Effective Altruism Summit 2026: Logistics & Production Lead

LOGISTICS & PRODUCTION IEAD

THE EVENT

About the Summit

On Sat, 31 Oct 2026, EA Summit: South Africa returns to Cape Town for its third and most ambitious year $250+$ leaders, professionals and students from across Southern Africa, for a day of evidence, ideas and action on the world’s most pressing problems. The summit exists to introduce people to effective altruism properly, connect newcomers with experienced mentors, and help capable people take their next high-impact step. It’s hosted by Effective Altruism South Africa and run in partnership with the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA).

THE ROLE

You make a 150-person summit feel effortless.

You own the physical reality of the summit: the venue, the food, the AV, the signage, the run of the day. When an attendee walks in, finds their badge, eats well, and never notices a single logistical seam - that’s your work. You’ll plan months ahead, negotiate hard with vendors, and run event week from a clipboard with calm authority.

Read this before you apply

This is real responsibility, not a side gig you can let drift. Expect roughly 2-10 hours a week, ramping up steadily towards October - and $40^{+}$hours during event week itself. Deadlines are real, the pay is fair but modest, and the work is sometimes unglamorous. The reason to do it is the impact: every hour of friction you remove is an hour 250 people spend on the conversations and decisions that matter.

What You’ll Do

• Own the venue: site visits, floor plans, contracts and the working relationship - including negotiating quotes (we always get three) and not-for-profit discounts.
• Run catering end to end: menus (vegan by default), quantities with proper buffers, and rigorous allergen labelling - the single most safety-critical job at the event.
• Manage AV and production: briefs and quotes, staffing on the day, and run-throughs so every talk starts on time with working sound and slides.
• Build the event manual: runsheet, signage, inventory, name badges and floor plans - printed, distributed, and accurate.
• Cover health and safety: the risk assessment, first aid, security and insurance requirements, coordinated with the venue.
• Lead the logistics volunteer team: recruit, brief and direct the crew handling set-up, way-finding and teardown.
• Steward the budget: track spending line by line and treat every rand as the scarce community resource it is.

COMMITMENT 2-10 hrs/week, Jul-Nov

40+ hrs event week

REPORTS TO Project Lead (EASA Executive Director)

COMPENSATION [RATE] per hour, paid contractor role

TEAM Core team of 3-4, plus contractors and volunteers

LOCATION Remote ⋅ on-site in Cape Town for event week

WORKING WITH CEA’s events team and the Southern African EA community

ABOUT YOU

You Might Be a Great Fit If

• You’ve organised real things - events, productions, operations - and they ran on time
• You negotiate comfortably and follow up relentlessly; vendors respect you because you’re prepared.
• You’re calm under pressure and you fix problems you see, whether or not they’re “yours”.
• Detail is your default: checklists, buffers, backup plans, photographed allergen labels.
• You’re engaged with effective altruism’s ideas - or genuinely keen to engage deeply, fast.
• You can be in Cape Town for event week, with reliable availability from July onwards.

You don’t need to tick every box - capable people often rule themselves out too early. If you hit most of this and the mission resonates, apply.

THE HONEST PITCH

Why Do This?

Because the summit is EASA’s highest-leverage event of the year, and you’d be one of a handful of people who make it happen. You’ll take real ownership early, work closely with a small team that cares about doing things excellently, and learn how high-quality EA events are run - with guidance from CEA’s events team and a network of organisers across Africa.

It’s also how people grow here. Summit organisers are how we find the people we trust with bigger things strong team members are first in line when future roles, projects and community-building opportunities come up, and we actively refer good people onwards, whether or not those opportunities are ours.

THE PROCESS

How to Apply

Three short steps, designed to respect your time. We reply to every applicant.