful, and hands-on
• Understand how to create a great customer experience
• Can build repeatable systems from manual early-stage experiments
• Are comfortable owning outcomes, not just tasks

Bonus Points

• Experience in early stage startups, particularly marketplaces
• Experience in tennis, pickleball, padel, fitness, youth sports, or local recreation
• Experience with ClassPass, ZogSports, Volo, Meetup-style communities, fitness studios, leagues, or local marketplace operations
• Experience building programs for beginners, families, or young professionals
• Comfort with paid acquisition, CRM, or community-driven growth
• Existing relationships with racket sports clubs/coaches in NYC, Florida, Texas, or California

Why This Role Matters

Owned inventory is one of Bounce's most important growth levers. It gives us something tangible to market, creates player registrations directly on Bounce, brings new players into partner clubs, gives coaches paid opportunities and future clients, and helps prove that Bounce can generate real demand. Long term, this role helps build the foundation for Bounce to become more than a discovery marketplace. It helps Bounce become a platform that actively creates participation, owns recurring player demand, and powers new revenue through programs and partnerships.