Sr. Partnership Development Manager

Deepens and expands relationships with the Cincinnati Bengals’ existing corporate partners, maximizing partnership value through strategic relationship management, upsell/cross-sell opportunities, and long-term retention and revenue growth.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary relationship manager for a portfolio of key corporate partners, ensuring strong engagement, communication, and long-term partnership success.
• Identify and execute upsell, renewal, and cross-sell opportunities across the Bengals’ sponsorship platform, including media, digital, and stadium assets.
• Develop a deep understanding of each partner’s marketing goals and business objectives to proactively recommend new activation opportunities and partnership extensions.
• Lead strategic planning conversations with partners to identify ways to grow and evolve their partnership with the Bengals.
• Collaborate with Partnership Sales, Activation, Marketing, Content, and Operations teams to deliver integrated partnership solutions.
• Prepare and deliver compelling presentations to senior marketing executives highlighting partnership performance, new opportunities, and strategic recommendations.
• Work closely with Partnership Activation staff to ensure partners receive a high level of service and that contractual deliverables are executed successfully.
• Track client activity, renewals, proposals, and growth opportunities within the CRM system.
• Support renewal negotiations and long-term partnership planning to drive strong retention and revenue expansion.
• Host and engage partners during Bengals games, events, and other hospitality opportunities to strengthen relationships.
• Communicate and collaborate effectively across departments including F&B, Operations, Marketing, Fan Development, and Content.
• Attend Bengals home games, training camp, and occasional league or industry events to support partner relationships.
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree with an emphasis in Business, Communications, Marketing or Management.
• Five plus (5+) years of sponsorship sales experience within a sports team or league.
• Robust understanding of sponsorship assets, media and digital sales landscape (professional teams/leagues preferred).
• Proven ability to grow existing client relationships through renewals, upselling, and cross-selling.
• Ability to establish and maintain strong positive working relationships with clients and co-workers.
• Self-motivated with a proven ability to achieve aggressive individual and team sales goals.
• Excellent time management and organizational skills.
• Creative and strategic thinker.
• Excellent oral, written and presentation skills.
• Strong knowledge of MS Office, including Word, Outlook, PowerPoint and Excel.
• Strong knowledge of CRM tools such as Dynamics/KORE/D365.