VP Sales - Brands Direct

Genius Sports; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 220,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Genius Sports is hiring a Vice President of Sales to build and lead our Brands Direct business in a hybrid, office-first environment. You will own relationships with top brand advertisers and collaborate with agency sales teams to drive integrated client motion.

You will lead strategic, seven-figure deals, create segmentation strategies, and translate Moments into brand narratives anchored on audience and outcomes. Strong leadership and deep media fluency are essential.

Qualifications

• 10+ years selling advertising, ad-tech, or media to brand advertisers.
• At least 3 years in a sales leadership role carrying a team number.
• Track record closing seven-figure annual brand-direct deals.
• Strong relationships across the top 100 brand advertisers in key categories.
• Proven ability to coordinate with agency sales teams on joint pursuits.
• Deep fluency in the modern media stack: CTV, programmatic, social, addressable, attention/measurement.
• Comfort selling complex, data-driven products to CMOs.

Responsibilities

• Own and exceed the Brands Direct revenue number, net-new and expansion.
• Personally lead the most strategic brand-direct deals and negotiate at the CMO/Head of Media level.
• Build the segmentation of brands (in-house, agency-led, hybrid) and tailor Genius approaches.
• Translate Moments framework into brand-side narratives anchored on audience, outcomes, brand lift, and creativity.
• Coordinate with the agency sales team on the top 100 brands to drive a coordinated motion.
• Co-own joint account plans for top brands with clear ownership and joint pitches.
• Lead pricing, packaging, and creative discussions to land our offer with marketers.
• Run a tight cross-team cadence with agency VPs for clean handoffs and shared credit.
• Hire, coach, and retain a high-performing Brand Account Rep team; set prospecting and forecasting discipline.
• Operate CRM and forecasting with discipline; foster data-driven deal reviews and governance.
• Partner with Marketing, Product, Insights, and Ad Ops on demand generation, feedback, case studies, and campaign execution.
• Represent Genius Sports at brand-focused industry events and moments.

Skills

Enterprise sales

Brand-direct

Team leadership

Forecasting

CRM management

Agency coordination

Media industry fluency

Complex sales

Tools

HubSpot

Salesforce

Job description

By bringing together next-gen technology and the finest live data available, Genius Sports is enabling a new era of sports for fans worldwide, delivering experiences that are more immersive, interactive and personalised than ever before. Learn more at geniussports.com.

Our Advertising Solutions team turns the live signals of sport; goals, momentum shifts, win-probability swings, surprise factor, into addressable, brand-safe moments that advertisers can target across CTV, social, web, audio, and DOOH. We sit at the intersection of premium sports inventory, real-time data, and programmatic media.

The Role

We are hiring a Vice President of Sales to build and lead our Brands Direct business. You will own our relationships with two overlapping groups of advertisers: brands that buy media in-house, with their own programmatic, social, CTV, and trading teams, and the largest 100 brand advertisers in the country, where we work alongside our agency sales teams to drive an integrated client motion.

Own and grow brand-direct revenue

• Own and exceed the Brands Direct revenue number, net-new and expansion across brands that buy media in-house and across our share of the largest 100 brand advertisers.
• Personally lead the most strategic brand-direct deals, discovery, ideation, pitch, negotiation, and contracting at the CMO / Head of Media level.
• Build the segmentation: which brands are pure in-house, which are agency-led, which are hybrid, and how Genius shows up for each.
• Translate our Moments framework; Pre-Game anticipation, Real-Time In-Game, Post-Game sentiment, into brand-side narratives anchored on audience, outcomes, brand lift, and creative effectiveness.

Coordinate with the agency sales team on the top 100 brands

Partner with the holding-company and agency sales VPs (WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, Dentsu, and independents) to drive a coordinated motion against the largest 100 brand advertisers.

• Co-own joint account plans for the top 100 brands: clear ownership of brand-side relationships, will collaborating on joint pitches and joint commercial proposals.
• Serve as the brand-side voice in pricing, packaging, and creative discussions, making sure our offer lands with marketers, not just media buyers.
• Run a tight cross-team operating cadence with the agency VPs so handoffs are clean, credit is shared, and the customer experience is seamless.

Lead and operate the team

Hire, coach, and retain a high-performing team of, Brand Account Reps, each owning a category cut or a defined named-brand book.

• Set the standard for prospecting rigor, pitch quality, account planning, and forecast discipline.
• Run a tight weekly operating cadence: pipeline reviews, account reviews, deal inspection, forecast calls, and 1:1 coaching grounded in deal data.
• Operate the CRM and forecast as a discipline, not a chore; deliver a forecast leadership can trust within ±10%.
• Partner cross-functionally with Marketing on brand-side demand generation, Product on brand and creative feedback, Insights on case studies, and Ad Ops on flawless campaign execution.
• Represent Genius Sports at brand-attended industry events; Cannes Lions, Possible, ANA Masters of Marketing, Advertising Week, IAB ALM and at brand-side innovation and upfront moments.

What You’ll Bring

• 10+ years selling advertising, ad-tech, or media to brand advertisers, with at least 3 years in a sales leadership role carrying a team number.
• Demonstrable success selling directly into brand-side marketing organizations — CMOs, Heads of Media, Heads of In-House Media, Heads of Programmatic, Brand Investment Leads.
• Track record of personally closing seven-figure annual brand-direct deals and of developing reps who do the same.
• Strong, current relationships across the top 100 brand advertisers in key categories (CPG, QSR, auto, financial services, telco, retail, travel, entertainment).
• Proven ability to coordinate with agency sales teams on joint pursuits — clear ownership, shared credit, no client friction.
• Deep fluency in the modern media stack: CTV, programmatic, social, addressable, attention/measurement, and the brand-side P&L.
• Comfort selling complex, data-driven products — you can make signal-based, moment-based advertising feel simple to a CMO with 11 other meetings that day.
• Operating discipline: forecast accuracy, CRM hygiene (HubSpot or Salesforce), pipeline management, and a real point of view on brand-side sales process.

It'll Be a Bonus If

• Experience selling sports media, sports data, or fan-engagement products directly to brand advertisers.
• Background in CTV, programmatic, or attention/outcomes-based media sales to brand-side buyers.
• Experience running a coordinated brand-and-agency sales motion alongside a holdco or agency sales organization.

The annualized base salary for this role ranges from $220,000 to $240,000 USD and includes eligibility for additional variable compensation. This role will also be eligible to take part in Genius Sports Group's benefits plan.

We enjoy an ‘office-first’ culture and maximize opportunities to collaborate, connect and learn together. Our hybrid working models differ depending on your role and location.

As well as a competitive salary and range of benefits, we’re committed to supporting employee wellbeing and helping you grow your skills, experience and career. Learn more about how rewarding life at Genius can be at Reward | Genius Sports.

One team, being brave, driving change. We strive to create an inclusive working environment, where everyone feels a sense of belonging and the ability to make a difference. Learn more about our values and culture at Culture | Genius Sports.

Let us know when you apply if you need any assistance during the recruiting process due to a disability.