About Us
The Athletic is a digital sports media company that brings true sports fans closer to the athletes, teams and leagues that captivate their attention. We serve a multi-faceted audience that craves a richer connection and understanding with immersive storytelling and a like-minded community of fans. Founded in 2016 and with major operational hubs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, London and Melbourne, we empower a truly global team of more than 600 creators and cover more than 250 professional sports and collegiate teams across the United States, Canada and the UK. Our newsroom has produced thousands of in-depth reports along with more than 120 podcasts and other forms of premium content. Put simply, The Athletic is at the center of a sports fan’s universe.
About This Role
We are looking for a Strategic Partnerships Manager to apply their skills in business operations and partner management – supporting senior leadership and working across all functions to maximize the business impact of The Athletic’s large and growing commercial organization. Our ideal candidate will be experienced in partner and account management, business development, cross-platform advertising programs, and business operations within the consumer media industry and have familiarity with managing large and complex strategic partnerships.
Partnership management is a team sport, and you will be an expert collaborator responsible for executing innovative, integrated partnership programs in collaboration with Strategy, Planning, Legal, Finance, Audio, Editorial, Social, Product, Marketing, and PR teams to execute compelling, strategic cross-platform programs for our strategic partners that drive company revenue across all sports verticals.
This role is remote to the US and Canada only.
Responsibilities
- Support the Business Development team within the larger commercial organization.
- Manage the day to day relationships with some of The Athletic’s largest, strategic partners that touch all parts of the business.
- Develop strong client relationships, through effectively communicating complex ideas and proposals, leading meetings, crafting partner correspondence, driving campaign production and evaluating partnership success.
- Work closely with the broader Business Development team on large, comprehensive strategic partnerships and to grow commercial revenue.
- Serve as the primary point of contact between internal cross-functional teams including legal, finance, product, editorial, design and marketing to ensure all deliverables are on message, on track, and within scope.
- Internally advocate for the client to ensure obligations are met.
- Build and maintain project delivery trackers and create proof of delivery documents/recaps.
- Create and manage project plans for various partnership executions.
Requirements
- BA/BS degree with 4 years of relevant business development or partnership management experience.
- Experience in managing large-scale, multi-vertical partnerships.
- Proficiency in developing project plans, process maps, and project tracking.
- Experience managing advertising production workflows and teams while also direct client exposure.
- High level of professionalism; driven and motivated with excellent follow-up.
- Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills (both written and verbal).
- Extremely organized.
- Creative and strategic thinking skills.
- Ability to multitask and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment with colleagues based in New York, San Francisco, around North America, and internationally.
- Represent The Athletic brand well.