Business Development Senior Manager, Sports & Media

Apply Digital; Vancouver; On-site; CAD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Apply Digital in Vancouver is seeking a senior go-to-market professional to own vertical growth through Account Intelligence, Top-of-Funnel ABM, and discovery support. You will build intelligence briefs on target accounts, surface engagement opportunities, and craft tailored outreach that opens doors with sports and media brands.

This role collaborates with marketing and partnerships, coordinates with partners like Google Cloud and Contentful, and helps manage proposals, CRM hygiene, and

Qualifications

• 5+ years in BD, sales, ABM, or GTM-adjacent roles in tech or sports/media.
• Exposure to a full sales cycle preferred; understands funnel integration.
• Familiarity with account-based marketing principles and tools.
• Experience or passion for sports, entertainment, media, or live experiences.
• Comfort discussing AI tools and agentic workflows with clients.

Responsibilities

• Build awareness and generate your own leads and intelligence briefs.
• Monitor trigger events and surface timely engagement opportunities.
• Design and execute account-based outreach sequences with personalization.
• Collaborate with Marketing to activate campaigns and content assets.
• Create bespoke outreach materials and leave-behinds to open doors.
• Support event strategy and engagement plays for industry events.
• Qualify and schedule introductory and discovery calls; prep briefs.
• Attend calls to support notes and follow-up execution.
• Draft follow-up communications and initial materials for early conversations.
• Manage vertical/territory sales plan, target accounts, and stakeholders.
• Qualify opportunities with the sales support team and assist with proposals.
• Coordinate with partnerships leads to map accounts and coordinate co-sell opportunities.
• Help with CRM hygiene, pipeline reporting, and deal status updates.

Skills

Strategic relationships

Storytelling

Interpersonal skills

Researcher

Strong writer

Creativity

Organized

Ambiguity tolerance

Collaborative

Curiosity

Territory ambition

Tools

HubSpot

Common Room

Apollo

Job description

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Account Intelligence & Research

Build awareness and generate your own leads.

Build and maintain deep intelligence briefs on target accounts — including organizational structure, strategic priorities, technology investments, recent news, leadership changes, and competitive landscape.

Monitor trigger events (funding, exec changes, partnerships, product launches, league/team activity) and surface timely engagement opportunities.

Develop and maintain a target account tracker that serves as the operational foundation of our vertical GTM motion.

Top-of-Funnel & ABM Execution

Design and execute account-based outreach sequences that are personalized, value-first, and tailored to each account's specific context — not templated blast campaigns.

Collaborate with APPLY marketing to activate campaigns, events, and content assets as engagement vehicles for target accounts.

Create bespoke outreach materials: one-pagers, account-specific research briefs, personalized decks, and leave-behinds that open doors and establish credibility before a first conversation.

Support event strategy and execution — identifying relevant industry events (league summits, sports tech conferences, sponsorship forums) and helping develop engagement plays around them.

Follow up on APPLY marketing campaigns and inbound leads.

Introductory & Discovery Support

Qualify and schedule introductory and discovery calls on behalf of the Vertical Growth Lead.

Prepare pre-call intelligence packages and talking-point briefs for every meeting.

Attend introductory and discovery calls to support note-taking, next-steps tracking, and follow-up execution.

Draft follow-up communications, recap emails, and initial materials to advance early-stage conversations.

Pursuit & Pipeline Ownership

Manage and evolve a vertical/territory sales plan, including key targets and stakeholders.

Qualify new opportunities along with the sales support team.

Support pre-qualification scoring and deal qualification in collaboration with the Vertical Growth Lead and Pursuit Operations.

Work closely with the APPLY partnerships leads and external partnerships contacts (Google Cloud, Contentful, Twilio, etc) to account map and coordinate co-sell opportunities into mutual target accounts.

Assist in proposal development, pitch preparation, and RFP responses for active pursuits.

Coordinate with APPLY's Pursuit Operations Lead on proposal logistics, internal alignment, and deal support activities.

Help manage CRM hygiene, pipeline reporting, and deal status updates to keep the GTM motion organized and visible.

REQUIREMENTS:

Experience & Background

5+ years of experience in a business development, sales, ABM, or GTM-adjacent role — ideally at a consultancy, agency, technology firm, or within the sports/media industry itself.

Some exposure to a full sales cycle is strongly preferred — we want someone who understands where top-of-funnel fits in the bigger picture, not just how to fill a calendar.

Familiarity with account-based marketing principles and tools; comfort creating outreach materials and research assets without heavy template reliance.

Experience in or genuine passion for sports, entertainment, media, or live experiences — an informed point of view on this industry is a real asset.

Comfortable working knowledge of AI tools and agentic workflows, enough to speak credibly with clients and collaborate effectively with delivery teams.

Skills & Attributes

A strategic relationship builder and great listener who can quickly develop trust and build rapport.

A natural storyteller with the ability to take clients on a journey.

Solid interpersonal skills – you're comfortable working alongside technical directors, salespeople, designers, and CEOs alike.

A natural researcher who goes three layers deep and finds angles others miss.

Strong writer — your outreach reads like it was written by a thoughtful human, not a sequence tool.

Creative and resourceful: you find non-obvious ways to get in front of the right people.

Organized and systems-oriented: you can manage a large target list with rigor and keep the machine running without dropping threads.

Comfortable working in ambiguity and building structure where it doesn't yet exist.

Collaborative by nature — you work well alongside senior sellers, operations, and marketing.

Intellectually curious and genuinely interested in how APPLY's capabilities create value for sports and media brands.

Ambitions that extend beyond an SDR motion — you want to learn how to sell, consult, and eventually own a territory.

NICE TO HAVES:

Experience using AI tools for research, content creation, or outreach personalization.

Familiarity with the sports tech, sponsorship, fan experience, or media rights landscape.

Exposure to Google Cloud or technology partner ecosystems.

Experience with tools like HubSpot, Common Room, Apollo, or similar GTM platforms.