VP, Audience Development Greater Los Angeles, CA Area

JOB TITLE: VP, Audience Development

REPORTS TO: President, Marketing & Brand

COMPANY: The Arena

LOCATION: West Hollywood, CA

COMPANY OVERVIEW:

The Arena is an independent studio creating global franchises inspired by the worlds of gaming, anime, and event action. With a world-class executive team, robust financing, and deep access to top-tier IP, it is uniquely equipped to build a modern fandom ecosystem. The Arena is a space for and by fans. It engages and expands committed fanbases through an always-on model of offerings, including premium film and television, robust social media communities and content, experiential events, and consumer goods. The Arena is committed to artistic ambition and excellence across its slate of blockbuster films and event series. Producing and financing projects made alongside renowned filmmakers and breakout talents, it aims to blend prestige-level quality with franchise scale, doing justice to some of the world's most beloved properties and their fans.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

The VP of Audience Development will lead The Arena's audience growth and engagement strategy across social, community, creators and earned channels. Reporting to the President of Marketing & Brand, this role is responsible for building a thriving social ecosystem that positions The Arena authentically at the intersection of gaming, anime and action-adventure fandoms.

Combining strategic leadership with deep expertise in digital platforms, content and fan culture, the VP will drive audience acquisition, engagement, retention and monetization. The goal is to establish The Arena as a leading cultural voice and destination for fans, turning audience passion into measurable brand and business impact.

As part of a fast-moving environment, this role requires someone equally comfortable setting the vision at 20,000 feet and rolling up their sleeves to make it happen. We're looking for an entrepreneurial, culturally connected and data-driven leader who can think strategically, move quickly and execute hands-on. Someone who thrives in a lean team, builds strong partnerships and knows how to turn ambitious ideas into real impact.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Audience Strategy

• Own and execute The Arena's global audience development strategy across brand, franchises, platforms and markets, aligning growth and engagement objectives with broader 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 across CRM, community and membership platforms.

Social & Platforms

• Lead The Arena's brand and franchise social channels, building and overseeing internal teams, agencies and freelancers to develop growth and engagement programs, identify monetization opportunities and build long-term fandom.
• Expand established brand tone into The Arena's tone of voice across the digital ecosystem, ensuring cultural relevance and platform-native execution. Each channel should be a clear, focused and single-minded representation of The Arena brand.
• Build strategic relationships with key digital platforms to maximize content distribution, discoverability and growth opportunities.
• Partner with Publicity, high-profile entertainment partners and talent to amplify major announcements, launches and cultural moments, establishing The Arena as a trusted and credible entertainment partner.

Creators & Fandom

• Build and activate The Arena's creator and ambassador ecosystem as a core driver of audience growth, cultural relevance and fan participation.
• Develop programs that turn fans into active communities and advocates through fan engagement, UGC, events and co-creation.
• Own community health, sentiment and engagement standards, partnering with Communications on sensitive issues and fan-facing messaging.
• Partner with our content team on creator-driven, direct-to-consumer content formats powered by creator involvement.

Content Strategy, Production & Distribution

• Partner with the COO/EVP of Digital Content to develop and execute a platform-native long-form content slate, leveraging YouTube long-form and short-form content as well as other formats such as podcasts, to build an engaged, monetizable fandom community at scale across the entire ecosystem.

Partnerships & Monetization

• Develop audience monetization opportunities through platform revenue programs, creator partnerships and integrated social offerings, supporting sponsorship and commercial partnerships.

Insights & Performance

• Own audience measurement frameworks, reporting across growth and audience KPIs: Monthly Active Fans, the Community Health Index, engagement, CRM growth, community health and commercial impact.
• Drive continuous testing and optimization across content, channels and creators, regularly sharing performance insights, competitive intelligence and strategic recommendations with executive leadership.
• Translate audience insights, platform trends and performance data into content opportunities, formats and distribution strategies. Champion the voice of the audience internally, translating these insights into actionable recommendations for our content teams.

Leadership & Operations

• Own audience development budgets, tools and resources, building efficient and 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.

REQUIREMENTS:

• 15+ years in audience development, social or digital marketing, with 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; built and managed creator or ambassador programs.
• Hands-on with social listening and analytics; comfortable owning KPIs and budgets.
• Experience launching franchises, titles or IP across formats; global or multi-market experience is a plus.
• Entrepreneurial spirit, thrives in ambiguity and moves fast. Fluently shifts between the bird's-eye view and rolling up your sleeves to do the work.
• Experience working with high-profile talent.
• Creative production experience required.