SponsorUnited: Launched in 2018, SponsorUnited is the leading global sports and entertainment intelligence platform, delivering actionable data and insights to build stronger marketing partnerships. We provide unrivaled knowledge across the sponsorship and media landscape so our clients can make impactful decisions that drive business
The Role
The Senior Director of Growth is a senior commercial leader and experienced negotiator responsible for driving retention and expansion across some of SponsorUnited's largest, most comprehensive, and strategically important customer relationships.
This individual will directly own a book of business totaling approximately $3.5 million to $5 million in annual recurring revenue and carry a personal annual growth target of upwards of $2 million. That target is expected to scale as the individual's portfolio and the organization continue to grow.
This role extends well beyond maintaining and preserving existing revenue. The Senior Director will identify and develop new avenues for growth by introducing new products, technical capabilities, expanded scopes of work, and opportunities across additional divisions and business units within customer organizations.
The ideal candidate brings sophistication, confidence, and sound judgment to complex commercial discussions. They must be comfortable negotiating with C-suite executives and other senior leaders, navigating multifaceted renewals, building consensus across multiple stakeholders, and translating customer workflows and business priorities into compelling, outcome-oriented solutions.
Key Responsibilities
Portfolio Growth and Revenue Leadership
- Own the commercial performance of an approximately $3.5 million to $5 million ARR book of business.
- Deliver strong retention while working toward a personal annual growth target of upwards of $2 million, with expectations scaling alongside the portfolio and organization.
- Lead complex renewal and expansion negotiations involving multiple stakeholders, products, business units, and commercial considerations.
- Preserve and strengthen existing revenue while consistently opening new lanes for meaningful growth.
- Identify whitespace opportunities across new product offerings, technical capabilities, services, organizational divisions, and expanded scopes of work.
- Build and execute strategic account plans that align SponsorUnited's capabilities with each customer's evolving priorities and workflows.
- Maintain forecasting discipline and provide accurate visibility into renewal risk, expansion opportunities, deal progression, and expected revenue performance.
Strategic Negotiation and Executive Relationships
- Serve as a senior commercial partner to C-suite executives, department leaders, procurement teams, and other key decision-makers.
- Bring a high level of preparation, confidence, sophistication, and business judgment to complex negotiations.
- Navigate challenging renewal discussions while effectively layering in opportunities for growth and expanded partnership.
- Multi-thread relationships across customer organizations, developing strong connections with executive sponsors, day-to-day users, technical stakeholders, procurement teams, and leaders across relevant business units.
- Lead executive business reviews, strategic planning sessions, renewal conversations, escalations, and expansion discussions.
- Build consensus across complex organizations and move opportunities forward through varied decision-making and procurement processes.
- Establish trusted-advisor relationships by demonstrating a strong understanding of each customer's business, priorities, challenges, and measures of success.
Consultative and Solution Oriented Selling
- Develop a deep understanding of customer workflows and identify where SponsorUnited's intelligence, products, services, and technical capabilities can create measurable value.
- Demonstrate the practical application, business impact, and relevant use cases of SponsorUnited's offerings rather than relying on feature- or capability-led selling.
- Translate complex customer needs into thoughtful commercial solutions and compelling business cases.
- Effectively engage a diverse customer base that includes brands, agencies, media organizations, rights holders, leagues, teams, and other sports and entertainment businesses.
- Support the commercialization and adoption of new SponsorUnited products, data offerings, technical integrations, services, and revenue streams.
- Surface customer insights and market trends that can inform company strategy, product development, and future commercialization opportunities.
Commercial Leadership and Collaboration
- Set a high standard for account strategy, executive communication, negotiation, and commercial excellence across the Growth organization.
- Share best practices and provide mentorship and strategic support to Growth Managers and Account Managers, particularly around complex renewals and expansion opportunities.
- Partner closely with Customer Success, Product, Business Solutions, Marketing, Revenue Operations, and Executive Leadership.
- Coordinate internal resources to develop sophisticated solutions for SponsorUnited's most strategic customers.
- Contribute to account segmentation, forecasting, commercial planning, and broader customer-growth initiatives.
- Advocate for customer needs internally while maintaining sound commercial judgment and alignment with SponsorUnited's business objectives.
Qualifications
- 10+ years of experience in account management, customer growth, enterprise sales, strategic partnerships, sponsorship sales, SaaS, or revenue leadership.
- Demonstrated experience owning and growing a significant enterprise book of business.
- Proven success leading complex, high-value renewals and expansion negotiations with C-suite executives and senior decision-makers.
- A track record of generating meaningful growth beyond existing contract value through new products, services, technical capabilities, business units, and scopes of work.
- Strong executive presence with a sophisticated, confident, and thoughtful approach at the negotiating table.
- Exceptional ability to multi-thread across complex customer organizations and build productive relationships at multiple levels.
- Strategic and consultative mindset, with the ability to understand customer workflows and connect solutions to meaningful business outcomes.
- Polished and effective at demonstrating data applications, business impact, and customer use cases rather than simply presenting product features.
- Strong commercial acumen with the ability to identify opportunities, develop business cases, structure creative partnerships, and influence senior stakeholders.
- Experience working with a diverse portfolio of enterprise customers and adapting effectively to different industries, organizational structures, and buying processes.
- Excellent communication, forecasting, account-planning, and cross-functional leadership skills.
- Experience within sports, media, entertainment, sponsorship, SaaS, data intelligence, or another technology-driven organization is highly preferred.
- Ability to operate strategically while remaining directly involved in account execution, negotiation, and day-to-day commercial progress.
