Associate Manager, Sports & Wellness Partnerships

General Mills, Inc; Minneapolis (MN); On-site; USD 95,000 - 159,000; Full time

Job summary

General Mills, Inc. is seeking an Associate Manager, Sports and Wellness Partnerships to join our team in Minneapolis.

You will bridge General Mills brands with sports and wellness partners, agencies, and culture, turning insights into authentic brand partnerships that resonate with fans and drive business value. You’ll lead opportunity development, negotiate terms, manage contracts, and guide activations from concept through launch, working with legal, brand teams, and external partners to

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree.
• 5+ years of related experience in brand partnerships, sports marketing, sponsorships, licensing, talent partnerships, or work spanning multiple marketing communication touchpoints
• Experience creating, selling in, and executing ideas connected to a brand strategy or consumer opportunity.
• Demonstrated passion for sports culture and curiosity about teams, leagues, athletes, creators, media, fan communities, emerging sports, and the broader sports landscape.
• Experience working closely with internal legal teams and external partners through detailed, complex contracts.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and storytelling skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels and build strong working relationships across internal teams and external partners.
• Strong strategic and creative thinking, with the ability to move between cultural insights, big-picture opportunities, and executional details.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and manage multiple projects, priorities, stakeholders, and deadlines in a fast-moving environment.
• Strong attention to detail and a commitment to precise, high-quality execution, including the willingness and ability to work hands-on throughout the partnership lifecycle with partner communications, approvals, asset coordination, and issue resolution.

Responsibilities

• Develop sports and wellness partnership opportunities for General Mills brands based on brand strategies, consumer needs, and business objectives, responding to brand briefs and budgets while also proactively bringing forward relevant opportunities.
• Monitor sports culture, news, trends, athletes, teams, leagues, creators, fan behaviors, emerging sports, and media shifts; build relationships across the industry to identify opportunities.
• Translate cultural insights into partnership concepts that are authentic to the partner, relevant to the brand, and compelling to consumers, then create persuasive recommendations and pitches that clearly communicate the idea, strategic fit, and potential value.
• Evaluate partnership platforms, talent opportunities, rights, assets, deliverables, and proposed costs; use market knowledge and prior deals to assess value and recommend tradeoffs.
• Lead partner-facing communications across idea development, presentations, deal negotiation, and contract execution, working closely with internal legal and external partners through detailed contracts, revisions, approvals, rights, obligations, and other partnership requirements.
• Influence across internal teams and external partners without relying on formal decision-making authority.
• Support the development and execution of partnership activations, content, experiences, and integrated campaigns, managing deliverables, approvals, and partner inputs from signed agreement through launch and closeout.
• Stay close to day-to-day execution, including trafficking assets, coordinating feedback, resolving issues, and keeping work moving across a lean team.
• Help assess partnership performance, capture learnings, and apply those insights to future programs.
• Contribute to an inclusive team culture grounded in curiosity, creativity, accountability, and strong collaboration.

Skills

Brand partnerships

Sports marketing

Negotiation

Contract execution

Project management

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

COMPANY OVERVIEW

We exist to make food the world loves. But we do more than that. Our company is a place that prioritizes being a force for good, a place to expand learning, explore new perspectives and reimagine new possibilities, every day. We look for people who want to bring their best - bold thinkers with big hearts who challenge one another and grow together. Because becoming the undisputed leader in food means surrounding ourselves with people who are hungry for what's next.

About the Role

We're looking for a creative, commercially minded collaborator who knows how to turn sports culture into meaningful brand connections. As the Associate Manager, Sports and Wellness Partnerships, you'll sit at the intersection of General Mills brands, sports and wellness partners, agencies, and the broader culture surrounding teams, leagues, athletes, creators, and fans.

You’ll help identify what is interesting and emerging in sports culture. You’ll translate insights into ideas that fit a brand strategy or creative platform, excite consumers, and create meaningful value for both General Mills and our partners. This role supports partnerships across a portfolio of brands and requires equal comfort with big-picture thinking, creative development, negotiation, contracts, and executional support.

You’ll work closely with brand management, agency partners, legal, public relations, media, finance, and external partners. You’ll remain closely involved throughout the life of a partnership-from identifying an opportunity and shaping the idea to negotiating terms, managing contracts, trafficking assets, securing approvals, and bringing the work to market.

What You'll Do

• Develop sports and wellness partnership opportunities for General Mills brands based on brand strategies, consumer needs, and business objectives, responding to brand briefs and budgets while also proactively bringing forward relevant opportunities.
• Monitor sports culture, news, trends, athletes, teams, leagues, creators, fan behaviors, emerging sports, and media shifts; build relationships across the industry to identify opportunities.
• Translate cultural insights into partnership concepts that are authentic to the partner, relevant to the brand, and compelling to consumers, then create persuasive recommendations and pitches that clearly communicate the idea, strategic fit, and potential value.
• Evaluate partnership platforms, talent opportunities, rights, assets, deliverables, and proposed costs; use market knowledge and prior deals to assess value and recommend tradeoffs.
• Lead partner-facing communications across idea development, presentations, deal negotiation, and contract execution, working closely with internal legal and external partners through detailed contracts, revisions, approvals, rights, obligations, and other partnership requirements.
• Influence across internal teams and external partners without relying on formal decision-making authority.
• Support the development and execution of partnership activations, content, experiences, and integrated campaigns, managing deliverables, approvals, and partner inputs from signed agreement through launch and closeout.
• Stay close to day-to-day execution, including trafficking assets, coordinating feedback, resolving issues, and keeping work moving across a lean team.
• Help assess partnership performance, capture learnings, and apply those insights to future programs.
• Contribute to an inclusive team culture grounded in curiosity, creativity, accountability, and strong collaboration.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree.
• 5+ years of related experience in brand partnerships, sports marketing, sponsorships, licensing, talent partnerships, or work spanning multiple marketing communication touchpoints
• Experience creating, selling in, and executing ideas connected to a brand strategy or consumer opportunity.
• Demonstrated passion for sports culture and curiosity about teams, leagues, athletes, creators, media, fan communities, emerging sports, and the broader sports landscape.
• Experience working closely with internal legal teams and external partners through detailed, complex contracts.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and storytelling skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels and build strong working relationships across internal teams and external partners.
• Strong strategic and creative thinking, with the ability to move between cultural insights, big-picture opportunities, and executional details.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and manage multiple projects, priorities, stakeholders, and deadlines in a fast-moving environment.
• Strong attention to detail and a commitment to precise, high-quality execution, including the willingness and ability to work hands-on throughout the partnership lifecycle with partner communications, approvals, asset coordination, and issue resolution.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience evaluating or negotiating sponsorship platforms, talent opportunities, licensing arrangements, partnership rights, or other commercial deals.
• Experience assessing the value of partnership assets and recommending tradeoffs among budget, scope, rights, deliverables, and partner expectations.
• Track record of collaborating with teams, leagues, athletes, agents, agencies, creators, or other partners to bring holistic ideas to life.
• Experience working with national brands or across a portfolio of brands.

Additional Considerations

• International relocation or international remote working arrangements (outside of the US) will not be considered.
• Applicants for this position must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. General Mills will not sponsor applicants for this position for work visas.

SALARY RANGE

The salary range for this position is:

$95,300 - $159,100 Annual

At General Mills we strive for each employee's pay at any point in their career to reflect their experiences performance and skills for their current role. The salary range for this role represents the numerous factors considered in the hiring decisions including, but not limited to, educations, skills, work experience, certifications, etc. As such, pay for the successful candidate(s) could fall anywhere within the stated range.

Beyond base salary, General Mills offers a competitive Total Rewards package focusing on your overall well-being. We are proud to offer a foundation of health benefits, retirement and financial wellbeing, time off programs, wellbeing support and perks. Benefits may vary by role, country, region, union status, and other employment status factors. You may also be eligible to participate in an annual incentive program. An incentive award, if any, depends on various factors, including, individual and organizational performance.

ELIGIBILITY

Applicants must meet a minimum 18-year age qualification.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER (EOE)

General Mills is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital or familial status, status regarding public assistance, or membership or activity in a local human rights commission.

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION REQUEST

If you need to request an accommodation during the application or hiring process, please fill out our online accommodation request form by following this link: Accommodation Request.