← All roles

Events and Communications Manager

Astera Institute· Foundation
Apply on company site
Emeryville HQ$140k - $190kFull-timePosted 3mo ago

About the role

Astera Institute is seeking an Events and Communications lead to shape external presence and internal culture, overseeing programming of events, convenings, and communications. The role emphasizes AI-forward storytelling, community building among researchers, and scalable operations within a young foundation.

Responsibilities

  • Design and run events end-to-end, from symposia to Friday socials: venue, vendors, logistics, guest experience, and the details that separate a good event from a memorable one
  • Build the operational infrastructure that lets programming scale: playbooks, vendor relationships, budgets, and tooling
  • Partner with Division leadership in developing the events and moments that accelerate our programming
  • Build the social fabric that turns a collection of researchers into a community, including the unstructured moments where good conversations happen
  • Partner with leadership to shape Astera's external comms strategy (audiences, channels, content, etc) and own execution against it
  • Steward Astera's voice across the website, written materials, and external touchpoints, in close collaboration with leadership
  • Manage website, blog, and socials, including writing, editing, and coordinating updates as Astera's work evolves
  • Run the calendar of external-facing moments and the production pipeline behind it
  • Build and manage a roster of external contractors and consultants (writers, designers, PR, etc.)
  • Flex to the "unknown unknowns" of a young, growing organization — event logistics, hub operations, cross-functional support during peak periods, and special projects across the Operations stack.

Qualifications

  • Demonstrated ability to design and execute high-quality convenings end-to-end, including the unglamorous logistics that determine whether they work
  • Capable writer, able to draft as needed in a voice applicable to Astera, and to give substantive editorial direction on everything else
  • Comfortable directing comms work and managing external contracts end-to-end across modalities (writing, design, web, video, social), including the judgment to know when to draft something yourself vs. bring in a specialist
  • Experience building the systems, playbooks, vendor relationships, and budgets that let programming scale without losing quality
  • Track record of working closely with technical or research-driven people in a way that earned their trust
  • Motivated by enabling science and technology that could reshape the future
  • Excited to define what a modern research institute looks and feels like, rather than inheriting an established playbook
  • Thrives in early-stage environments where the role will evolve significantly and the path forward is often ambiguous: comfortable proposing direction while staying calibrated to leadership's priorities
  • Values giving and receiving direct feedback as a cultural multiplier, and sees AI tools as an opportunity to uplevel how the work gets done
  • Generous collaborator who doesn't maintain strong boundaries around what "isn't your job"

Skills

Required:Event design and executionWriting and editorial directionCommunications managementVendor management and budgetingStakeholder collaboration with researchers/technical staff

Benefits

  • Competitive compensation aligned with role responsibilities
Last updated Sep 23, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Astera Institute

The future, faster.

We empower visionary, high-leverage science and technology projects with the capacity to create transformative progress for human civilization.

ScienceTechnologyResearchAIOpen ScienceInnovation
Company profileWebsite

More open roles at Astera Institute