Partnerships Manager

Canadian Blood Services; Toronto; On-site; CAD 100,000 - 117,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Payment in lieu of vacation.

Payment in lieu of benefits.

Employee discounts, wellness program, 

Job summary

Canadian Blood Services is seeking an experienced Partnership Manager to build and grow a national sport-based donor recruitment initiative from the ground up in Canada. You will collaborate with athletes, teams, leagues, and schools to weave blood donation into the sport ecosystem and engage diverse communities across the country.

The role focuses on developing partnerships, creating proposals, and delivering measurable impact while working closely with recruitment, marketing and program design

Qualifications

• Significant experience in partnership development, sponsorship, business development, community engagement, sport management or a related field.
• A strong understanding of the Canadian sport landscape and how athletes, teams, governing bodies, clubs, schools and community organizations work together.
• Direct experience working within the sport ecosystem is a significant asset. Experience across basketball and/ or hockey would be particularly valuable.
• Demonstrated success building, managing and growing strategic partnerships that drive measurable organizational outcomes.
• Experience working with sport organizations, leagues, rights holders, athletes, agents, teams or community-based organizations.
• Strong relationship management and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to build trust and credibility across diverse audiences.
• Experience leading complex initiatives involving multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence and engage senior leaders and external partners.
• Experience developing partnership strategies that create shared value and long-term engagement.
• Experience engaging diverse communities in an authentic and culturally relevant manner.
• A genuine passion for sport and its ability to create belonging, strengthen communities and inspire people to take action.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a partnership engagement strategy that leverages the reach and influence of the Canadian sport ecosystem to support donor recruitment and community participation.
• Identify, cultivate and manage relationships with national and provincial sport organizations, leagues, teams, clubs, schools, athletes, community groups and other key stakeholders.
• Establish and grow a network of sport partners that can mobilize participants, volunteers, families and fans around Canada's Lifeline.
• Develop and deliver partnership proposals, presentations and impact reports that secure partner commitment, demonstrate measurable value and foster long-term engagement.
• Collaborate with regional recruitment, marketing, communications, and program design teams to help shape the strategic direction of Canadian Blood Services’ sport recruitment strategy, leveraging knowledge of the sport ecosystem and partner feedback to direction and decision making.
• Work directly with sport organizations to integrate blood and plasma donation into their culture, programming, events and community initiatives.
• Identify opportunities to engage athletes, coaches, officials and sport leaders as advocates and ambassadors for Canada's Lifeline.
• Collaborate with internal and external partners to activate national, regional and local opportunities across basketball, hockey and other priority sports.
• Build strong relationships with community leaders and diverse audiences to ensure the initiative resonates authentically within different communities across Canada.
• Monitor partnership performance and establish measurement frameworks tied to partner participation and engagement, biological donations and long-term engagement.
• Maintain a strong understanding of the sport landscape and identify emerging opportunities, trends and organizations that can contribute to program growth.
• Help shape a scalable sport engagement model that can expand across additional sports and communities over time.

Skills

Partnership development

Sponsorship

Community engagement

Sport management

Strategic partnerships

Stakeholder engagement

Complex initiative leadership

Communication & presentation

Partnership strategies

Diversity & inclusion in sport

passion for sport

Job description

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This role requires a minimum of 40% on-site presence. Additional on-site work may be required based on business needs. On-site expectations are subject to change and may be adjusted on a temporary or permanent basis. The successful candidate will work at our Toronto (67 College Street) site office

Job posting ID: 9423

Employment status: Temporary full-time
Position's anticipated end date: 2029-12-07

Salary/Rate of pay: $99,600 - $117,200

• This external job posting may close earlier than the advertised deadline.

Application requirements:

• Your up-to-date resume.
• We recommend you save a copy of the job posting for reference throughout the recruitment process.

Do you currently work for Canadian Blood Services? All employees must apply via the internal career page .

Together, the work we do connects people and changes lives — including your own.

Be part of a dynamic, collaborative and caring organization committed to saving and improving lives. Thousands of patients depend on us every day for reliable access to safe blood, plasma, stem cells and organs and tissues.

About the role

Canadian Blood Services is looking for an experienced Partnership Manager to help build and grow a new national sport-based donor recruitment initiative.

Canadian Blood Services is excited to launch a community-based recruitment program designed to harness the reach, influence and culture of sport to inspire participation, strengthen connections with younger and more diverse audiences, and build a sustainable pipeline of new donors.

The initiative will come to life through collaborations with athletes, teams, leagues, sport organizations, clubs, schools, community partners and grassroots networks across Canada. Basketball and hockeywill be theinitial areas of focus, with opportunities to support and expand into other sports over time.

This is a unique opportunity to help build a national movement from the ground up. The successful candidate will understand the Canadian sport ecosystem, possess strong relationship-building and partnership development skills, and have the ability to bring together diverse stakeholders around a shared purpose.

By building meaningful partnerships across all levels of sport, this individual will play a critical role in helping weave blood donation into the fabric of Canadian sport and creating lasting connections between sport communities and Canada's Lifeline.

• Develop and implement a partnership engagement strategy that leverages the reach and influence of the Canadian sport ecosystem to support donor recruitment and community participation.
• Identify, cultivate and manage relationships with national and provincial sport organizations, leagues, teams, clubs, schools, athletes, community groups and other key stakeholders.
• Establish and grow a network of sport partners that can mobilize participants, volunteers, families and fans around Canada's Lifeline.
• Develop and deliver partnership proposals, presentations and impact reports that secure partner commitment, demonstrate measurable value and foster long-term engagement.
• Collaborate with regional recruitment, marketing, communications, and program design teams to help shape the strategic direction of Canadian Blood Services’ sport recruitment strategy, leveraging knowledge of the sport ecosystem and partner feedback to direction and decision making.
• Work directly with sport organizations to integrate blood and plasma donation into their culture, programming, events and community initiatives.
• Identify opportunities to engage athletes, coaches, officials and sport leaders as advocates and ambassadors for Canada's Lifeline.
• Collaborate with internal and external partners to activate national, regional and local opportunities across basketball, hockey and other priority sports.
• Build strong relationships with community leaders and diverse audiences to ensure the initiative resonates authentically within different communities across Canada.
• Monitor partnership performance and establish measurement frameworks tied to partner participation and engagement, biological donations and long-term engagement.
• Maintain a strong understanding of the sport landscape and identify emerging opportunities, trends and organizations that can contribute to program growth.
• Help shape a scalable sport engagement model that can expand across additional sports and communities over time.

Desired education and skills

• Significant experience in partnership development, sponsorship, business development, community engagement, sport management or a related field.
• A strong understanding of the Canadian sport landscape and how athletes, teams, governing bodies, clubs, schools and community organizations work together.
• Direct experience working within the sport ecosystem is a significant asset. Experience across basketball and/ or hockey would be particularly valuable.
• Demonstrated success building, managing and growing strategic partnerships that drive measurable organizational outcomes.
• Experience working with sport organizations, leagues, rights holders, athletes, agents, teams or community-based organizations.
• Strong relationship management and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to build trust and credibility across diverse audiences.
• Experience leading complex initiatives involving multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence and engage senior leaders and external partners.
• Experience developing partnership strategies that create shared value and long-term engagement.
• Experience engaging diverse communities in an authentic and culturally relevant manner.
• A genuine passion for sport and its ability to create belonging, strengthen communities and inspire people to take action.

What will make someone successful in this role

• The strongest candidate will be comfortable building while delivering. They will be energized by creating something new and capable of moving between long-term relationship development and day-to-day execution.
• They will understand that meaningful partnerships are not built through transactional sponsorships or one-time activations. Success will come from building authentic relationships across the sport ecosystem and creating opportunities for organizations, athletes, teams and fans to see blood and plasma donation as a natural extension of their commitment to Canadian communities.
• This person will bring the credibility to operate within the sport ecosystem, the partnership expertise to unite diverse stakeholders around a common purpose, and the collaborative leadership style required to build something lasting across Canadian Blood Services and its partners.
• By helping embed Canadian Blood Services within sport communities across the country, they will contribute to a national movement that inspires participation, strengthens communities and directly supports Canadian Blood Services in achieving the goal of recruiting 1 million new donors to Canada’s Lifeline.

What we offer you

• Payment in lieu of vacation.
• Payment in lieu of benefits.
• Employee discounts, wellness program, professional resources.

What you can expect

• This role requires a minimum of 40% on-site presence. Additional on-site work may be required based on business needs. On-site expectations are subject to change and may be adjusted on a temporary or permanent basis. The successful candidate will work at our Toronto (67 College Street) major site office.
• You may be required to travel nationally sub monthly, and as required.

We acknowledge that the work of Canadian Blood Services spans many Territories and Treaty areas across the country, and we are grateful for the Traditional Knowledge Keepers and Elders who have guided us in this important work. We recognize the land and waters that have inspired our work and offer gratitude to those Indigenous peoples on whose territory we work, live and play.

Diversity and inclusion play a vital role in ensuring health equity for patients across Canada. We are committed to reflecting Canada’s population in our organization and fostering an environment where all employees can be their authentic selves, with equal opportunities to succeed and contribute.

Canadian Blood Services may use an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool to support the screening stage of its recruitment process. All AI use is performed in accordance with our privacy policies. AI supports the screening process; hiring leaders retain discretion over which applications move forward.

We thank all applicants for their interest. However, only those considered for an interview or those invited to participate in an assessment will be contacted. Emails are sent directly from our system, to ensure you receive them please add [e-mail] and [e-mail] to your safe senders list.

Applicants who require accommodation should discuss their needs with us.