Senior Manager, Global Business Development
About The Position
The Senior Manager, Global Business Development will be responsible for driving North America revenue growth, developing marquee partnerships, and cultivating new business opportunities across the WSL ecosystem — including events, media, content, digital platforms, and sustainability programs. Reporting to the SVP, Global Business Development, this individual will be involved in strategic prospecting, pitching, and closing of multi-dimensional partnerships that align with WSL’s brand values, audience, and long-term business strategy. The role is both highly entrepreneurial and deeply collaborative, requiring a strategic thinker and relationship builder who can translate brand needs into world-class, customized partnership solutions. This is a hybrid role, with 3 days in office based out of our Los Angeles headquarters.
Requirements
- 3-5+ years of experience in sports, entertainment, media, or brand partnership sales, with a proven record of securing six figure deals.
- Network of decision maker relationships across brands, agencies, and categories relevant to WSL’s ecosystem.
- Experience in consultative, solution-based sales, with the ability to translate brand objectives into creative, data-driven partnership concepts.
- Deep understanding of the evolving sports and entertainment landscape, including integrated commercial models across media, content, experiential, digital, sustainability-driven marketing, and purpose-led storytelling.
- Bachelor’s degree required
Nice To Haves
- Experience working within or alongside sports properties (e.g., Collegiate Athletics, NBA, NHL, PGA, MLS) strongly preferred.
- Passion for surfing, action sports, or ocean sustainability preferred.
- advanced degree a plus.
Responsibilities
- Develop a comprehensive understanding of WSL’s brand, products, audiences, and global positioning within the sports and entertainment ecosystem to articulate a unique and compelling commercial narrative.
- Identify, qualify, and secure new partners across our portfolio of events.
- Create customized, year-round partnership programs that leverage WSL’s media, digital, event, and community assets in authentic, value-driven ways aligned with partner objectives to generate measurable ROI.
- Incorporate data and analytics to evaluate opportunities, forecast revenue potential, and optimize performance.
- Build and manage a robust pipeline of prospective partners, maintaining disciplined tracking, forecasting, and reporting through CRM tools (Salesforce or similar).
- Work cross-functionally with internal teams, including Marketing, Content, Broadcast, Digital, Athlete Relations, and Event Operations, to design innovative partnership platforms and deliver commercially sound, scalable solutions.
- Partner with internal WSL teams to ensure sales strategy aligns with WSL’s brand purpose, creative vision, and organizational priorities.
- Guarantee seamless transitions of new partners to the Marketing Partnerships team for activation and sustained success, ensuring continuity and excellent client service.
- Consistently deliver annual sales growth objectives and contribute to long-term revenue planning.
- Maintain a disciplined, transparent pipeline management process using CRM tools (e.g., Salesforce or similar) to track progress, forecast revenue, and report performance.
- Contribute to special projects and cross-department initiatives that advance WSL’s broader commercial strategy.
Benefits
- Competitive base salary, commensurate with experience.
- Commission and performance-based incentives tied to sales goals and revenue growth.
- Comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, vision, 401(k), paid time off.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
