Sponsorship Strategy Manager

Working with a leading sports business in Manchester, we are looking to recruit a Sponsorship Strategy Manager with experience across the following:

Key Responsibilities

• Strategy Development: Define and implement the overarching sponsorship strategy to maximise brand exposure, engagement, and revenue, ensuring alignment with the organisation’s goals and values.
• Opportunity Identification: Conduct market research and data analysis to identify and target potential new sponsors and partnership opportunities, staying updated on industry trends and competitor activities.
• Proposal and Negotiation: Develop compelling, tailored sponsorship proposals and presentations. Lead contract negotiations to secure high-value, mutually beneficial agreements and manage all legal and financial documentation.
• Relationship Management: Build, nurture, and maintain strong, long-term relationships with existing sponsors and partners, acting as the main point of contact and ensuring their needs and contracted benefits are met (e.g., branding, event activation, ticketing).
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Collaborate with internal teams (marketing, events, finance, legal, digital) to ensure seamless execution of sponsorship programs and integrated marketing campaigns, leading cross-departmental stakeholders without necessarily being their direct manager.
• Activation and Fulfilment: Coordinate the implementation and activation of all sponsor rights and benefits, ensuring high-quality delivery of all agreed-upon components.
• Performance Analysis and Reporting: Monitor, track, analyse, and report on the performance of sponsorship activities against key performance indicators (KPIs) and budgets. Use data-driven insights to provide recommendations for improvement and support renewal discussions.
• Budget Management:Manage sponsorship revenue and expenditure budgets, ensuring efficient use of resources and maximizing ROI.

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Experience: A minimum of 4–6 years of professional experience in sponsorship, partnership management, sales, or a related marketing field, with a proven track record of securing and managing significant sponsorships and delivering measurable results.
• Education: A bachelor’s degree (or equivalent experience) in Marketing, Business, Communications, or a related field is often required; a postgraduate degree can be an advantage.
• Strong negotiation, presentation, and communication skills (verbal and written).
• Excellent organisational, project management, and time management abilities, with high attention to detail.
• Strategic and creative thinking to identify opportunities and develop innovative solutions.
• Strong commercial awareness and business acumen.
• Analytical skills and proficiency in using data to drive decisions and measure ROI.
• Relationship-building and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate effectively across teams.
• Proficiency with CRM software (e.g., Salesforce) and Microsoft Office Suite.