Senior Manager, Brand Partnerships

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in California, +1 more state.

📋 Description

• Assist the Senior Director in overseeing potential brand partners from initial discovery to scoping, feasibility evaluation, proposal creation, and deal handoff.

• Manage the post-close lifecycle of national brand partnerships, ensuring final execution and comprehensive wrap-up reporting.

• Convert signed partnership agreements and deliverables into detailed project plans, timelines, and cross-functional workflows.

• Oversee daily execution, deliverables, deadlines, budgets, and dependencies.

• Identify and address risks, blockers, and changes in scope.

• Facilitate coordination among Marketing, Production Design, Operations, Legal, and Finance teams.

• Manage partnerships that span multiple Museum of Ice Cream locations.

• Ensure alignment among stakeholders regarding roles, responsibilities, and timelines.

• Guarantee compliance with brand, safety, legal, and operational standards.

• Act as the primary contact for partners on a day-to-day basis after the deal is closed.

• Manage partner expectations and provide regular status updates.

• Ensure that each MOIC location delivers the expected partner experience.

• Directly supervise three Local Activations & Partnerships Managers located in Boston, Chicago, and New York.

• Establish goals, prioritize tasks, mentor direct reports, manage performance, and support professional growth.

• Transform national partnership concepts into localized playbooks, deliverables, timelines, and activation benchmarks.

• Guide local teams in discovering and developing market-specific partnership opportunities.

• Deploy local execution teams for priority activations.

• Collaborate with General Managers and Operations teams to tailor programs for local audiences and operational realities.

• Create post-execution recaps and performance reports.

• Monitor KPIs such as revenue, attendance, visibility, and guest experience.

• Maintain up-to-date views of ongoing partnerships, their statuses, and execution timelines.

• Identify opportunities for renewals, repeat partnerships, and expansion initiatives.

• Develop intake, evaluation, handoff, and execution processes.

• Construct repeatable partnership playbooks and templates.

• Recognize recurring execution challenges and address them systematically.

⛳️ Requirements

• 7+ years of experience in partnerships, advertising account management/client services, or integrated marketing, including agency-side experience in an account management or client leadership capacity.

• Proven experience in people management, including establishing priorities, mentoring direct reports, managing performance, and leading a distributed or market-based team.

• Experience managing both prospective and active clients through discovery, scoping, expectation setting, execution, reporting, and renewal or expansion discussions.

• Experience translating national campaigns or partnership platforms into localized initiatives across multiple markets, venues, or operational locations.

• Demonstrated ability to manage cross-functional projects across marketing, operations, legal, and finance without direct authority over those teams.

• Strong project management skills, with experience in creating and overseeing detailed timelines, budgets, and deliverable trackers.

• Exceptional partner-facing communication skills, capable of managing relationships, expectations, and challenging conversations with professionalism.

• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and able to simultaneously manage multiple partnerships and deadlines.

• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, dynamic environment, translating deal terms into clear, actionable plans.

• Strong skills in relationship-building, negotiation, and communication.

• Experience leading experiential programs, events, or physical brand activations from concept and client brief through on-the-ground execution.

• Familiarity with AI-driven sales tools and workflows, such as AI-powered lead scoring, conversational sales assistants, automated outreach, and follow-up.

• Nice to have: Experience in experiential marketing, hospitality, entertainment, or location-based consumer businesses.

• Nice to have: Experience executing partnerships that cover multiple markets or locations.

• Nice to have: Familiarity with project management tools, especially Asana.

• Nice to have: Experience in building partnership playbooks or operational processes from the ground up.

• Nice to have: A passion for playful, immersive experiences and the joy of ice cream.

🏝️ Benefits

• Competitive pay

• Annual bonus

• Stock options

• 401k, with matching contributions

• Paid time off and sick leave

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage

• Employee perks including Classpass, commuter discounts, employee assistance programs, and unlimited ice cream

• Opportunities for employee development

• 16 complimentary museum tickets per year for friends and family, with free entry for yourself

• 50% discount on retail products

• Potential for advancement within the organization