Director of Strategic Partnerships

The Director, Strategic Partnerships leads the strategy, business planning, implementation and ongoing management of strategic partnerships and related programs. This position is highly visible in the organization and has a heavy focus on evaluating and managing strategic partnerships and relationships with corporate partners, internal business leaders; including the senior and executive management team. This role is also responsible for team member development and performance by providing coaching, driving performance, and troubleshooting complex situations.

What you will do here:

• Partnership Strategy: Direct overall strategy for corporate partnerships with key community stakeholders such as university and national sports teams and celebrity personalities Identify and evaluate new partnership opportunities, ensuring alignment with organizational strategy. Collaborate across the organization to develop business plans to drive partnership goals and return on investment. Business plans may include: sales plans, marketing/advertising plans, communication plans, asset utilization plans, event/promotion plans, and partner program plans.
• Partnership Engagement: Build and maintain exceptional partner relationships, which may include interactions with high profile personnel such as presidents, owners, players, agents, and senior executives. Serve as the Desert Financial primary point of contact for corporate partners. Lead overall efforts and collaborate across the organization to implement partnership elements and ensure all contractual obligations are met. Partnership elements may include: university programs, in-game promotions and activations, community volunteering/giving, public relations/marketing, events, etc. Align partnership programs and initiatives with organizational strategy to maximize impact.
• Partnership Management: Negotiate corporate-wide contracts with partners, ensuring business terms that support Desert Financial's organizational strategy. Identify partnership key performance metrics and report/evaluate ongoing for all partners. Schedule and lead ongoing business review meetings with partners to discuss and evaluate overall partnership health. Oversee partner ticket management and distribution, ensuring a high level of integrity and judgment. Manage a multi-million dollar annual budget related to partner agreements. Identify ongoing structure needs for partnership programs and implement processes and procedures as needed.
• Team Leadership and Development: Support team member development including monitoring employee performance, using sound leadership and coaching practices, and interpersonal skills to motivate and develop staff. Sets clear expectations and holds employees accountable to delivering exceptional service that drives results in line with the organizational and partnership goals.
• Perform all other duties as assigned

What you will need:

• High School Diploma or GED required.
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, or related field preferred.
• 7+ years' experience in business development or partnership management required.
• 4+ years leadership and management required.
• Demonstrated success in relationship-building skills with both internal and external partners. Proven ability to work across teams with all levels of management to identify needs, and gain buy in for plans required.
• Expertise in developing and executing corporate partnership strategy with high profile community partners required.
• Expert written and verbal communication skills, presentation skills, planning skills, and analytical skills to present and communicate complex or controversial topics required.
• Demonstrated success in negotiation and evaluation of corporate contracts with partners required.
• Ability to thrive in an often unpredictable, dynamic, service-oriented environment where the individual will have a high degree of flexibility and accountability required.
• Successful implementation of business plans for corporate partnerships, such as sales, marketing, and communication plans required.
• Exceptional problem-solving skills. Ability to quickly identify the root of a problem and determine the appropriate solution that mitigates risk and is a win-win for stakeholders required.
• Demonstrated ability to lead the team to prioritize, focus, and execute multiple projects under pressure to meet deadlines required.

We are proud to be an EEO/AA employer M/F/D/V. We maintain a drug-free workplace and perform pre-employment substance abuse testing.

For additional information about our organization, careers, and benefits visit: http://www.desertfinancial.com/careers.