Senior Partnerships Manager

Employment Hero; Sydney; On-site; AUD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work arrangements

Birthday Leave

Study Leave

Wellbeing & Lifestyle leave

Paid Parental leave

Volunteer leave

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Partner discounts

Workplace Banking Program

Social activities like 5-a-side futsal

Job summary

Football Australia is seeking a Senior Partnerships Manager to lead relationships with tier-one partners and deliver multi-channel sponsorship activations across broadcast, digital, social, experiential and match-day channels.

You will translate strategic aims into annual plans, manage a Partnerships Executive, and drive renewals and growth, ensuring strong ROI/ROO and alignment with our national teams and campaigns.

Qualifications

• 5+ years’ experience managing partnerships or corporate accounts in sport, media, entertainment, or agency environments.
• Proven people leader with experience mentoring or managing junior team members
• Strong commercial acumen, with a solid understanding of sponsorship strategy and brand objectives
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence senior decision-makers
• Highly organised, with experience delivering multi-channel campaigns across multiple accounts

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day relationships with tier-one partners, aligning to their commercial and marketing objectives
• Translate partnership strategy into clear, actionable annual account plans
• Deliver end-to-end sponsorship activations across broadcast, digital, social, experiential and match-day channels
• Manage and mentor a Partnerships Executive, ensuring high-quality delivery and outputs
• Support renewals and upsell opportunities, identifying growth across the partner portfolio
• Collaborate cross-functionally (Marketing, Media, Digital, Events, Legal) to deliver integrated campaigns
• Ensure compliance with player IP, commercial frameworks, and brand governance standards
• Lead partner reporting, including campaign analysis and performance insights

Skills

Partnerships management

People leadership

Stakeholder management

Campaign planning

Multichannel campaigns

Job description

AI Job Summary

• 5+ years managing partnerships or corporate accounts in sport, media, entertainment, or agency environments.
• Proven people leader, mentoring/managing junior team members (Partnerships Executive).
• Lead day-to-day relationships with tier-one partners aligned to their commercial and marketing objectives.

Role Type

On-site Permanent Full-time Mid-level Senior

Description

ABOUT US

• Purpose: To lead, promote, unite, develop and regulate football Vision: To unite and elevate Australian football to become a world class, globally respected system to inspire our national, developing excellence at every level Mission: Working with our stakeholders everyday – to build the capability, capacity and capital we need now and in the future – to transform every football dream into reality

To achieve the above, we live by our company values which are:

• Welcome: Open doors, open minds, open hearts – and respect
• Ready: Always ready, Always ahead
• Connect: Together, united
• Excel: Our best, every day in every way
• Protect: Guarding the game, Securing the future

WHAT WE OFFER

At Football Australia we want to look after our people and below are just some of the many benefits of joining our team:

• Flexible work arrangements
• Birthday Leave
• Study Leave
• Wellbeing & Lifestyle leave
• Paid Parental leave in addition to statutory government offering
• Volunteer leave
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Partner discounts
• Workplace Banking Program
• Social activities such as 5-a-side futsal

BACKGROUND & PURPOSE OF THE ROLE The Senior Partnerships Manager is a critical management role responsible for the relationship management, commercial execution, and account health of a tier-one portfolio of commercial partners. Acting as the primary strategic anchor for top-tier sponsors, this role ensures all contractual business objectives and ROI/ROO metrics are met. Positioned strategically between leadership and operations, the incumbent translates the overarching strategy set by the Head of Partnerships into clear, actionable delivery plans, whilst managing and mentoring a Partnerships Executive to ensure operational excellence across match days and campaigns. This role connects premium global and local brands to the nation’s most loved national teams including the CommBank Matildas and CommBank Socceroos – driving best-in-class sponsorship leverage across the entire football ecosystem.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead day-to-day relationships with tier-one partners, aligning to their commercial and marketing objectives
• Translate partnership strategy into clear, actionable annual account plans
• Deliver end-to-end sponsorship activations across broadcast, digital, social, experiential and match-day channels
• Manage and mentor a Partnerships Executive, ensuring high-quality delivery and outputs
• Support renewals and upsell opportunities, identifying growth across the partner portfolio
• Collaborate cross-functionally (Marketing, Media, Digital, Events, Legal) to deliver integrated campaigns
• Ensure compliance with player IP, commercial frameworks, and brand governance standards
• Lead partner reporting, including campaign analysis and performance insights

ROLE OUTCOMES/ DELIVERABLES

• Sponsor Satisfaction: Exceed partner satisfaction targets and qualitative benchmarks through proactive relationship management and service excellence
• Campaign Delivery: Ensure 100% of campaign plans and contractual entitlements are delivered on time, meeting or exceeding set ROI/ROO metrics
• Operational Efficiency: Establish clear delegation workflows with the Partnerships Executive, achieving high-hygiene asset tracking and efficient approval speeds
• Reporting Excellence: Deliver comprehensive, data-driven post-campaign and match-window reports within established organisational timelines
• Commercial Growth: Proactively contribute to the ideation and strategic presentation of successful partner renewals and expansion projects.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND EXPERIENCE Essential

• 5+ years’ experience managing partnerships or corporate accounts in sport, media, entertainment, or agency environments
• Proven people leader with experience mentoring or managing junior team members
• Strong commercial acumen, with a solid understanding of sponsorship strategy and brand objectives
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence senior decision-makers
• Highly organised, with experience delivering multi-channel campaigns across multiple accounts

Desirable

• Experience within a rights holder or major sporting organisation
• Strong knowledge of the football landscape (local and global)