Partnership Activation & Strategy Manager

Busey; Champaign (IL); On-site; USD 80,000 - 115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) match

Profit sharing

Employee stock purchase plan

Paid time off

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Long-term disability

Job summary

Busey is seeking a Partnership Strategy & Activation Manager to lead and maximize collegiate partnerships, with a focus on athletics and NIL opportunities. This role drives brand visibility, business development, and client engagement by leveraging sponsorship assets and integrated activations.

This individual partners with marketing, commercial banking, wealth management, and retail teams to translate partnership investments into growth, client acquisition, and community engagement.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Sports Management, or related field.
• 5+ years in sponsorships, partnerships, sports marketing, or brand activation.
• Experience managing and activating high-value partnerships.
• Experience in collegiate athletics, media rights organizations, or NIL environments preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead and maximize collegiate athletic partnerships and NIL initiatives.
• Serve as primary liaison with partnerships, media rights, and stakeholders.
• Identify and develop new partnership opportunities and activations.
• Plan and execute integrated marketing activations across channels.
• Collaborate with marketing, banking, wealth management, and retail teams.
• Monitor KPIs and ROI; provide leadership with insights and optimization.

Skills

Partnership strategy

Brand activation

Relationship building

Cross-functional collaboration

Sponsorship management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Marketing or related field

Job description

Duties & Responsibilities

Position Summary

The Partnership Strategy & Activation Manager is responsible for leading and maximizing Busey's strategic collegiate partnerships, with a primary focus on athletics and additional support across other key relationships. This role drives brand visibility, business development, and client engagement by leveraging sponsorship assets, NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) opportunities, and integrated marketing activations.

This individual serves as the primary point of contact for Busey's collegiate athletic partnerships, ensuring that all elements are strategically aligned and fully activated to deliver measurable business impact. The role collaborates cross-functionally with marketing, commercial banking, wealth management, and retail teams to translate partnership investments into brand growth, client acquisition, and community engagement.

Partnership Strategy & Management

• Own and execute the strategy for collegiate athletic partnerships and additional strategic partnerships
• Serve as primary liaison with collegiate athletics partnerships, media rights partners and other key external stakeholders.
• Identify and develop new partnership opportunities, including NIL initiatives, athlete collaborations, and experiential activations.
• Ensure all sponsorship assets are fully leveraged and aligned to Busey's business objectives.

Activation & Marketing Execution

• Plan and execute integrated marketing activations across in-venue, digital, social, and event channels.
• Partner with internal marketing teams to develop campaigns that enhance brand awareness and fan engagement.
• Coordinate game-day presence, hospitality programs, and experiential marketing efforts.
• Maintain consistent and impactful brand representation across all partnership touchpoints.

Business Development & Relationship Growth

• Leverage the partnership to support new business generation and deepen existing client relationships.
• Partner with commercial, wealth, and retail teams to activate opportunities tied to athletics events and networks.
• Build relationships with university stakeholders, alumni, donors, and business leaders within Busey's footprint.
• Support client entertainment and engagement strategies tied to athletics programming.

NIL Strategy & Execution

• Monitor the evolving NIL landscape and identify potential opportunities aligned with Busey's brand and marketing priorities.
• Provide guidance on athlete partnerships that may enhance visibility and community impact.
• Maintain knowledge of NIL regulations to ensure any future activity remains compliant.

Performance Tracking & Optimization

• Establish and monitor KPIs related to partnership performance, including brand awareness, engagement, and business impact.
• Provide regular reporting and insights to leadership on ROI and effectiveness.
• Continuously refine activation strategies based on performance data and feedback.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Act as the internal connector across teams to ensure alignment and maximize partnership value.
• Educate internal stakeholders on how to leverage partnership assets effectively.
• Collaborate with senior leadership to align partnership efforts with broader strategic goals.

Education & Experience

Knowledge Of

• Sponsorship structures, asset utilization and partnership lifecycle management
• Integrated marketing strategies, brand activation and experiential/event-based engagement.

Ability To

• Connect marketing investments to business outcomes, pipeline development and client growth
• Develop and execute plans aligned with organizational and market objectives.
• Build, maintain and influence relationships with internal leaders and external partners
• Partner with sales teams and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Operate in a dynamic environment with evolving partnership opportunities including emerging NIL considerations
• Work effectively across cross-functional teams and drive alignment.

Education And Training

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Sports Management, or a related field required.
• 5+ years of experience in sponsorships, partnerships, sports marketing, or brand activation.
• Proven experience managing and activating high-value partnerships.
• Experience working within collegiate athletics, media rights organizations, or NIL environments strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with the collegiate athletic ecosystems is a plus.

Compensation And Benefits

Salary offered is based on factors, including but not limited to, the job duties, required qualifications and relevant experience, and local market trends. The role may be eligible for bonus or incentives based on company and individual performance.

(Base Pay Range: $80,000 - $115,000/year)

Busey provides a competitive Total Rewards package in return for your time, talents, efforts and ultimately, results. Your personal and professional well-being—now and in the years to come—are important to us. Busey's Total Rewards include a competitive benefits package offering 401(k) match, profit sharing, employee stock purchase plan, paid time off, medical, dental, vision, company-paid life insurance and long-term disability, supplemental voluntary life insurance, short-term and long-term disability, wellness incentives and an employee assistance program. In addition, eligible associates may take advantage of pre-tax health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts. Visit Busey Total Rewards for more information.

Equal Opportunity

Busey values a diverse and inclusive workplace and strives to recruit, develop and retain individuals with exceptional talent. A team with diverse talent, working together, is essential to Busey's commitment of delivering service excellence. Busey is an Equal Opportunity Employer including Disability/Vets. Visit Busey.com/Careers to learn more about Busey's Equal Opportunity Employment.

Unsolicited Resumes

Busey Bank, and its subsidiaries, does not accept any liability for fees for resumes from recruiters or employment agencies ("Agency"), without a binding, written recruitment agreement between Busey and Agency describing the services and specific job openings ("Agreement"). Busey may consider any candidate for whom an Agency has submitted an unsolicited resume and explicitly reserves the right to hire those candidate(s) without any financial obligation to the Agency, unless an Agreement is in place. Any email or verbal contact with any Busey associate is inadequate to create a binding agreement. Agencies without an Agreement are requested not to contact any associates of Busey with recruiting inquiries or resumes. Busey respectfully requests no phone calls or emails.