Director, Licensing – Business Development

About The Role

Earthbound Brands is a brand licensing agency that builds and manages licensing programs on behalf of a diverse portfolio of clients spanning all industries including Food & Beverage, Home, Fashion, Celebrity, Lifestyle, Automotive, and Character. Our Licensing team is organized into two groups: Sales (licensee business development) and Brand/Product (program and product management). This role leads on the Sales side and reports to the VP of Licensing Sales.

Licensing Strategy & Deal-Making

• Co-develop the licensing strategy for each client — phase 1 category priorities, stretch categories, deal parameters — in partnership with your Brand & Product counterpart, leading on the commercial and licensee-market dimensions, and present jointly to the VPs for approval
• Drive prospecting: review and approve target lists, leverage your licensee network, and identify white-space and cross-client opportunities
• Lead complex deal negotiations and proposal development for new licensee partnerships, working closely with our legal team on contract terms and deal flow
• Contribute the trade show strategy (Licensing Expo and others) and attend key meetings
• Identify program challenges and bring solutions to the VP of Licensing Sales

Client & Licensee Relationships

• Serve as the senior face of the sales team to clients: the main point of contact, owning individualized client strategies and state-of-the-business reporting
• Build and maintain senior-level relationships across the licensee community to strengthen programs and surface new opportunities
• Expedite resolution of client and licensee issues

Team Leadership

• Manage, mentor, and develop a team of Sales Managers and Sales Associates
• Coach managers through deal negotiation and closing
• Partner with the VP of Licensing Sales on team culture, structure, and growth
• Model cross-functional collaboration with legal, brand/product, and finance

Operations

• Create and manage client-level budgets and resource allocation
• Deliver high-level business reporting to the VP of Licensing Sales and clients