Director, Athlete Marketing

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Italy.

📋 Description

• Identify and cultivate endorsement, sponsorship, and commercial partnership opportunities for football clients.

• Establish and oversee a robust pipeline of opportunities across relevant brands, categories, and markets.

• Formulate partnership strategies, pitches, and proposals for potential partners.

• Lead negotiations on commercial partnerships, achieving favorable outcomes for clients and brands.

• Expand existing relationships and pinpoint opportunities to generate sustainable, annual revenue.

• Leverage industry relationships and market insights to create new business ventures.

• Serve as a senior commercial partner to clients, offering strategic advice on positioning, marketability, and long-term partnership prospects.

• Craft personalized commercial and marketing plans that enhance athletes' brands and partnership viability.

• Establish trusted, long-term connections with clients and their extended teams.

• Collaborate with brands and partners to create talent-driven solutions for campaigns and activations.

• Identify partnerships that genuinely resonate with each athlete's profile, interests, and aspirations.

• Develop and maintain senior-level relationships with brands, agencies, and stakeholders across sports, entertainment, and marketing sectors.

• Represent the organization at relevant industry events, conferences, and meetings.

• Facilitate introductions and connections between clients and potential partners.

• Act as a senior representative of the organization in Italy and international markets.

• Maintain a thorough understanding of developments in football, sports marketing, sponsorship, and licensing.

• Stay updated on consumer, cultural, and marketing trends to identify pertinent opportunities for clients.

• Provide strategic insights to guide client positioning, partnership strategies, and new areas of opportunity.

• Collaborate with creative, digital, communications, and client teams to develop integrated partnership and marketing strategies.

• Oversee partnership campaigns and activations, ensuring alignment with client and brand objectives.

• Evaluate partnership performance and apply insights to enhance future strategies and opportunities.

• Offer senior-level commercial expertise across the Partnership function.

• Work with international offices to create opportunities across various markets.

• Contribute to the overall growth of the football partnerships business.

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 10 years of relevant experience in sports marketing, partnerships, sponsorship, talent representation, sales, or a related commercial field.

• Demonstrated experience in developing, negotiating, and finalizing athlete endorsement and brand partnership agreements.

• Strong connections across brands, agencies, and the broader sports marketing industry.

• Experience in managing senior client and stakeholder relationships.

• In-depth understanding of football, athlete marketing, and the wider partnership landscape.

• Exceptional commercial, business development, negotiation, and sales skills.

• Excellent relationship-building, communication, and presentation capabilities.

• Strong strategic thinking skills with the ability to convert ideas and relationships into commercial prospects.

• Capability to manage multiple priorities and relationships in a dynamic environment.

• Robust understanding of contemporary marketing, digital platforms, culture, and consumer trends.

• Fluency in both English and Italian is required.

• A Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Sports Management, or a related field is preferred but not mandatory.

🏝️ Benefits

• Employment opportunities and benefits.

• Non-discrimination protections in the provision of employment opportunities and benefits.