Community Manager

For 17 years, community has been a core driver of our business.  Your mission is to build and execute a strategy that will formalize and grow mutually beneficial relationships with local roundnet organizers and tournament directors. You will achieve this by becoming our fully dedicated liaison to the competitive and casual roundnet communities. You will engage with committees running championship level events, as well as college students and social clubs starting groups to play casually. You will help Spikeball support and learn from all of these groups.  Your core responsibility is to identify, engage, equip, and enable roundnet and Spikeball enthusiasts and become their trusted partner. You will ensure Spikeball is not only the obvious equipment provider enjoyed by all, but is also the ideal partner to help them grow their local communities.  Their feedback will help guide continuous innovation within our products and services, and help fuel our growth. 

This job entails…

Community Engagement

• Supporting and growing our North American communities, while also serving as the key liaison for our major international (especially European) partners.


• Cultivating authentic, personal relationships with players, tournament directors, and local roundnet organizations through calls, email, social media, and IRL. You will provide encouragement and empathy and find creative ways to enable their efforts. 

• Representing Spikeball at key events, showing both strategic presence and community allyship. 

• Assisting with partnership negotiations and sponsorship contracts 


• Helping others formalize clubs, leagues, or tournaments


• Managing an annual budget and deploying resources according to approved plans

College Roundnet Series 

• Assist in building out Spikeball’s College Roundnet Series 


• Collaborate with student leaders, clubs, and university partners to maximize participation and ensure smooth event operations


• Analyze event outcomes and participant feedback to refine future iterations

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Deliver regular reports and vital information to help inform Spikeball Leadership on key business opportunities.


• Translate community feedback into strategic product development insights and collaborate with our Product Development team to refine offerings

Spikeball App

• Create a strategy on how the new app can best serve our global competitive community and the business needs.


• Engage directly with app users to better learn their needs. 


• Create challenges, new app features, and more to increase participation

What this job does NOT entail:

• This is not a typical 9-5 job. You’ll be working with players, organizers, and tournament directors from all over the world, accommodating different time zones and catering to events that typically take place on weekends. The workload is manageable, seasonal, and you’ll have plenty of flexibility to manage your time accordingly, but don’t expect traditional hours. 


• You are not our social media content creator. You will manage a social channel and interact with community members via social media, but you’re not expected to be a copywriter, designer, or video editor


• You are not an events marketing manager. IRL events are critical to a vibrant community, but you are not expected to organize events other than our annual College Nationals Championship tournament


• You will not be involved in making formal rules for the sport.  That’s the community’s job.  You should be aware of the topics of debate, but won’t participate.  We exist to support, not prescribe gameplay. 


• Playing in tournaments.  If you’re playing, you’re not supporting.  

What Success Looks Like:

• You create and execute a strategy that results in Spikeball’s participation in partnered roundnet events and clubs continuing to grow year-over-year, with strong community engagement. 


• Strategic Partners, Club Directors, National Governing Bodies, Tournament Directors, and participants view Spikeball as the obvious and most trusted partner for all things roundnet.


• Resources are allocated effectively and efficiently, delivering maximum impact on a variety of initiatives.  


• Community feedback is meaningfully reflected in Spikeball’s product development and future product offerings.

You’re our person if you have…

• Proven competence in managing a robust community on behalf of a brand (ideally 3+ years in a relevant industry)


• Excellent communication skills


• Masterful time management. Well organized and detail-minded.


• A desire to gain deep, credible experience in the roundnet community.


• Ability to manage resources strategically for maximum impact.


• Aptitude for translating community insights into brand and marketing strategies.


• You must be comfortable chatting up strangers, grabbing the mic, and speaking to crowds. In general, you must be outgoing, well spoken, professional, and fun.
  

You’re NOT our person if:

• You need to be told what to do to take action


• You like cruise control more than driving fast


• You love bureaucracy and office politics


• You abhor accountability


• You don’t speak up


• You lack motivation and are just looking for any job


• You’re a lone ranger and don’t collaborate well


• You’re a jerk. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together.  We want to enjoy working with you.

ABOUT US

At Spikeball, our mission is to bring people together and help them find their circle. Our products inspire connection—getting people outside, staying active, and building friendships, all while playing a game they love.

Over the past 17+ years, we haven’t just improved an existing game—we’ve built an entirely new category around the sport of roundnet. And we’re just getting started.

With a passionate global community, strong brand recognition, and products people genuinely love, we see massive growth opportunities ahead. The missing link? A world-class growth Community Manager to fuel the next chapter of our expansion. 

We run our business using the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to stay focused, accountable, and aligned. Unlike companies with outside funding chasing short-term wins, we’re playing the long game. We control our own destiny, scaling in a way that prioritizes sustainable, long-term, profitable success.

At Spikeball, we live by five core values, and we’re looking for someone who embodies them:

✅ Motivated – You’re driven to improve, optimize, and push boundaries.
✅ Proactive – You don’t wait for direction; you see challenges and solve them.
✅ Collaborative – You thrive in a team environment and work seamlessly across departments.
✅ Challenge the Status Quo – You constantly ask, “Is there a smarter, better way?”
✅ Disciplined – You set ambitious goals, track progress, and iterate for results.

A few thoughts from our founder and CEO, Chris Ruder:

“I’m pumped about this role.  We need a social connector that can build and execute a strategy that results in trust, global relationships, and position the business and brand as one that is here to help.  At its core, this is a hospitality role.  We need a person who can show up with a servant leader mentality.  The right person will get tingles up their spine when they see their work result in more people coming together and having fun.  For example, when I see friends that have met through roundnet, I get a tremendous sense of pride that I had a little something to do with that. Some players end up getting married and having kids; that is just the best.  I don’t need you playing roundnet with the community, but you are definitely here to strengthen the bonds within it.  You must have experience building a formal community building strategy.  It must include how best to engage with hundreds of college clubs, tournament directors all over the world, as well as community leaders of social/casual clubs. Once built, you will execute against KPI’s to make sure progress is being made. You will help us think about some potential conflicting interests, like serving the competitive and casual/social communities, domestic vs international, etc.  Here’s another tricky one– who should get free sets?  We donate a TON every year.  How will you decide who should get them? Take a minute and read
this post about the role of Community Manager.  It gives a good overview. Good luck!”

If your experience includes what we detail above and you want to be part of a brand with a loyal fanbase, tons of room for growth, have fun, and be a part of a culture that values innovation and impact, we'd love to learn more.  We have 2 questions we'd love you to answer and would like a cover letter. 

Let yourself shine in the cover letter.  We are a remote company and 98% of our communication is the written word. Note: strong writing skills are critical. Why are you the right person?  What experience do you have that we should know about?  What questions do you have?  Write whatever you want-- this is your chance to sell yourself.