Global Licensing Director: Strategy, Growth & Partnerships

Fanatics Commerce; Paris; Hybrid; EUR 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Fanatics Commerce is seeking an experienced Licensing Director to own and grow a portfolio of client licensing programmes from strategy to execution. You will lead cross-functional teams, drive revenue, and ensure brand integrity across sports, entertainment, and lifestyle properties.

Based in Paris with a hybrid schedule, you will partner with Finance, Legal and Operations to deliver client value and expand fan engagement through innovative licensing strategies.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in licensing, with at least 3 years in a senior client-facing or management role, including demonstrated ownership of complex, multi-property licensing programmes.
• Sharp commercial instinct with hands-on P&L ownership experience and a proven track record of driving revenue growth across diverse brand portfolios.
• Experience across both sports and lifestyle or entertainment licensing, with deep understanding of global licensing markets, category dynamics, and retail distribution.
• Confident negotiator comfortable with complex, multi-territory deal structures, including experience working with Legal on guarantees, royalty rates, and audit provisions.
• Proven people leader with a track record of developing talent, building high-performing teams, and operating effectively across cross-functional stakeholder environments.
• Familiarity with digital licensing, gaming, and emerging product categories, including DTC licensing, social commerce, and digital collectibles.
• Willingness to travel internationally for client meetings, licensing trade shows, and licensee visits.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Finance, Legal, Marketing and Operations to deliver seamless client service across FLM's portfolio.
• Represent FLM at major licensing trade shows and support pitches for prospective rights holders.
• Line-manage and develop a team of licensing managers and executives.
• Communicate portfolio strategy to the team to ensure execution.
• Advise senior rights holder executives, building partnerships and translating brand objectives into licensing programmes with KPIs.
• Lead annual business planning with clients across sports and entertainment brands.
• Maintain relationships with licensees, conducting regular business reviews.
• Collaborate with clients to build physical-to-digital licensing strategies.
• Lead licensing strategy for digital categories including gaming and social commerce.
• Identify new categories, geographies, and distribution channels.
• Track trends in DTC licensing and digital collectibles; innovate programs.
• Evaluate new platforms and partnerships and build recommendations.
• Own licensing strategy and P&L across your client portfolio.
• Drive licensee recruitment across categories and lead deal negotiations.
• Oversee royalty reporting with Finance.
• Ensure brand standards across product development pipelines.

Skills

Licensing leadership

P&L ownership

Strategic licensing

Negotiation

Team management

Cross-functional collaboration

Digital licensing & DTC

Education

Bachelor's degree

MBA or equivalent preferred

Job description

Fanatics Commerce is seeking an experienced Licensing Director to own and grow a portfolio of client licensing programmes from strategy to execution. You will lead cross-functional teams, drive revenue, and ensure brand integrity across sports, entertainment, and lifestyle properties.

Based in Paris with a hybrid schedule, you will partner with Finance, Legal and Operations to deliver client value and expand fan engagement through innovative licensing strategies.