Senior Director of Brand Activations & Partnerships

Eli Lilly and Company • Indianapolis, IN

1d • Onsite

About The Position

Lilly is seeking a Senior Director of Sports & Entertainment Marketing to lead the strategy, partnerships, and activation of Lilly’s global presence across sports, entertainment, and culture. This role sits within the Global Media & Partnerships team and will oversee a portfolio spanning athletes, teams, leagues, celebrity talent, entertainment content, and cultural partnerships. Reporting to the Vice President of Global Media & Partnerships, this leader will define how Lilly authentically shows up in culture — leveraging sports and entertainment platforms to elevate the Lilly brand, support disease education, and build trust with patients, healthcare providers, and broader audiences. This role will supervise a team responsible for managing sports and entertainment partnerships, talent collaborations, and integrated brand activations across Lilly’s enterprise. The Senior Director will ensure all partnerships deliver strategic value while maintaining a balance between Lilly’s brand intent and the authentic voice of athletes, talent, and creators. The ideal candidate is a strategic and collaborative leader with deep experience in sports and entertainment marketing, partnership development, talent management, and integrated brand storytelling. They should have a consistent track record of building high-impact partnerships, leading agencies and teams, and navigating complex cross-functional environments within regulated industries.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, business, or related field.
• 10+ years of experience in sports marketing, entertainment marketing, partnership development, or talent management.
• 5+ years of leadership experience managing teams.
• Qualified applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Lilly will not provide support for or sponsor work authorization or visas for this role, including but not limited to F-1 CPT, F-1 OPT, F-1 STEM OPT, J-1, H-1B, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, or L-1.

Nice To Haves

• Experience leading partnerships across athletes, sports leagues, teams, entertainment talent, and cultural platforms.
• Deep understanding of sports marketing, entertainment partnerships, and talent-led storytelling.
• Experience leading integrated brand partnerships and large-scale sponsorships.
• Experience running agency relationships and external partners.
• Strong leadership presence with the ability to influence across a complex global organization.
• Excellent critical thinking and relationship leadership skills.
• Demonstrated ability to lead in a fast-paced, matrixed, and global environment.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead Lilly’s global sports and entertainment marketing strategy, identifying how partnerships across athletes, teams, leagues, entertainment talent, and cultural platforms can advance Lilly’s brand and business priorities.
• Establish a significant role for the Lilly brand within sports and entertainment, ensuring partnerships align with Lilly’s purpose, reputation, and strategic priorities.
• Identify and evaluate new partnership opportunities across sports leagues, teams, athletes, entertainment platforms, streaming content, and cultural moments that support Lilly’s enterprise objectives.
• Develop long-term partnership frameworks that improve impact across brand building, disease awareness, and business growth.
• Oversee Lilly’s global athlete, celebrity, and talent engagement strategy, ensuring partnerships reflect authentic storytelling and align with Lilly’s brand values.
• Lead negotiations and strategic management of partnerships with athletes, sports leagues, teams, entertainment talent, studios, and cultural organizations.
• Ensure talent collaborations balance brand intent with authentic voice and lived experience, building trust and cultural relevance.
• Collaborate with teams to develop talent storytelling strategies that reinforce Lilly’s mission to improve health outcomes and advance understanding of disease.
• Collaborate with creative, media, and PR teams to bring partnerships to life through content, experiential marketing, media integrations, and storytelling platforms.
• Oversee creative integration of sponsorships and talent into sports programming, entertainment content, and cultural moments.
• Lead and develop a team responsible for sports partnerships, talent management, and entertainment marketing initiatives.
• Provide strategic direction and mentorship to ensure high-performing execution across partnership portfolios.
• Develop a culture of collaboration, creativity, and operational excellence across the team.
• Oversee relationships with sports marketing agencies, entertainment agencies, talent representation firms, and creative partners.
• Serve as a senior leader coordinating with internal collaborators including Media, PR, Legal, Privacy, Ethics & Compliance, Regulatory, and Brand teams.
• Ensure cross-functional alignment and seamless execution of partnership initiatives.
• Develop measurement frameworks to evaluate the brand and business impact of sports and entertainment partnerships, including brand lift, engagement, and contribution to business outcomes.
• Partner with analytics teams to track performance and continuously optimize partnership investments.
• Supervise budgets and financial planning across sports and entertainment partnerships, ensuring strong fiscal accountability.
• Partner with procurement and finance teams to ensure compliance with Lilly’s contracting and financial processes.
• Maintain operational rigor in contract management, partnership governance, and compliance with regulatory requirements.

Benefits

• company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance)
• company-sponsored 401(k)
• pension
• vacation benefits
• eligibility for medical, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits
• flexible benefits (e.g., healthcare and/or dependent day care flexible spending accounts)
• life insurance and death benefits
• certain time off and leave of absence benefits
• well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior