Director, Tourism Group Sales & Strategy

About the role

Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment is seeking a Director, Tourism Group Sales & Strategy to build and lead the overarching Tourism Group Sales strategy while overseeing a team of 2–5 Account Executives. You will drive revenue across the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, Barclays Center events, and other entertainment properties through travel-trade group sales, partnerships, OTA/API distribution, and direct sales. This role will report to the Senior Director, Group Sales & Tourism.

Responsibilities

• Team Leadership: Design the team's structure and operating model, scaling from 2 to as many as 5 representatives as the business grows; recruit, onboard, train, and manage tourism sales representatives; decide where to focus: which markets, which channels (direct, travel-trade, OTA, API), which partners are worth the investment; coach on pipeline development, forecasting, and account growth; conduct regular reviews; define staffing needs and timing for team expansion as new properties and markets are added.
• Strategy & Growth: Build and execute an annual tourism sales plan aligned to revenue goals; identify high-potential domestic, international, and travel-trade markets; develop a scalable, multi-property sales approach (sports/entertainment as part of the NYC visitor itinerary).
• Sales Operations & Process: Oversee group sales reservations and ensure prompt response to inquiries via website, email, phone, and chatbot; build the department's sales process from prospecting through fulfillment, reporting, and renewal; review, negotiate, execute, and manage partnership and distribution contracts in collaboration with Legal, Finance, and relevant business stakeholders; maintain and update the department's SOP manual for consistency across the team; ensure accurate account, opportunity, and forecast data in Salesforce; drive in‑person lead generation strategy including hosting familiarization tours, coordinate trade shows, sales missions, and client events; oversee team adoption of Salesforce, ticketing, and work‑management platforms, including system updates.
• Cross‑Functional Coordination: Serve as primary liaison between Tourism Sales and Ticket Sales, International Marketing, Partnerships, Finance, Legal, Event Ops, Guest Experience, and Attractions teams; align pricing/inventory strategy and ensure partner commitments are operationally deliverable; report on revenue, pipeline, conversion, partner production, and forecast accuracy to senior leadership; evaluate and recommend growth toward a 3–5 rep structure based on revenue growth, market demand, partner volume, coverage gaps, and rep capacity.

Requirements

• 7+ years in sales, including 2+ years in a leadership role and 5+ years managing a team
• Experience in group sales or travel‑trade; hospitality, travel, or tourism experience preferred
• Track record of identifying strategic partnerships that benefit representatives and cultivating those accounts
• Working familiarity with CRM and sales‑ops tools (Salesforce preferred)
• NYC tourism market knowledge is a plus, not a requirement
• Willingness to travel to industry trade shows and work Nets, Liberty, and special events as needed, including evenings and weekends

Who You Are

• Highly driven, accountable, and entrepreneurial, with strong pipeline discipline, forecasting expertise, and a relentless focus on exceeding revenue goals
• Strong analytical instincts — able to read the