Seasonal Part Time Community Manager Job at Shibumi Shade in San Diego

Seasonal Part-Time Community Manager

Position Overview:

Shibumi is seeking a seasonal part-time Community Manager to grow brand awareness of Shibumi in San Diego, CA. The Community Manager will execute local partnerships, small and large scale events, manage brand ambassadors, and other creative initiatives throughout the spring/summer months of 2025 in their local beach market. They will also be responsible for market research (gathering data online and in person) and local relationship building.

This individual is a self-reliant go-getter who is creative, organized, outgoing, energetic, extremely reliable, and has an excellent work ethic. She/he must be available to work on most Saturdays and Sundays during the spring/summer and have reliable transportation to the beaches in the area.

Hourly Base Pay

If you decide to join our team as Part-Time Community Manager, you will receive an hourly pay rate of $25 per hour as a part-time, W-2 employee, paid bi-weekly in accordance with the company’s payroll procedures.

Your hourly pay, job title, job description, and your manager may be reviewed and varied where appropriate to meet the needs of the company.

Performance Bonus

You are eligible to earn a performance bonus up to 10% of hours worked, if still employed by Shibumi Shade on September 30th, 2025. The eligibility/amount of the bonus will be determined by your performance on our team during the summer season. Goals met, quantity of meaningful partnerships established, and availability to carry out initiatives are examples of what will be considered when bonuses are evaluated. The bonus, if earned, will be paid out in mid-October.

Responsibilities:

• Participate in a two-day team offsite held in Florida in February to learn about the brand, the team, and goals you will help accomplish (travel and accommodations will be booked by Shibumi)

• Become an expert on Shibumi’s products

• Act as the “face of the brand” within your local beach market, representing Shibumi at select local pop-ups, venues and events

• Regularly visit the beach to manage brand activations, from setup to management to takedown and reporting; transport all promotional materials to and from activations

• Visit the beach on available weekends to host daily shade setups, providing Shibumi Shades for beach goers to use for the day for free and managing the shades

• Boost Shibumi’s brand awareness through word-of-mouth marketing strategies

• Collect and report customer feedback and trends

• Conduct surveys on the beach

• Help source, manage, and coordinate the brand ambassadors and their beach visits for the daily shade setups

• Assist in market research; help identify local events to sponsor/participate in, creative partnerships, etc to help grow brand awareness

• Create occasional content for Shibumi’s Social Media team

• Report to Shibumi corporate on a daily/weekly basis the results of various activations, events, or initiatives

• Responsibilities may be adjusted based on company needs

More information on specific responsibilities:

• Plan, manage, and execute events that are hosted by Shibumi or hosted by local third parties

• Visit the beach on available weekends to host daily shade setups, providing Shibumi Shades for beachgoers to use for the day for free and managing the shades

  • This initiative should be carried out as often as possible on your local beach that falls into our focus market. You will set up Shibumi Shades to be offered to beach goers to use for free, and fill out a survey about the day, shade engagement, and beach activity afterwards.

• Help source, manage, and coordinate the brand ambassadors and their beach visits for daily shade setups

  • Brand ambassadors will be hired in your area to conduct daily shade setups on the beach. You will be responsible for assisting with sourcing these ambassadors for our team, approving the date and location of their daily shade setup ahead of time, reviewing their daily shade setup survey submission for validity, and marking submissions as approved or denied in the tracker.

• Assist in market research; help identify local events to sponsor/participate in, creative partnerships, etc. to help grow brand awareness

  • Market research will be conducted primarily online, but also in person. Information gathered both online and in person can be fruitful for finding new opportunities for partnerships or events to sponsor. Research should at minimum carry through the cost of becoming a partner/sponsor and what promotion we would get out of it.

• Conduct frequent surveys on the beach

  • You will go to your local beach in our target market and conduct surveys in person among beach goers to help us gain valuable insight on various fronts, like why people chose the beach shade they own. These surveys should be conducted often to create a large sample size for data evaluation.

The Ideal Candidate Possesses:

• MUST live near a popular beach in our target market. (no more than 15 miles away)

• MUST be able to reliably drive to the beach and transport any supporting promo items

• MUST be able to work up to 15-20 hours per week during the spring and summer months, primarily on Saturdays and Sundays

• Related experience as a community manager, brand ambassador or a current/prior position in the marketing, beach, or hospitality industry

• A demonstrated love for the beach and a passion to improve the beach experience

• An outgoing, energetic, confident personality

• Comfort working in a fast-paced, dynamic environment, with a scrappy mindset

• Self-reliance with a high motivation to carry out initiatives and establish partnerships

• Organizational skills to effectively manage brand ambassadors

• A high school degree is required; a college degree or direct experience in marketing and events is preferred.

About Shibumi:

Shibumi is a growth-stage outdoor lifestyle brand based in Raleigh, NC. Shibumi was founded in 2016 by two brothers and their best friend, who, assigned to the task of beach setup and takedown during their annual family vacations, were fed up with the beach shade offerings on the market and decided to take matters into their own hands.

The company’s iconic first product, the Shibumi Shade, has garnered a cult-like following and can be seen on beaches around the country - from Emerald Isle to Santa Monica and from Cape Cod to Oahu. The Shibumi Shade works with the wind instead of against it, and stands out for being lightweight, easy to set up and take down, and durable. The Shibumi Shade is sold in both premium local retailers and direct-to-consumer, where the product sold out in minutes throughout the business’s early history.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or disability.