Sr. Activation Manager

Responsibilities

• Program Execution - Own end-to-end execution on a high volume of concurrent programs, from approved brief through operational post-event recap. - Keep a clear, organized view of every program in flight — what’s live, what’s next, what needs attention. - Confirm brief completeness and flag gaps to leadership before the internal process begins. - Deliver complete operational recap data for the Account team to build into client-facing reports.
• Client Communication & Relationships - Serve as primary day-to-day contact on assigned programs, owning communication, status, and the client’s confidence in the work. - Manage multiple client stakeholders with individual budgets and priorities, keeping each informed and aligned. - Build genuine relationships that go beyond the work — staying in touch and joining leadership in client hospitality such as dinners, events, and activities. - Bring cultural context to client conversations: what’s happening in the markets and moments their brands play in, and why it matters to them. - Spot opportunities for new programs during day-to-day client interactions and bring them to leadership.
• Sports & Sponsorship Context - Understand the environments this portfolio lives in — pro and college sports, tailgates, festivals, and on-premise — and how a sponsorship actually works inside them. - You do not need to be the resident sports expert; specialists on the team carry that. - You do need to know how a brand shows up at a game, what a property delivers, and what makes an activation land in that setting.
• Problem Solving - Anticipate issues before they surface and come with solutions, not just flags.
• Production & Operations - Build and manage production timelines, activation guides, staffing plans, and run of show documents as the single source of truth. - Manage vendor and logistics coordination on assigned programs. - Serve as on-site production lead when assigned in a producer capacity — setup, staffing, and strike.
• Budget Development & Financial Tracking - Build program budgets in partnership with the Account team. - Track actuals, monitor hours burn, and flag expected overages to Operations proactively.
• Team Mentorship - Support the development of Activation Managers on shared programs — sharing knowledge, setting the example, and helping less experienced teammates grow.
• Work with AI - Use AI tools in day-to-day work to move faster on the volume — documentation, recap assembly, timelines, first-pass budgets. - Apply your own judgment as the final filter. AI handles volume. You handle meaning.

Requirements

• 4–7 years in experiential marketing, field marketing, or live events.
• Proven ability to manage a high volume of programs at once — organized, prioritizing under pressure, keeping every detail on track.
• Experience serving as a primary client contact on field marketing or regional programs.
• A personality clients gravitate toward — you build real relationships and make clients feel like part of the team.
• Tapped into culture, especially sports, music, and lifestyle, and able to bring that into client conversations naturally.
• Working understanding of sports sponsorship and how brands activate around it.
• Comfort operating in both a client-facing and a producer capacity at a senior level, with the same accountability in either mode.
• Strong production and logistics fluency — activation guides, run of show, staffing plans, vendor coordination, on-site execution.
• Budget literacy — you can build a program estimate, track actual