Director of Sponsorships and Partnership Solutions

About Fordham

Founded in 1841, Fordham is the Jesuit University of New York, offering an exceptional education distinguished by the Jesuit tradition to more than 16,000 students in its nine colleges and schools. It has residential campuses in the Bronx and Manhattan, a campus in West Harrison, N.Y., the Louis Calder Center Biological Field Station in Armonk, N.Y., and the London Centre in the United Kingdom.

Position Summary

Reporting to the General Manager of WFUV, the Director of Sponsorships and Partnership Solutions leads WFUV’s efforts to modernize, grow, and diversify station revenue through creative, mission-aligned partnerships with businesses, cultural institutions, and community organizations. This position transforms WFUV’s traditional underwriting model into a forward-looking Sponsorship & Partnership Program, connecting brands with WFUV’s multi-platform audience through on-air, digital, event, and experiential opportunities that reflect the station’s values and public-service mission. This position requires occasional night and weekend work hours for station events.

Essential Functions

• Develops and executes a comprehensive Sponsorship & Partnership Strategy that grows revenue across on-air, digital, and live event platforms.
• Redefines and repositions underwriting as a mission-based brand partnership, emphasizing audience engagement, authenticity, and shared values.
• Actively prospects, pitches, and closes sponsorship and underwriting opportunities, serving as a primary seller for the department until additional team members are hired.
• Designs and sells integrated packages that combine on-air credits, digital sponsorships, podcasts, playlists, newsletters, events, and custom activations.
• Creates a WFUV Sponsorship Playbook detailing audience insights, pricing structures, case studies, and cross-platform inventory.
• Works with the Digital and Marketing teams to expand WFUV’s sponsorship inventory (streaming pre-rolls, podcasts, video series, newsletters, and social media campaigns).
• Partners closely with Fordham University’s Office of Development and Strategic Communications to ensure alignment with broader institutional priorities.
• Liaises with external consultants (e.g., Jacobs Media, underwriting production vendors) to modernize systems and optimize performance.

Management Responsibilities

• Supervises individual contributors (admin, clerical, maintenance) and, based on scope, occasionally other managers.
• Handles hiring, training, development, performance management, and corrective action, with significant input on compensation decisions.

Required Qualifications

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, or related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in media sponsorship, advertising sales, partnership development, or brand strategy.
• Experience managing and mentoring staff in a mission-driven, collaborative environment.

Knowledge and Skills

• Proven track record of achieving or exceeding revenue goals, developing creative sponsorship solutions, and diversifying business sources across multiple categories.
• Deep understanding of multi-platform media (broadcast, digital, social, live events) and audience engagement strategies.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and storytelling skills—ability to translate WFUV’s mission into compelling partner value.
• Strong project management and organizational skills with meticulous attention to detail.
• Creative problem solver with a consultative, relationship-first approach to sales.
• Familiarity with CRM and analytics tools (Salesforce, HubSpot, Google Analytics, etc.).

Preferred Qualifications

• Public media experience preferred.

Pay

Minimum Starting Salary: $80,500
Maximum Starting Salary: $80,500