Position: Director of Corporate Partnerships
Department: Business Development
Reports to: CRO/CEO
Background: Sporting Club Jacksonville, or "Sporting JAX" is the club founded in 2020 by a local Jacksonville ownership group and named in collaboration with the First Coast community in 2023.
The club's goal is to operate a men's professional USL Championship club, a women's professional USL Super League club and a USL Youth Academy through work with city and county authorities to develop a 15,000-capacity community stadium and training facilities to host the clubs in Northeast Florida.
The ownership group is led by successful business entrepreneur Ricky Caplin and includes sporting legends Tim Tebow and Fred Taylor, as well as experienced professional soccer executive Steve Livingstone and local community innovator Tony Allegretti. Additionally, UF women's soccer coaching legend Becky Burleigh leads Sporting JAX's efforts as a consultant to the women's pro team.
The club is a community-oriented organization focused on providing opportunities for youth development, fostering competition, and delivering exceptional professional soccer experiences.
The club's stadium and facilities will reach out beyond soccer to other sports and other sporting communities. Sporting JAX exists in part to advance soccer and an equal playing field in our community as well as provide a "sporting chance" for the underserved and marginalized.
Position Summary: The Director of Corporate Partnerships is a full-time position playing a leading role in the corporate partnerships sales and fulfillment team. This individual will be responsible for directing sales and selling integrated corporate partnership programs that incorporate all soccer and club-controlled assets.
These assets would include, but are not limited to stadium naming rights, matchday, youth sports, concerts, signage, TV, livestreams, radio, print and digital. The Corporate Partnerships Director will be responsible for managing and overseeing his/her sales process from the research and prospecting phase for new business to the execution of the contractual agreements with the corporate partners and managing the on-going relationships, fulfillment and renewal with those partners.
Working in a small team and reporting to the CRO/CEO, the ideal candidate will be a "sales focused" producer whose core responsibility will be to lead the team in identifying, developing and closing on new business. This is a selling and managing role.
Responsibilities:- Responsible for achieving established sales goals and budgets as set by Executives
- Responsible for prospecting, selling, cultivating, maintaining and renewing sponsorships, advertising, and corporate partnerships for a professional soccer team and stadium
- Develop, write and present corporate sponsorship proposals to key clients
- Responsible for overseeing customer service and activation of corporate partners
- Interface with broadcasting, accounting, marketing and ticket sales on internal systems related to sponsorship production, advertising inventory, cross-promotional obligation and internal accounts payable/receivable
- Other duties as assigned
Required Skills:- Prior experience selling multi-faceted advertising and sponsorship platforms to local, regional and national companies. Experience should include selling building signage and team assets, which include the following: signage, promotions, experiential marketing opportunities, radio, web and print
- Strong prospecting and project management skills
- Prior experience developing, writing and presenting sales proposals
- Prior experience with creating and implementing budgets and sales projections
- Strong conceptual and strategic skills, and ability to think "outside the box," and strong customer satisfaction orientation
- Strong leadership skills
- Demonstrate creativity in the development of innovative and effective sales campaigns
- Demonstrate ability to work with all personality types at the staff and management levels
- Ability to lead within a fast-paced environment and deliver against demanding timelines
- Excellent organizational and planning skills; must be self-motivated, creative, and detail oriented. Ability to organize and oversee multiple priorities and projects simultaneously under deadline
- Strong interpersonal communication skills; able to present a positive and professional image of the organization
- Able to work individually and in a collaborative team environment
- Ability and availability to work unsociable hours, evenings and weekends as necessary.
- Demonstrated ability to lead a partnerships team
- Strong problem solving, decision making and analytical skills
- Proficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint ), Google Suite.
- Proficient with sponsorship management and sales platforms such as SponsorCX, Sponsor United, CRM, database management and email marketing platforms
- Passionate about soccer utilizing the sport to lift up the community
- Must be legally authorized or able to obtain authorization to work in the U.S.
- Public speaking and presentation skills
- Ability to Multi-task is essential
Required Qualifications- Bachelor's Degree from a 4-year college or university
- Minimum of 5 years in corporate sales for a team
- Proven track record of personal and team achievements, with the ability to "make things happen"
- Must be able to work evenings, weekends and holidays as required and travel as needed
Job Questions- Are you willing to work outside of normal office hours for game-day, events, sales opportunities, etc.?
- Would you be willing to relocate to a new city for this position
- Do you have at least 5 years of corporate sales and sports experience
Benefits: This role offers a competitive salary and benefits including health, dental, and vision insurance, disability. Additional benefits include paid time off, paid holidays, discounted tickets and discounts on team merchandise.
NO PHONE CALLS OR EMAILS, PLEASE. Those selected for further consideration will be contacted directly.
The information contained in this job description is not exhaustive of all the duties and responsibilities, nor is it intended to be an all-inclusive list of the skills and abilities required to do the job. At the discretion of management, duties, and responsibilities may change due to reasonable accommodation or other reasons at any time.
Sporting JAX is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, class, religion, country of origin, political belief, disability, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, or any factor protected by law.
Job Questions:- Have you included a specific Cover Letter with your application detailing how you are qualified for this role and why you should be considered as a candidate for this position?
- Please provide examples of revenue generation.
- Are you based within a daily travel/commute to our Jacksonville, Florida offices or would be willing to relocate to the Northeast Florida region?