Manager, Partnership Activations
One Knoxville
Full-time
On-site
Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
Sponsorship & Corporate Partnerships, Professional Soccer, Manager
About Our Organization:
One Knoxville SC is a professional soccer club competing in USL League One and USL W League, dedicated to providing family-friendly soccer entertainment and fostering a strong sense of community within Knoxville. In the Front Office, One Knox is committed to building a staff focused on holistic growth - growth for the Club, growth for the business, and growth for the individual. We have found success with new hires who are aspirationally pursuing building success in their career and have struggled with those who are simply looking for their next job. The Partnership department is led by VP, Partnerships Ami Rabiei.
The Ideal Candidate:
We’re seeking someone who sees their work not as a job, but as a lifestyle—someone who thrives in a collaborative, fast-paced environment and is deeply committed to personal and professional growth. The ideal candidate is eager to immerse themselves in every layer of the club, bringing curiosity, initiative, and a team-first mindset to the role while excelling in organization. They are as comfortable building recap decks and presenting as they are on the ground setting up activations on matchday. They understand that strong partnerships are built through trust, creativity, and consistency, and they take pride in delivering exceptional experiences to both partners and fans. They understand that a strong sense of the value new technologies can provide can amplify their impact and the Club’s impact in Knoxville. This person is energized by the opportunity to grow within an ambitious and values-driven organization, and they’re excited to be part of building something bigger than themselves in Knoxville.
Job Summary:
The Manager, Partnerships Activation will be responsible for the day-to-day management and execution of partnership accounts and their deliverables while assessing asset performance, tracking ROI and consistently reporting to partners and the VP, Partnerships. This position plays a key role in partnership sales, managing relationships, retaining, and assuring a valuable experience for, our partners. While building and managing relationships as well as the execution of deliverables, the Partnerships Activation Manager is doing so with renewals and sales in mind. Throughout the off-season, renewal conversations and sales are just as front of mind as preparing and planning for the upcoming season.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities:
- Proactively and consistently engage with partners to build and maintain strong, long-lasting relationships.
- Execute and fulfill multiple partnership agreements.
- Have a strong understanding of each partner's business, their goals/objectives for their partnership with us and serve as an extension of their business.
- Plan, manage and document, in CRM, all partnership communications, including regular outreach calls/meetings, recap meetings and presentations.
- Collaborate with other One Knoxville SC departments including Ticket Sales, Operations, Creative and Marketing, etc. to strategize and fulfil partnership deliverables.
- Track all partnership fulfillment costs and strategically allocate funds to stay within the fulfillment budget for each partner account.
- Manage and execute partner activations, VIP experiences, promotions and other elements during matchdays, including the setup and teardown of assets.
- Compile and create event specific recaps, midseason recaps, and end-of-year recaps for all assigned corporate partners to demonstrate asset fulfillment and ROI.
- Regularly support the Partnerships Sales team with communications and ideas/solutions for current partners and prospective partners.
- Assist in the planning and execution of department events such as One Knoxville SC Business Alliance Events.
- Other various duties as assigned that benefit the entire One Knoxville SC team.
Required Skills, Experience & Abilities
- Four-year degree in Sports Management, Marketing, Business or other relevant field.
- Experience and an understanding of sponsorship sales is preferred.
- Excellent communication skills, including the aptitude to compose effective correspondence tailored to each relationship; proven ability to correctly use punctuation and grammar.
- Ability to problem solve and be solution oriented.
- Highly organized and able to manage multiple projects at once.
- Ability to work with other departments on integrating sponsor needs and requests.
- Team-oriented and self-sufficient with good judgment.
- Ability to multi-task, be proactive, and take initiative.
- Flexible and comfortable in a fast-paced working environment.
- Ability to think creatively as it pertains to developing marketing and activation campaigns.
- Comfortable and experienced with public speaking and group presentations.
- Preferred experience and knowledge in CRM platforms like Hubspot and familiarity preferred with other supporting data analysis platforms.
- Ability to work nights, weekends, and holidays.
- Ability to sit, stand, bend, walk, and climb stairs for long periods of time.
- Ability to lift 20 lbs+.