Vice President, Executive Recruiter – Sports Practice

WME•Madison, NY

About The Position

The Vice President, Executive Recruiter – Sports Practice will be a key member of WME’s newly launched executive recruitment practice. This is a rare opportunity to help build something from the ground up – backed by the deepest network in sports and entertainment. You’ll drive the full executive search lifecycle for C-suite and senior leadership mandates across sports franchises, leagues, and adjacent organizations, operating with the credibility of a 125-year-old global agency and the agility of a new venture. You’ll partner closely with the EVP & Senior Partner, WME Sports Property Solutions and Global Partnerships and leverage WME’s unparalleled relationships with ownership groups, leagues, and front offices – sourcing and placing the next generation of sports business leaders while helping build the infrastructure and candidate pipeline that will define this practice.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in HR, talent acquisition, or executive recruitment – ideally with direct exposure to the team, league, or sports property environment (e.g., in-house HR or recruiting at a professional franchise, league office, or major sports property), with a meaningful portion focused on sports business, sports media, or adjacent industries.
Strong understanding of how sports organizations hire – including org structures, comp norms, title conventions, and the decision-making dynamics between ownership, front office leadership, and HR.
Deep existing network across sports ownership groups, front offices, leagues, and sports media – with relationships that translate directly into candidate pipeline and client opportunity.
Highly organized and process-driven – comfortable managing multiple active searches simultaneously, tracking progress meticulously, and communicating clearly with both candidates and client contacts.

Nice To Haves

Prior experience at a recognized executive search firm with a sports or entertainment vertical, or in-house HR/people operations experience at a major sports property or organization (e.g., MLSE, AEG, a professional league, or similar).
Familiarity with CRM and ATS platforms (e.g., Cluen/Encore, LinkedIn Recruiter) and comfort building and maintaining structured pipeline tracking systems.
Comfort operating in a startup-within-a-company environment – building process and structure while simultaneously executing at a high level.
Experience supporting diversity and inclusion hiring initiatives, succession planning, or organizational design conversations within sports or entertainment contexts.

Responsibilities

Support the full executive search process across sports practice mandates – including candidate sourcing and screening, interview coordination, offer support, and onboarding logistics – ensuring seamless execution from brief to placement.
Proactively cultivate and maintain a deep, curated pipeline of senior sports business executives – including GMs, CMOs, COOs, CROs, and other C-suite and VP-level leaders – that WME can draw on to present to clients quickly and credibly.
Support trusted relationships with key decision-makers – including owners, presidents, CHROs, and board members – at sports franchises, leagues, and adjacent organizations to generate and retain client engagements.
Draft and refine job descriptions for open mandates in partnership with clients; conduct and maintain compensation benchmarking and market intelligence across sports business roles to inform both candidate positioning and client advisory.