Director, Strategic Partnerships

Background
Location: Hybrid – work-from-home and office: 303 E Wacker Dr., Suite 2200, Chicago, IL
Type: Full-time, permanent position
Division: Strategic Partnerships
Reports to: Senior Director, Basketball & Strategic Partnerships
Overview
Intersport, a leader in sports, entertainment, and lifestyle marketing and media for more than three decades, provides expertise in the areas of:

• Agency Services: brand consulting, creative, content production, digital, experiential marketing, field marketing, hospitality, social media marketing, and sponsorship consulting
• Properties – owned-and-operated live sports and lifestyle events and media assets airing on broadcast and digital networks

Responsibilities
The Director, Strategic Partnerships will be responsible for generating revenue across Intersport’s portfolio of owned-and-operated live sports with a specific focus on the College Sports vertical. The right candidate will have proven success in sponsorship and/or media sales, relationships with key clients nationally, and the ability to create new relationships among buyers. The right candidate must possess a consultative selling approach and be able to detail success in having sold high level sponsorship agreements.
The College Sports vertical consists of the following properties either in a sales and/or management capacity, encompassing 30+ school/university partners, and listed in chronological order:

• 11/17-19/2023: “Arizona Tip-Off”
  
  • www.arizonatipoff.com
• 11/18/2023: “Citi Shamrock Classic”
  
  • Notre Dame Women's Basketball game
• 11/23-25/2023: “Women's Fort Myers Tip-Off”
  
  • www.womensfortmyerstipoff.com
• 11/25-27/2023: “Fort Myers Tip-Off”
  
  • www.fortmyerstipoff.com
• 12/2/2023: “Legends of Basketball Las Vegas Invitational”
  
  • https://www.legendsofbasketball.com/vegas/
• 12/15/2023: “Continental Tire Seattle Tip-Off”
  
  • https://climatepledgearena.com/event/continental-tire-seattle-tip-off-23/
• 12/15/2023: “CBS Sports Classic”
  
  • www.cbssportsclassic.com
• “Legends of Basketball Showcase”
  
  • www.legendsofbasketball.com/showcase
• “College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships”
  
  • www.collegeslam.com
• “National High School Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships”
  
  • Website forthcoming
• “Women’s College All-Star Game”: new in 2024 – website forthcoming
  
  • 4/2024; website forthcoming
•  “Women's College Volleyball Showcase”
  
  • 8/31-9/1/2024: new in 2024 – website forthcoming

Responsibilities
General

• Embody and reflect Intersport’s performance-based culture
• Commit him/herself to the highest standards of executional excellence

Business Development

• Provide expertise in assigned properties, inclusive of comprehensive and detailed knowledge of a wide breadth of integrated rights and benefits (i.e. assets) and be able to conceptualize and sell-in creative activation concepts that meet the business and brand objectives of partners and prospective partners
• Prospect, pitch, and close sponsorship and media agreements with clients and agencies nationally
• Provide high-level, peer-to-peer executive level client engagement among signed partners

Team Management

• Work collaboratively with all members of integrated team
• Manage, train, and mentor junior-level staff in sales support and partner servicing roles

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree
• Minimum of six (6) years’ full-time experience in sponsorship and/or media sales, preferably in basketball sales
• Strong understanding of the sales process with a passion for pitching and closing new business
• Ability to detail a history of having sold numerous six-, seven-, and eight-figure sponsorship and/or media sales agreements
• Current key relationships with sponsorship and/or media buyers at clients and agencies nationally
• Ability to develop new relationships with sponsorship and/or media buyers

• Exemplary verbal and written communication skills with high-level presentation ability
• Flexibility to work both independently and collaboratively in an entrepreneurial environment
• Proficiency in PowerPoint, Word, Excel

Intersport is an Equal Opportunity Employer.