Associate Manager, Partnerships

Wella

About The Position

The OPI Global Partnership Associate Manager is responsible for identifying, developing, and managing strategic relationships that support organizational goals. This role involves cultivating partnerships with external stakeholders, coordinating collaborative initiatives, and ensuring that partnership activities align with the organization's mission, brand identity and growth strategies. Reporting to a Global Marketing Director Partnerships, you will help lead to drive the business through strategic partnerships that increase brand awareness, drive net revenue and disrupts the nail category.

Requirements

3+ years of experience in licensing, brand partnerships and business development
Working knowledge of contract development and partnership agreements, intellectual properties, and licensing best practices.
Experience collaborating with a diverse teams both externally and internally
Strong analytical skills and digitally savvy
Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Strong relationship-building and interpersonal skills.
Ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines
Negotiation and presentation skills.
Comfort working both independently and collaboratively across teams
Proficient computer knowledge - MS Office (specifically Excel, PowerPoint)
A bachelor's degree is required

Nice To Haves

Experience in strategic partnership marketing pertaining to the following fields a plus: entertainment, beauty, and/or fashion
Familiarity with consumer behavior trends and pop culture
Strong collaborator with excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills; able to work effectively with all levels of management.
Strong research abilities and knowledge of both emerging and established brands.
Enthusiastic about tracking partnership trends.

Responsibilities

Help source and evaluate potential partners aligned with organizational priorities.
Conduct follow-up outreach to prospective partners and maintain a pipeline of opportunities.
Support negotiations and assist in developing partnership proposals, term sheets, agreements, and contracts.
Serve as the secondary contact for partners, ensuring high-quality support and communication.
Help maintain strong, long-term relationships with existing partners and stakeholders.
Manage day-to-day licensing activities
Track deal terms, timelines, deliverables, and renewals to ensure accuracy and compliance.
Collaborate cross-functionally with internal teams and markets (marketing, product, operations, etc.) to implement partnership initiatives.
Track partner deliverables, timelines, royalty reports and shared KPIs to ensure objectives are met.
Assist with planning and executing joint events, campaigns, or programs.
Conduct market and industry research to identify trends and partnership opportunities.
Analyze partnership performance and prepare reports for leadership.
Gather and organize assets for pitch presentations, including overviews, strategy decks, and past campaign examples.
Participate when needed in brainstorms and concept development for future partnerships.
As this is a global function, candidate will be required to participate in and contribute to all our market calls and meetings with the key markets to get alignment on future partnerships.
Work closely with the US/CAN teams to make sure they are given ample pitches/decks/ support to get incremental placement in top retailers
Manage administrative tasks including tracking IP assets, distributing NDAs, updating status reports, help process royalty reports, and assisting with contracts as needed.
Partner with the product marketing team on key initiatives to adapt strategy of partnerships
Oversee the entire partnership lifecycle, from initial discussions to contract negotiations and implementation to post-mortem reports