Widnes Vikings Rugby League Club, who are currently playing in the Betfred Championship competition, are seeking a Commercial Partnership Officer.
This is an exciting opportunity for an individual to join Widnes Viking’s growing and ambitious club. With fantastic facilities, a loyal commercial network and one of the best supporter bases in Rugby League, this role offers fantastic potential for an ambitious, skilled and professional individual.
Reporting to the Head of Operations, you will be responsible for developing and executing sponsorship strategies, building relationships with key stakeholders, and maximising the relationship we have with our teams.
Our ideal candidate will have a successful background in outbound sales and working on commercial partnerships. You will have strong communication and networking skills, personal integrity, and a strategic mindset. You should be deeply motivated by the exciting opportunity to work alongside staff and playing personnel at Widnes Vikings to help shape the future of the club.
The salary and commission scheme will be commensurate with the experience and proven track record of the right candidate.
Job Title – Commercial Partnership Officer
Salary – Basic Salary of £23,000 – £27,000 plus Commission, subject to experience.
Location – Primary base DCBL Stadium, Widnes, Cheshire, WA87DZ. Hours of Work – 37.5 hours a week, including matchdays and club events. Reporting to– Widnes Vikings Head of Operations
Contractual Status – Full time, permanent
Closing date for applications – 31August 2023
Interviews – to be held week commencing 4 September 2023
The Role:
A unique and exciting opportunity has arisen to join Widnes Vikings Rugby League Club as Commercial Partnership Officer. The full-time position will be based at the DCBL Stadium and will report to the Head of Operations.
This key appointment comes at an exciting time as the club seeks to enter a period of growth in its partnership and commercial sales strategy. You will be expected to take a proactive approach in creating and developing sales leads which lead to new partnerships and sales for the Club.
The role will be externally facing and responsible for identifying, pitching to, and building relationships with potential and existing commercial partners seeking to enhance commercial revenue and the club’s partnership programme. The Commercial Partnership Officer will work to continually evolve the partnership sales programme and drive sustained growth in commercial revenue.
Key Accountabilities, tasks, and activities:
· Lead on and manage engagement with Widnes Vikings’ commercial partners and sponsors, ensuring detailed planning, communication, and associated delivery of agreed commercial inventory and initiatives.
· Ensure the needs of Partners and Club are met, and that you have a robust understanding of the partner brands, business, and objectives.
· Lead on managing all commercial delivery aspects related to our professional teams.
· Proactively sourcing potential sponsors, securing face to face meetings, building relationships and successfully acquire sales.
· Ensure that the relationship with all partners and sponsors is managed and consistent and that, contractual rights are professionally delivered and that you
. Constantly challenge yourself to develop new and innovative ways to provide value to both the partner/sponsor and the Club.
· Ensure that all aspects of the relationship are effectively and professionally managed, including delivering clear and agreed campaign objectives and plans against each of their core rights.
· Ensure that the Club and Board is engaged in partnerships and provide constant communication and collaboration.
· To have a sold understanding of the contractual process including excellent attention to detail
· Ensure consistency in our delivery, constantly identifying ways in which the Club can improve, distinguishing ourselves as an innovative, leading Club.
· To communicate the broader Club vision and strategy to partners and sponsors and update them on a regular basis about the Club as a whole and the developments within it e.g., IMG
· To have a high standard of presentation style and delivery
· Assisting in the development of new revenue streams for commercial from partners and sponsors through new ideas and propositions (including up-sells)
· The ability to prioritise and manage your workload.
· To ensure that meetings, debriefs and learnings take place on a regular basis.
· To lead and manage commercial partnerships projects.
· Ensure all commercial responsibilities and requirements are delivered across all Rugby and operational activity and home fixtures.
· Support the management and administration of all Widnes Vikings Rugby League club’s
commercial activity, across all departments.
· Support in driving an ambitious team culture, where teamwork and innovation is at the heart of what we do.
· Developing bespoke sponsorship proposals to suit the needs of individual companies.
· Ensuring accurate management of status of partnerships and deliverables, including renewal timelines and partnership incremental growth opportunities.
· Ensuring delivery of R.O.I (Return on Investment) to corporate partners, leading on all required management and engagement of such activity with Widnes’ other departments (Rugby, Media).
· Deliver regular communications (Partnership Review Meetings, Newsletters etc) and bespoke Widnes Vikings events, to increase engagement and the value of involvement for our Corporate Partners.
· Establishing long lasting relationships with commercial partners.
Support the Management and Administration of all Widnes Rugby League Clubs Commercial activity, across all departments:
· Capturing and processing all commercial related financial and budget management activity.
· Ensuring all Corporate Partnerships are recorded, and adequately administrated through to contracting and invoicing.
· Manage the Widnes Vikings commercial inventory, ensuring awareness of pricing strategy, availability, and potential opportunities is clear and consistent across the business.
Ensure all of Widnes Vikings commercial responsibilities and requirements are delivered across all Rugby and Operational activity and home fixtures:
· Advertising commitments including digital, social media, advertising boards and banners.
· Deliver all commercial hospitality and match day sponsorship commitments, leading on player and staff support for match day commitments.
Person Specification Experience:
· Credible and relevant experience (Essential)
· Relationship Management (Essential)
· Communication and External Stakeholders (Essential)
· Professional Sports Exposure (Desired)
Skills & Qualifications:
· Educated to Degree Level or Equivalent Professional Experience (Essential)
· Organisational, Administration & IT (Essential)
· Communications – Verbal and Written (Essential)
· Attention to detail (Essential)
· Good Knowledge of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook (Essential)
· Strategic Planning (Desired)
· Influencing (Essential)
· Exhibit drive and personal ambition – able to work autonomously when required. (Desired)
· Committed to achieving excellence in own work. (Desired)
· Will preferably have an interest in sport and an awareness of the structure and operation of rugby league (Desired)
Key Relationships:
· Widnes Vikings Head of Operations
· Widnes Vikings media department
· Commercial partners
Applications:
. A full, clean driving licence is required to fulfil this role.
To register interest in this role, potential candidates are requested to submit a Cover Letter and CV, outlining your suitability for Commercial Partnerships Manager position to chrish@widnesvikings.co.uk
