Head of Commercial Partnerships

The R&A; St Andrews; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary bonus

Pension & sick pay

Life insurance

Enhanced parental pay

35 days holiday

Free Open tickets

Cycle to work

Season ticket loan

VDU glasses allowance

Retail discounts

EV salary sacrifice

Job summary

The R&A is seeking a Head of Commercial Partnerships to lead the sponsorship strategy and partner relationships across major events such as The Open and AIG Women’s Open. You will steward budgets, forecast revenue, and drive high-value partnerships with senior stakeholders to grow organisational revenue and strategic impact.

You will collaborate with the Director and other leaders to shape the 1–3 year strategy, manage hospitality programmes, and ensure delivery of rights and commercial goals

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in a senior partnerships or commercial role within sports or media.
• Proven sponsorship account management experience.
• Strong negotiation and influencing skills with high-net-worth stakeholders.
• Experience in advertising, marketing, digital rights delivery, and brand development.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the partnership management team delivering sponsor rights for The Open, AIG Women’s Open and other Championships.
• Drive decisions affecting departmental P&L including Patrons Hospitality programmes; manage consultants, agencies and contractors.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to gather requirements, influence decisions and negotiate for opportunities across The R&A and championships.
• Develop activities to meet incremental revenue targets through contract negotiations and creative asset ideation.
• Oversee the contract process with third parties for revenue exceeding seven figures and manage delivery across multiple P&Ls.
• Forecast budgets, track performance and provide profitable solutions while mitigating risk.
• Grow relationships with key internal and external partners to align with organisational objectives.
• Review partnership propositions and help set a 1–3 year strategic direction.

Skills

Senior partnerships experience

Commercial role experience

Sponsorship account management

Negotiation & influencing

Stakeholder management

Budgeting & forecasting

Education

European Sponsorship Diploma

Job description

We are The R&A. Our mission is to open golf to the world. We have over 300 employees who are passionate about uniting golf and golfers through common rules and governance, inspiring through the staging of world class championships including The Open and AIG Women’s Open and leading through working to shape the future of golf with our partners.

The R&A governs the Rules of Golf, the World Handicap System, equipment standards and rankings in partnership with the USGA, while supporting both established and emerging formats of the game.

In the next five years we aim to attract 22 million additional golfers, generate more than £1.5 billion in economic benefit through our championships, create more than £25 billion in social value, establish more than 200 strategic partnerships and generate more than 5 billion fan interactions.

As our Head of Commercial Partnerships, you will lead and implement on the medium to long term sponsorship strategy by cultivating existing relationships to drive additional spend that grows organisational revenue and positively impacts overall departmental objectives. You will work with the Director and other senior leaders in the organisation to play an active role in setting the strategic direction of Partnerships and communicating this internally and externally to key stakeholders. You will have shared accountability for budgets relating to finance, profit, and expenditure, and be expected to lead on forecasting.

What you’ll be doing:

• Leading and managing the partnership management team in the successful delivery of all Supplier sponsorship rights, working with multiple departments and external agencies regarding event planning, staging, operational aspects and reporting at The Open, AIG Women’s Open, and other Championships as required.
• Leading the decision making that drives positive impact on the departmental P&L specifically relation to Patrons Hospitality programmes including the management of our hospitality consultants, agencies, and multiple contractors.
• Collaborating extensively with stakeholders across the organisation. Gathering and collating departmental requirements, influencing, negotiating, and persuading as required whilst ensuring relationships are managed and maintained, escalating where required to the Director, to enhance the opportunities for our commercial partners across The R&A and championships, developing new rights, concepts and driving innovation.
• Developing activities and actions that deliver against incremental revenue targets through negotiating contracts with strong partner upsells of at least six figures, renewals increasing year on year that are supported by creative asset ideation and use of progressive reporting techniques, data, and insights.
• Accountable for the holistic contract process from negotiation, influencing to completion with third parties for all patrons for revenue that is in excess of seven figures.
• Contributing personally and oversees the team’s ability to effectively manage risk and consequent implications on customer confidence, external reputation and financial performance of the Partnership function.
• Responsible for ensuring the partnerships function is constantly evolving and improving the delivery of rights and partnership management support to The R&A commercial partners to the highest industry standards.
• Lead the budget management forecasting, tracking, and invoicing of current partners across multiple P&L’s, highlighting potential impacts and providing profitable solutions.
• Proactively grow relationships and collaborate with key stakeholders within the company, department, and external agencies to drive best practice and ensure we are aligning with organisational objectives.
• Review and evaluate the creation and distribution of Partnership propositions, proactively identifying opportunities for continuous improvement. Work with the Director and other members of the senior management team to set and review the strategic direction of the proposition over a 1–3-year period, in line with departmental aims.

What we are looking for:

• Extensive experience in a senior partnerships or commercial role, ideally within the sports or media industries.
• Advanced knowledge and experience of working in sponsorship account management.
• A proven track record in effective management of involved sales process specifically relating to high-net-worth individuals by way of effective negotiation and influencing skills.
• Experience in advertising, marketing, digital rights delivery, and brand development, including but not limited to, dealing with and presenting to brands.
• European Sponsorship Diploma or relevant experience.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, both internally and externally.
• Extensive experience in financial management including budgeting and forecasting.

What we offer:

We offer a great benefits package including the following:

• Discretionary Bonus Scheme
• Company Pension Scheme and Sick Pay
• Life Insurance Cover
• Enhanced Maternity/Partner Pay
• 35 Days Holiday Per Year
• Free tickets to The Open and AIG Women’s Open each year (and other relevant R&A Championships)
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Season Ticket Loan
• Contribution towards glasses for VDU use
• Discounts available across 800 UK retailers and local businesses, such as gym membership
• Electric Vehicle Salary Sacrifice Scheme

Bring your perspective. Shape the future of golf.

Everyone is welcome at The R&A

We want to build a workplace where suitably qualified people from all backgrounds, perspectives and experiences can thrive. We welcome applications from everyone and are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment experience and workplace. We're committed to making our recruitment process accessible and offering reasonable adjustments. If there's anything we can do to help you participate fully in any stage of the process, please let us know. We'll be happy to discuss what would work for you. We will need to confirm you have the right to work in the UK.