Sr. Licensing Manager

About the role

The Sr. Licensing Manager leads the licensing function, setting direction for the approval and royalty process, leading and developing direct reports, and serving as the senior point of contact for licensors, internal leadership, and account managers. This role owns the approvals workflow end to end, leads the partnership with Finance on royalty reporting and audits, owns licensor relationships, and is accountable for contract and manufacturer agreement compliance across all BDA properties. This role carries financial/budgetary and strategic planning responsibility and requires the ability to interpret extremely detailed guidelines and corporate standards, anticipate issues, and drive thoughtful business solutions with a high degree of independence.

Responsibilities

• Approvals: Own and oversee the licensing approval request process (Creative, Royalties, Campaigns, Key Initiatives), setting standards for accuracy and turnaround, including QC Forms and Tracking — oversight of submission, tracking, and follow-up on forms and art submitted for all leagues; Ownership and governance of the Licensing portal; Serve as the escalation point for all Licensing business and account managers throughout all phases of the approval process.
• Reporting: Lead the partnership with Finance on monthly and quarterly compilation and reconciliation of all royalty-related projects, lead annual audit preparation, and use error reporting to drive coaching and training; Deliver royalty and approval performance reporting and insights to senior leadership.
• Brand Expertise: Serve as the senior subject matter expert on licensor guidelines, maintaining reference materials, advising leadership and account teams on complex scenarios, resolving escalated issues, and recommending thoughtful business solutions.
• Relationship Management: Own licensor relationships, leading ongoing weekly calls and serving as the escalation point for licensors' day-to-day needs.
• Contracts: Oversee contract and manufacturer agreement compliance, keeping agreements up to date and supporting renewals in partnership with appropriate departments.
• Process Improvement: Assess, analyze, and evolve processes and procedures to increase results and ease of process throughout BDA, leading cross-functional improvement initiatives.
• Team Leadership: Lead, coach, and develop direct reports, setting priorities and performance expectations for the licensing team.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in process and organizational development
• 10+ years of marketing or operations experience
• 11+ years of data entry experience
• 8+ years of financial experience
• 3+ years of proven people management and development experience
• Proven record of successful management of analytical detail
• Prior experience with ad specialty, advertising, or promotions industry preferred but not required

Skills

• Detail-oriented, highly organized individual with exceptional fluency in Microsoft Excel and online data entry systems like SharePoint
• Ability to organize financial and operations data and processes and prepare summaries
• High energy, hardworking; visible/demonstrated drive to work hard and excel
• Excellent customer service for both internal and external partnerships
• Proven leadership ability, with experience coaching and developing team members
• Proven ability to work independently, absorb extremely detailed guidelines and corporate standards, and guide others in applying them
• Strong computer/technical aptitude with ability to learn and implement new programs

Pay

The base salary range for this position is $95,000 to $105,000. Compensation will be determined based on geographic location, skills, education, and experience, with consideration of internal equity and pay transparency.

Benefits

• Robust PTO; vacation, a paid volunteer day, holidays and summer Fridays
• Medical, dental, vision, life, and AD&D insurance
• 401k