Director of Social, Sports Partnerships

STN Digital•San Diego, CA

4d•$136,000 - $170,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Social, Sports Partnerships brings senior social leadership to major sports partnership assignments and helps strengthen and scale STN Digital’s capabilities in this area. The role turns sponsorships, athlete and talent access, rights and major sports moments into social-first work that connects with fans. It spans ongoing social strategy, athlete and talent partnerships, campaigns and live events, with a focus on making work more relevant to audiences and more impactful for clients. The Director partners with STN leadership and cross-functional teams to evolve the agency’s approach, apply learnings to future assignments, contribute social thinking to new-business pitches, and help onboard new clients. The role combines strategic and creative thinking, sports fluency, performance-minded decision-making and capability building. It also provides senior social leadership across STN’s client portfolio and supports client outcomes by connecting performance to strategy and improving reach and engagement. This is a hybrid role based in San Diego, California, with required weekly in-office time. San Diego-based employees are expected to be at STN headquarters on Tuesdays and attend other in-office events. Candidates outside San Diego may be considered if open to relocation; a remote start with an agreed relocation timeline and relocation support may be available. The position requires frequent or occasional travel for client meetings, conferences, onsite support, internal planning summits and client on-sites, as well as evening and/or weekend work as required by the sports and entertainment industry. The role is full-time, reports to the Sr. Director, Social, and offers a San Diego-based salary range of $136,000–$170,000 plus benefits; compensation may vary based on experience, location and job-related qualifications.

Requirements

At least 8 years of social strategy and leadership experience, including significant experience in sports.
Experience leading social strategy for large, complex brands and navigating the sports ecosystem, including leagues, athletes, talent, rights and major moments.
Experience leading senior client relationships and managing and developing social talent.
Deep expertise in social strategy and platform-native content.
Strong understanding of sports culture and the broader sports ecosystem.
Strong strategic and creative instincts, including the ability to identify opportunities beyond a brief and turn them into actionable recommendations.
Confidence leading senior client conversations and pushing back when needed.
Ability to quickly understand new clients, audiences and business challenges.
Strong cross-functional collaboration skills across Social, Creative, Production and Client teams.
Experience using social performance and analytics to inform strategy, identify opportunities and improve content.
Strong judgment in complex, fast-moving environments.
Comfort working remotely for 40 hours per week, with evening and/or weekend work as required by the sports and entertainment industry.
For San Diego-based employees, ability to meet hybrid expectations, including weekly attendance at STN headquarters on Tuesdays and other in-office events.
Ability to travel for client meetings, internal meetings or client on-sites.
For candidates outside San Diego, openness to relocation is required; the role may allow a remote start subject to an agreed-upon relocation timeline.

Nice To Haves

Experience in sports sponsorships, brand partnerships, leagues, teams, athlete partnerships or sports properties.
Integrated agency experience.
New-business and pitch experience.

Responsibilities

Lead senior social strategy across major sports partnership assignments.
Turn sponsorships, athlete and talent access, rights and major sports moments into social-first ideas that connect with fans.
Develop a point of view on how brands can participate credibly and meaningfully in sports culture.
Identify strategic, creative and cultural opportunities beyond the immediate brief, including new audiences, formats, platforms and partnerships.
Develop original ideas and strengthen work through collaboration with Social, Creative and Production.
Use performance, audience intelligence and fan behavior to inform recommendations and next steps.
Lead senior client conversations and challenge thinking when doing so can strengthen the work.
Turn learnings from sports partnership assignments into points of view, approaches and practices that improve future work.
Help evolve STN’s approach to social-first sports partnership work with agency leadership.
Identify approaches that can be repeated, adapted or scaled across assignments without creating a one-size-fits-all playbook.
Contribute senior social strategy and ideas to priority new-business pitches and help prospective clients envision social opportunities for their sports partnerships.
Help onboard new sports partnership clients and establish a strong strategic foundation.
Provide senior social leadership across STN’s client portfolio, including stepping into priority client work, high-stakes moments and complex strategic challenges.
Quickly understand different clients, audiences and business challenges while respecting the expertise and ownership of the teams closest to the work.
Build trust across Social, Creative, Analytics, Production and Client teams, and use judgment about when to push, step in or let others lead.
Understand success measures for assigned clients and keep performance connected to strategy.
Partner with Analytics to assess performance, audience behavior and opportunities, and apply learnings to future work.
Push teams beyond reporting results toward applying performance learnings to the work.
Consistently improve client reach and engagement against benchmarks year over year.
Help build a deeper, stronger senior social team at STN.