About this role
Position summary
The Regional Community Engagement Lead builds Lava Island's community engagement function from the ground up. This is a role for someone energized by exploration, someone who wants to try new approaches, test what connects, and figure out what works alongside a small team that is already doing this work. The role begins by joining the guest experience and sales team in the active testing already underway, serving as Lava Island's Community Ambassador across our Colorado parks. The Lead learns and shapes the ambassador role by doing it firsthand: meeting families, working events, building local relationships, and contributing to the playbook as it takes form.
As the approach dials in, the Lead trains and builds out the ambassador team across every Lava Island market, rolling the function out to existing parks and readying new markets for grand opening. Once the playbook is stable and the ambassador team is fully online, the seat shifts under Brand and Events and the title transitions to Regional Community Engagement Manager, leading a distributed team across all Lava Island markets.
Time and travel
At launch, this role is roughly 40% travel out of state to support existing operating parks and grand openings, 20% HQ office time, and 40% out in the Colorado community working events and building relationships. This allocation evolves as the ambassador team comes online and takes on the day-to-day community presence in each market.
Reporting and relationships
Reports to the Guest Experience Lead through launch. As the playbook stabilizes and the ambassador team is in place, reporting shifts to the EVP of Brand and Events. Partners closely with the guest experience and sales team, who have been testing and building the community engagement approach, and joins that collaboration as an equal contributor. Builds and leads the Community Ambassador team across each market, from identifying and hiring candidates through ongoing coordination and support. Works with park General Managers on ambassador activity and the working relationship between the GM and the ambassador in each market. Works cross-functionally with the Brand and Events team on messaging and materials, and with Park Performance leadership on new park openings.
Core responsibilities
Serve as Colorado's Community Ambassador at launch
• Do the ambassador work firsthand in Colorado: visiting local businesses, working fairs, farmers markets, and street events, canvassing where families gather, and connecting with local groups such as mom groups, homeschool networks, schools, and churches.
• Learn the role by doing it. Bring back what is working, what is not, and any surprises along the way, so they can shape the approach for every market that follows.
• Represent Lava Island in the community with warmth and energy, and model the tone and disposition future ambassadors will carry.
Collaborate on the playbook as it is built
• Join the guest experience and sales team in the ongoing work of testing, refining, and shaping the community engagement playbook. This is exploratory and iterative work: try new approaches, test what connects, and adjust based on what is learned in the field.
• Help figure out how a Community Ambassador introduces themselves and opens a conversation in a way that lands with families and community partners, so the role carries the same warmth and connection a park GM naturally brings without needing to be the GM.
• Identify categories of businesses, community groups, and event types that consistently produce results, and help codify what works into repeatable practice.
• Contribute to guidance on timing, frequency, and seasonal cadence of community activity.
• Help curate the assets, materials, and offerings ambassadors will use in the field, including passes, merchandise, and event supplies.
Handle the operational and coordination work behind the ambassador function
• Own the email correspondence and coordination work that keeps ambassadors free to be boots on the ground: booking events, coordinating with venues and community partners, arranging material distribution, and running the operational side of community activity.
• Serve as the person ambassadors can hand this work to, so their time is spent in the community, not on a screen.
• Coordinate ambassador activity, event participation, and community outreach schedules across markets.
Coach the GM and ambassador working relationship
• Help each park GM understand how to work well with a Community Ambassador who is not on their team and not on-site day to day.
• Coach ambassadors on the mindset and posture that makes the GM relationship work: knowing the park well, communicating clearly, staying respectful of the GM's authority in their market.
• Watch for friction between GMs and ambassadors, and step in early to keep the working relationship healthy in both directions.
Train and build the ambassador team as it comes online
• Identify, source, and interview candidates for the Community Ambassador role in each market, with HR support and input from park GMs on market fit. Owns the build of the ambassador team.
• Train new Community Ambassadors on Lava Island brand, values, community engagement approach, and day-to-day execution, drawing on what has been learned firsthand in the field.
• Roll the function out across existing park markets, bringing ambassadors on and readying each park to engage its community.
• Onboard ambassadors ahead of new park openings so each market is ready to engage its community from day one.
• Provide ongoing coaching and development to ambassadors to sharpen results and consistency across markets.
Foster an energetic, collaborative team
• Build a team culture that is warm, exploratory, and energized by the work, one that experiments together, shares what is working across markets, and carries Lava Island's brand into the community with genuine enthusiasm.
• Model the mindset the team runs on: curious, willing to try, willing to adjust, and grounded in real connection with families.
Partnerships and community relationships
• Support the development of ongoing relationships with community groups, businesses, schools, churches, and other organizations that connect Lava Island to families.
• Identify partnership opportunities that scale across markets, and share what is working from one market to another.
Results and reporting
• Track ambassador activity, outcomes, and community response across markets.
• Report regularly to leadership on what is connecting, what is not, and where investment should shift.
• Bring forward market-level insights that shape the overall direction of the Community Engagement Team.
• Community engagement consistently contributes to business results, meeting or exceeding admission and party goals while strengthening brand awareness in every market. Over time, performance will be measured against a defined set of areas including admissions, party bookings, ambassador activity, community partnerships, and market presence, with specific targets set as the team and playbook mature.
Qualifications
Required
• Energized by exploration, testing new ideas, and refining an approach through what is learned in the field.
• Experience in community engagement, guest experience, hospitality, events, or a related field that involves direct interaction with the public and building relationships.
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to represent Lava Island's brand and voice consistently and warmly.
• Ability to coach, train, and support a distributed team of individuals working in different markets.
• Sound judgment in identifying, interviewing, and hiring people for a community-facing role.
• Organized and self-directed, with the ability to manage multiple markets, projects, and priorities simultaneously.
• Comfortable traveling to park markets as needed to support ambassadors, attend events, and support both existing park rollouts and new park openings.
Preferred
• Prior experience with a family-focused brand, indoor entertainment, or a similar guest-facing business.
• Experience developing training materials, playbooks, or standard practices for a distributed team.
• Familiarity with community networks such as mom groups, homeschool groups, schools, churches, and local businesses.
What success looks like
• Colorado's community engagement is active and effective, and what has been learned firsthand shapes what every other market inherits.
• The playbook has moved from active testing to a stable, dialed-in resource the ambassador team can follow and evolve.
• Community Ambassadors are well-trained, well-supported, and confident representing Lava Island in their markets.
• GMs and ambassadors work well together in every market, and the dynamic between them is healthy and productive.
• Existing parks have active ambassadors in their communities, and new park openings are supported by ready ambassadors from day one.
• The team is energized, curious, and connected to the work, and the function has a clear read on what is connecting and what is not across markets.
$105,000 - $115,000