Manager, Sports Partnerships

Responsibilities

• Manage projects and key workstreams from strategic development through execution and launch, ensuring programs are delivered on time, on budget, and at a high level of quality.
• Develop a strong understanding of clients' businesses, marketing objectives, audiences, and partnership portfolios to help identify strategic and creative opportunities within the sports landscape.
• Serve as a day-to-day client contact across assigned accounts and workstreams, building trusted relationships and providing proactive, solutions-oriented counsel.
• Manage relationships and ongoing communication with rights holders, leagues, teams, properties, talent representatives, agencies, vendors, and other external partners.
• In collaboration with internal teams and agency partners, develop activation and content ideas that effectively integrate brands into sports and authentically communicate key brand messages to target audiences.
• Translate client objectives and project briefings into clear work plans, timelines, deliverables, roles and responsibilities, and budget parameters, maintaining alignment across internal and external stakeholders.
• Lead day-to-day execution of partnership activations and programs, anticipating challenges, identifying solutions, and ensuring seamless completion of deliverables.
• Develop and manage client-facing materials including presentations, recommendations, status reports, activation plans, partnership evaluations, dashboards, recaps, and other strategic documents.
• Support the development of account plans, partnership strategies, activation recommendations, and client proposals, bringing forward proactive ideas that create additional value for clients.
• Monitor client budgets and project financials, understanding scopes, pricing structures, budget parameters, and potential over-service while partnering with account leadership to maintain financial discipline.

Requirements

• Approximately 3–5 years of relevant experience within a sports marketing or partnership agency, team, league, rights holder, network, media company, brand, or related organization, with direct experience in sports partnerships, sponsorships, or activation.
• Strong knowledge of and passion for the sports industry, including an understanding of the teams, leagues, athletes, media platforms, rights holders, and emerging trends shaping the sports marketing landscape.
• Demonstrated experience managing projects and workstreams with multiple internal and external stakeholders, from strategic development through execution.
• Experience working directly with clients and/or external partners, with the ability to build strong relationships and establish credibility across different levels of an organization.
• Strong strategic and creative thinking skills, with the ability to connect client business and marketing objectives to relevant opportunities within sports and culture.
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate ideas and recommendations clearly, confidently, and succinctly.
• Strong organizational and project management skills, with demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, timelines, and deliverables in a fast-moving environment.
• Ability to independently drive work forward, anticipate needs and challenges, and take ownership of projects while knowing when to engage senior leadership.
• Strong research and analytical skills, with the ability to synthesize information and translate industry developments and data into meaningful insights and recommendations.
• Working knowledge of project budgets, scopes, pricing structures, and account financial management, including an understanding of over-service and its implications.

Preferred

• Existing relationships and experience working with brands, teams, leagues, rights holders, media partners, talent, and/or agencies are preferred.
• Experience providing direction, feedback, or mentorship to junior team members is preferred.