Activated Events

Background:

Activated Events is a leading independent producer of large-scale outdoor music festivals and live experiences across the Southwest. For more than 15 years, the company has built a diverse portfolio of destination events, with a particularly strong presence in country music, creating memorable experiences that bring together premier talent, passionate fans, and distinctive outdoor venues.

The company’s portfolio includes signature properties such as Coastal Country Jam, Boots In The Park, The Smoke Show, and Fiesta De Taco. Across its events, Activated Events combines compelling programming, creative production, and a deep understanding of its audiences to create festivals that feel distinctive, energetic, and authentic to their markets.

As an independently operated organization, Activated Events takes an integrated approach to producing and growing its events, overseeing everything from talent acquisition and marketing to operations, concessions, partnerships, and the overall guest experience. This hands-on model gives the company the ability to move quickly, think creatively, and continually identify new ways to deepen fan engagement and extend its brands beyond the festival grounds.

Links: https://www.activatedevents.com/

Any interested candidates should contact ZRG directly.

Contacting Activated Events will only delay consideration of your qualifications.

Position Summary: 

Activated Events is seeking a creative, commercially minded, and highly operational Merchandise Manager to lead and grow the company’s merchandise business across its festival portfolio.

The Merchandise Manager will own the end-to-end merchandising strategy, spanning product development, purchasing and sourcing, inventory planning, festival operations, artist merchandise, e-commerce, and financial performance. This individual will be responsible for evolving Activated Events merchandise from traditional event merchandise into a distinctive lifestyle brand that extends the fan experience before, during, and after each festival.

Working closely with leadership, marketing, creative, operations, digital, finance, artists, and external vendors, the Merchandise Manager will balance brand creativity with disciplined commercial execution. The successful candidate will bring a strong understanding of what consumers want, an eye for compelling products and trends, and the operational expertise to deliver merchandise efficiently and profitably at scale.

Duties and Responsibilities: 

Brand & Product Strategy

• Collaborate with leadership to develop and execute a long-term merchandise strategy that strengthens the Activated Events brand and expands merchandise beyond traditional festival souvenirs.
• Build product assortments designed to resonate with festival attendees while also attracting a broader e-commerce audience.
• Partner with designers, creative teams, and vendors to develop compelling apparel, accessories, collectables, and limited-edition products, presenting concepts, product assortments, and recommendations to leadership for final approval.
• Identify emerging consumer, fashion, music, and festival trends to keep merchandise relevant, differentiated, and culturally current.
• Maintain a consistent brand identity and standard of quality across products, festivals, and sales channels.

Purchasing, Sourcing & Vendor Management

• Lead all merchandise purchasing and sourcing across Activated Events' festival portfolio.
• Develop disciplined buying strategies informed by historical sales, consumer demand, event attendance, product performance, and inventory levels.
• Identify, evaluate, and negotiate with domestic and international suppliers to optimize cost, quality, production timelines, and reliability.
• Own the complete purchase-order lifecycle, from product sourcing and samples through production, quality control, delivery, and reconciliation.
• Build strong vendor relationships while continuously identifying opportunities to improve pricing, margins, quality, and speed to market.

Inventory & Festival Operations

• Own merchandise inventory planning across festivals and e-commerce, ensuring appropriate inventory levels while minimizing excess product and missed sales opportunities.
• Forecast product demand and establish inventory quantities by festival, product category, and sales channel.
• Coordinate merchandise logistics and execution surrounding each festival, ensuring product is delivered, organized, and available when needed.
• Lead post-event inventory and financial reconciliation, including vendor invoices, inventory remaining, and cost of goods sold.
• Analyze event-level results to continuously improve product mix, buying decisions, and operational execution.

Artist Merchandise

• Manage artist merchandise coordination in advance of each festival, working directly with artist representatives and internal teams.
• Coordinate artist merchandise requirements, on-site selling space, inventory, and operational needs.
• Oversee post-event merchandise settlements and partner with Accounting to ensure accurate and timely closeout.

E-Commerce & Revenue Growth

• Own the Activated Events Shopify business, including merchandising, product listings, inventory management, presentation, and overall customer experience.
• Develop strategies to create consistent merchandise revenue beyond festival weekends through pre-orders, product drops, limited-edition collections, online exclusives, seasonal campaigns, and other creative sales opportunities.
• Partner with our digital marketing team to build campaigns that increase traffic, conversion, and merchandise sales.
• Establish merchandise sales and profitability goals in partnership with Finance.
• Monitor performance across both e-commerce and on-site festival channels, identifying opportunities to improve revenue, margins, inventory productivity, and sell-through.

Required Qualifications:  

• 3+ years in merchandise management, retail operations, or event merchandising (music/events experience a plus).
• Strong purchasing, sourcing, and vendor negotiation skills across apparel, accessories, and branded retail.
• Experience using sales data and demand forecasting to optimize ordering.
• A track record of hitting merchandise revenue and sales targets, including online.
• Solid branding and design sensibility.
• Hands-on Shopify experience, plus familiarity with inventory and POS systems.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented, comfortable juggling projects in a fast-paced environment.

Compensation & Benefits:  

Competitive base salary, performance bonus and full benefits.

ZRG’s Commitment:

At ZRG, we do not just accept differences—we celebrate and support it. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, pregnancy, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, genetic information, marital or partnership status, military or veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. ZRG is an equal opportunity employer and workplace, and we encourage applicants of all backgrounds & communities to apply.