Associate Manager, Sports & Wellness Partnerships

通用磨坊股份有限公司•Minneapolis, MN

14d•$95,300 - $159,100•Onsite

About The Position

We’re looking for a creative, commercially minded collaborator who knows how to turn sports culture into meaningful brand connections. As the Associate Manager, Sports and Wellness Partnerships, you’ll sit at the intersection of General Mills brands, sports and wellness partners, agencies, and the broader culture surrounding teams, leagues, athletes, creators, and fans. You’ll help identify what is interesting and emerging in sports culture. You’ll translate insights into ideas that fit a brand strategy or creative platform, excite consumers, and create meaningful value for both General Mills and our partners. This role supports partnerships across a portfolio of brands and requires equal comfort with big-picture thinking, creative development, negotiation, contracts, and executional support. You’ll work closely with brand management, agency partners, legal, public relations, media, finance, and external partners. You’ll remain closely involved throughout the life of a partnership—from identifying an opportunity and shaping the idea to negotiating terms, managing contracts, trafficking assets, securing approvals, and bringing the work to market.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree.
5+ years of related experience in brand partnerships, sports marketing, sponsorships, licensing, talent partnerships, or work spanning multiple marketing communication touchpoints
Experience creating, selling in, and executing ideas connected to a brand strategy or consumer opportunity.
Demonstrated passion for sports culture and curiosity about teams, leagues, athletes, creators, media, fan communities, emerging sports, and the broader sports landscape.
Experience working closely with internal legal teams and external partners through detailed, complex contracts.
Excellent communication, presentation, and storytelling skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels and build strong working relationships across internal teams and external partners.
Strong strategic and creative thinking, with the ability to move between cultural insights, big-picture opportunities, and executional details.
Ability to navigate ambiguity and manage multiple projects, priorities, stakeholders, and deadlines in a fast-moving environment.
Strong attention to detail and a commitment to precise, high-quality execution, including the willingness and ability to work hands-on throughout the partnership lifecycle with partner communications, approvals, asset coordination, and issue resolution.

Nice To Haves

Experience evaluating or negotiating sponsorship platforms, talent opportunities, licensing arrangements, partnership rights, or other commercial deals.
Experience assessing the value of partnership assets and recommending tradeoffs among budget, scope, rights, deliverables, and partner expectations.
Track record of collaborating with teams, leagues, athletes, agents, agencies, creators, or other partners to bring holistic ideas to life.
Experience working with national brands or across a portfolio of brands.

Responsibilities

Develop sports and wellness partnership opportunities for General Mills brands based on brand strategies, consumer needs, and business objectives, responding to brand briefs and budgets while also proactively bringing forward relevant opportunities.
Monitor sports culture, news, trends, athletes, teams, leagues, creators, fan behaviors, emerging sports, and media shifts; build relationships across the industry to identify opportunities.
Translate cultural insights into partnership concepts that are authentic to the partner, relevant to the brand, and compelling to consumers, then create persuasive recommendations and pitches that clearly communicate the idea, strategic fit, and potential value.
Evaluate partnership platforms, talent opportunities, rights, assets, deliverables, and proposed costs; use market knowledge and prior deals to assess value and recommend tradeoffs.
Lead partner-facing communications across idea development, presentations, deal negotiation, and contract execution, working closely with internal legal and external partners through detailed contracts, revisions, approvals, rights, obligations, and other partnership requirements.
Influence across internal teams and external partners without relying on formal decision-making authority.
Support the development and execution of partnership activations, content, experiences, and integrated campaigns, managing deliverables, approvals, and partner inputs from signed agreement through launch and closeout.
Stay close to day-to-day execution, including trafficking assets, coordinating feedback, resolving issues, and keeping work moving across a lean team.
Help assess partnership performance, capture learnings, and apply those insights to future programs.
Contribute to an inclusive team culture grounded in curiosity, creativity, accountability, and strong collaboration.