Senior Director, Football

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

• Develop APAC’s football and commercial strategy in partnership with Global Football leadership and APAC Commercial and Strategy teams
• Identify new revenue opportunities across traditional and non-traditional business models to drive growth in the APAC region
• Identify football rightsholders where IMG can deliver value and expand its football portfolio across APAC
• Act as the senior commercial lead for football in APAC, including leadership of key properties such as AS Roma and support across the wider football portfolio(e.g. Chinese Super League)
• Lead major regional initiatives and projects that have material impact on the business at both regional and international levels
• Work closely with Production and Digital teams to identify rightsholders and partners that would benefit from the full breadth of IMG’s services
• Set annual sponsorship revenue targets and define go-to-market plans, including pricing, tiering, and packaging, in partnership with Sales Operations and cross-functional teams
• Drive sponsorship sales across the IMG Football portfolio in APAC by developing senior-level client relationships and new commercial opportunities
• Consistently identify target brands and generate senior-level client meetings, both face-to-face and virtual
• Lead sponsorship presentations and commercial negotiations through to contract execution
• Maximize revenue opportunities to achieve or exceed regional targets
• Partner with sponsorship account managers to ensure successful contract delivery and support renewals
• Work collaboratively with the wider IMG sales organization to share best practices and support team development
• Ensure sales pipelines and deals are accurately maintained in CRM systems
• Maintain strong awareness of competitor activity, market trends, and relevant sponsorships in APAC
• Provide weekly and monthly forecasting and reporting to senior divisional leadership within Strategic Partnerships
• Represent IMG Football at major football and sports industry events across the APAC region
• Management of internal stakeholders across marketing, events, operations, sales and account management

Knowledge and Experience:

• Extensive sponsorship sales experience with a demonstrable track record of sourcing new business and opening doors
• Proven track record in sponsorship sales and as a relationship builder, having an expansive existing contact base and existing network
• Experience in negotiating high value, complex, commercial contracts and global sponsorship/partnership deals across multiple platforms
• Proven track record of successful client relationships and strategic account management/engagement
• Experience developing business plans and tracking pipelines to ensure sales are delivered
• Experience initiating and driving sales with limited hands-on guidance
• Track record of leveraging referrals, developing leads, and securing meetings with prospective suppliers and partners through research, outbound calls, and building an industry network profile
• Demonstrable knowledge of accurate forecasting and revisiting business plans regularly
• Effective communication skills with a broad range of audiences. Experience in presenting partnership opportunities to and engagement of senior and c-level executives and targeted companies and brands
• Experience in the development of bespoke and tailored propositions to suit the needs of individual companies
• A thorough understanding of the end-to-end sales process and the customer buying process(including awareness of the emotional connections required by brands)
• Working knowledge of closing deals including negotiation of commercial terms and working alongside the legal team to negotiate and conclude contractual agreements
• Demonstrable knowledge of the digital landscape in sports, sponsorship activation across all platforms and trends on consumer behavior to spot opportunities for new business