About the Role

We’re looking for a commercially driven general manager to lead AI Council as a standalone business. This person will own the P&L, set the growth strategy, build and direct the team, and turn an established conference into a larger, more profitable global platform.

Success demands exceptional business leadership, disciplined P&L management, and the drive to build AI Council into the definitive platform for engineers shipping production AI, while scaling a business that serves a fast-moving technical community.

You'll report directly to the Founder. We believe in building IRL, this is an in-person, hands-on role based at our SF, CA office (Jackson Square).

What You Will Do

BUSINESS OWNERSHIP & STRATEGY Own the AI Council P&L, including budgeting, forecasting, margin management, and reporting. Set strategic direction, define the operating model and playbooks needed to scale predictably, and bring an independent point of view on new formats, markets, and revenue lines.

GROWTH & MARKET EXPANSION Lead AI Council's expansion into new markets, starting with Europe: market selection, venue and partnership strategy, go-to-market, and local execution. Own audience growth and revenue targets across all markets, and build a repeatable expansion playbook.

COMMERCIAL EXECUTION Own the commercial engine: ticket sales strategy, pricing, and channel performance. Manage the sales team and own sponsorship end to end, from pipeline through renewal, driving sustained year-over-year growth. Set marketing and distribution strategy to grow registration and brand reach.

OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE With support from our event production agency, own conference operations across markets: timelines, vendor management, staffing, run-of-show. Build the infrastructure, systems, and team to execute at a high bar repeatedly, and run structured post-event reviews to improve margin and experience each cycle.

PROGRAM PARTNERSHIP Partner with the Founder on agenda strategy and track structure, owning the business and operational side of programming (budgets, logistics, speaker operations) with support on technical content curation. Manage partner and speaker relationships to keep the program commercially and operationally sound. Work with Zero Prime to connect portfolio founders into the platform where it adds value.

What We're Looking For

EXPERIENCE & TRACK RECORD

• 8+ years of progressive operating experience, with direct P&L ownership for an events, media, or community-driven business of comparable scale (several-thousand-attendee, multi-market events)
• A demonstrated record of growing an events business, with specific revenue or margin outcomes you personally drove, not just events you executed

BUSINESS & COMMERCIAL ACUMEN

• MBA strongly preferred
• Prior experience on the executive team of a PE-backed events or media business, in consulting, or in a similarly rigorous operating environment is a strong plus
• Direct experience launching an event in a new geographic market is a significant plus
• Strong commercial instincts, including direct sponsorship or B2B sales experience or oversight of a revenue function

EXECUTIVE PRESENCE & COMMUNICATION

• Comfortable operating as a true general manager: equal parts strategist, operator, and external-facing leader
• Judgment to make independent calls and the communication skills to bring stakeholders along

About Zero Prime

Zero Prime is an early-stage venture firm backing engineer-founders building core software infrastructure for the AI era. We invest at day zero, partnering with builders creating the systems that power modern AI, across data infrastructure, AI engineering, developer tools and intelligent systems. Notable investments include Modal, Runware, Hex, Pydantic and Higgsfield.

We are also the firm behind AI Council, a global technical conference for engineers building production AI systems (formerly Data Council). AI Council's flagship US event draws several thousand practitioners annually, with a fast-growing sponsor and partner base and upcoming expansion into Europe.