Sales Manager, Global Partnerships

DFL

At Manchester United, our focus is to create a high-performance environment where everyone can be their best, working together towards our common goal of football success. We believe the key to achieving this goal is connection and collaboration. Everyone coming together, working from one of our Manchester United office locations every working day to share skills, knowledge and ideas, building on the best of what we already do and looking at where we need to change and innovate.

The Purpose:

As a Sales Manager, you will play a pivotal role in driving revenue growth through the acquisition and retention of Partnerships & Alliances (sponsorship deals) for Manchester United. Your exceptional sales acumen, strategic thinking, ability to storytell through data, and engage with senior executives will be crucial in securing high-level partnerships, maximising revenue streams, and contributing to the overall success of our organisation.

The Role:

• Connect with potential partners at the C-suite level, evaluating their suitability for Manchester United and aligning their brand objectives with the club’s offerings. Although industry contacts is a bonus and ability to source your own prospects is expected, this role does not require lead generation. There is a sales support team responsible for sourcing leads. Cold calling/ emailing is a part of the role.
• Bespoke Sales Strategy: Develop and implement a tailored sales strategy that aligns with the prospects’ overall brand objectives and strategic growth or marketing plans.
• Relationship Building: Establish and nurture relationships with key decision-makers externally, demonstrating the unique benefits of partnership opportunities with Manchester United.
• Pitch Creation: Create compelling, bespoke pitches and proposals that showcase the unique benefits and value proposition of partnering with Manchester United. This includes demonstrating exposure, audience reach, and marketing activations.
• Data-Driven Selling: Use analytical, data-led proof points, leveraging internal and external resources to demonstrate the ROI and value of a partnership with Manchester United. This role requires the ability to do an emotional sell, backed up by data.
• Contract Negotiation: Negotiate commercial contracts, together with the legal team, to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes for both the club and the partner.
• Collaborative Strategy: Cross collaborate with internal stakeholders, including technology, football management, venue, marketing, events, and operations teams, to understand the club’s needs and identify how prospect products can provide effective solutions whilst ensuring alignment with clubs needs and objectives.
• Relationship Management: Maintain high-level relationships with prospects and existing partners, focusing on satisfaction, renewals, and upselling opportunities. This is not an account management role for existing partners; you will engage with partners strategically, using a light touch to drive renewals and identify upselling possibilities without managing day-to-day activations.
• Market Insight: Stay informed about sports and prospect industry trends, market conditions, and competitors’ activities to identify new opportunities and maintain a competitive edge.
• Networking: Participate in industry events, conferences, and networking opportunities to expand your network and engage with potential high-level prospects.

The Person:

• Ability to engage, influence and manage senior level stakeholders both internally and externally.
• Demonstrates expertise in managing complex, high-value deals from initial contact through proposal development and contract negotiation, particularly in challenging environments and for premium brands.
• Analytical mindset with capability to understand partner objectives and structure and present relevant sales data to deliver on these.
• Exhibits strong strategic thinking by tailoring pitches and preparing highly detailed data and analytics to absolute accuracy levels and aligning them to internal and external objectives.
• Leverages data effectively to support emotional sales pitches, using analytics to clearly demonstrate ROI.
• A strong track record of presenting to external stakeholders at a range of levels and cross border – you must be able to articulate complex narratives with complete clarity.
• Prior experience working across a range of internal functions and with a strong understanding of all aspects of the marketing mix.
• Shows a solid grasp of ability to negotiate commercial contract terms and legal considerations, particularly in the context of high-value agreements.
• Candidates must be prepared to travel extensively (up to 60%), often on short notice, and be available to attend matches and events outside of regular working hours, including evenings and weekends.
• Applicants must be able to demonstrate experience of working to tight deadlines in a high-performance environment.

A strong team player, you will be part of a small, high performance team and will need to demonstrate an exceptional attitude towards teamwork, whilst being able to self-motivate and approach the role with high levels of proactivity.