Manager, Marketing Partnerships

Little League Baseball, Incorporated is a non-profit organization that organizes youth baseball and softball leagues worldwide. The organization is best known for hosting the Little League World Series (LLWS) , an international tournament held annually in Williamsport that showcases top teams from around the world!

Summary : The primary responsibility of the Manager, Marketing Partnerships role is to develop, implement, manage, and maintain all aspects of business partnerships, primarily official sponsorships. Primary responsibilities include relationship management, project management, event planning, marketing and communications planning including digital, social, PR and other promotions, and strategic planning. The Manager, Marketing Partnerships provides first line management of Account Executives and Interns and ensures implementation of relationship management principles and strategies to further organizational goals and partnership outcomes

Organizational Strategy, Prioritizing Goals and Objectives, Developing Programs for Partners Aligned with Organizational Priorities :

• Demonstrates a general understanding of organizational strategies, goals and objectives and communicates them to sponsors representing organizational updates.
• Supports efforts to develop impact-driven marketing and promotional ideas for brands and partners for Little League audiences and works with leadership to present custom strategies and implementation plans for sponsor relationships to drive value and Little League partnership equity.
• Works collaboratively with all departments, including operations, communications, and philanthropy, to organize sponsor tasks and deliverables.
• Demonstrates ability to follow leadership in the alignment of partnerships with organization goals and objectives.
• Supports the engagement of local league volunteers and point of contact to provide district and local league marketing and sponsorship guidance and information.

Partnership/Relationship Development and Management of Relationships; Project Management :

• In collaboration with supervisors, manages the day-to-day marketing activities to implement business agreements to ensure delivery and value of all assigned sponsorship contractual commitments; works with sponsor to outline goals and objectives; manages tasks against partnership goals and objectives; works with supervisors to develop sponsorship ideas for activation; organizes daily correspondence; business meetings agendas, calls; sends meeting recaps with tasks and timelines identified; delegates responsibilities to Account Executives and interns.
• Little League Baseball, Incorporated provides equal employment opportunity to all individuals regardless of their race, color, creed, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by state, federal, or local law. Discrimination of any type will not be tolerated.
• Creates presentations for sharing ideas and documenting sponsor deliverables. Presents and explains all measurements and outcomes of sponsor business.
• Communicates regularly with sponsor representatives to manage the daily tasks and deliverables of sponsorship agreements.
• Supports onboarding of new partners using team-developed tools and resources to educate, inform, and activate the Little League partnership assets.
• Travels occasionally to visit sponsor representatives and present marketing plan.

Fan, Constituent and Customer Experience, Event Management :

• Actively implements and supports activation of all sponsor and marketing department action items at all Little League events; requires weekend and off-hours support as directed.
• Develops ideas to improve sponsor activation at Little League events; works with leadership to implement.
• Reviews and provides input on sponsor activation plans including fan, digital, social, influencer, earned media and special promotions tied to Little League events.
• Organizes logistical details and supports the implementation of partner aspects of meetings and events for sponsors including Little League World Series, Sponsor Summit, Congress, Region Roundtables and more.
• Presents information as directed in front of various constituents.
• Serves as a point of contact for designated sponsors for on-site responsibilities for live events including Fan Zone, special events (LLHRD), and ensuring commitments for sponsors are fulfilled to maximize exposure and visibility; provides input on full Fan Zone experience and promotional ideas inclusive of all sponsors and Little League initiatives.

Leadership, Team Development, Management Functions:

• Identifies and supports the department in the development of best practices for account team operations including meeting, recap and presentation format, sponsor protocols, software tools and processes, and communication for relationship development.
• Improves procedures and implements innovative ideas year-over-year.
• Manages all direct reports and team members to demonstrate growth in staff capabilities, and skill sets.

Interpret and Implement Research, Measurement and Analysis; Measures Outcomes Against Business / Partnership Objectives:

• Implements plans to measure sponsor programs and initiatives based on agreed upon goals and objectives.
• Provides reports and recaps that provide measurement and outcomes to sponsors. Identifies key learnings and opportunities for future initiatives
• Growth Mindset:
• Grows knowledge and skill sets in rapidly changing marketing and media landscape.

• Qualifications (Skills, Education, Experience, and Soft Skills):
• Education requirements include a bachelor’s degree, preferably in Business, Management, Sales and Marketing, Communications, Sports Administration, Events, Hospitality, or Non-Profit Administration.
• Specific industry knowledge and verifiable work experience including a minimum of 6 years in the fields of marketing or communications, sales, live events, sponsorship, account management, relationship management.
• Relationship development and cultivation of business partnerships; requires effective communication skills and a personable, outgoing, professional personality; self-motivated and developing EQ skills (e.g., self-awareness).
• Demonstrates ability to engage people and manage staff to implement projects and tasks.
• Demonstrates understanding of sponsorship legal agreements.
• Contributes to team spirit, follows direction, and leads initiatives, tasks, and team as appropriate; identifies opportunities to improve teamwork.
• Demonstrates leadership and judgement skill; ability to lead teams, manage projects and drive results while also growing as a people manager.
• Strong written skill set demonstrated through daily correspondence, presentations, and other copywriting assignments.
• Strong project management skills; demonstrates initiative regularly; ability to manage multiple sponsor accounts and projects simultaneously.
• Understands marketing, promotional, and communications concepts to influence Little League audiences.
• Understands the principles of organizational revenue and sponsor relationships; demonstrates a growing understanding of sponsorship assets/valuation and activation opportunities.
• General understanding of Intellectual property and trademarks.
• Growing knowledge of live event production (multi-venue, broadcast,
• talent, run-of-show).
• Grows in the ability to understand and present measurement of marketing campaigns and events to justify sponsorship investment.
• Understands and commits to deadlines; plans work accordingly.
• Consumes industry and marketing information/news/trends and applies to sponsor initiatives. Eager to learn and consume industry and organizational information.
• Uses technology as a tool to communicate, drive operational processes and efficiency, track results and demonstrate innovation.
• Strong proficiency with all MS Office programs, along with familiarity with Adobe Creative Cloud, Project Management software and other technology to manage marketing programs, sponsor assets,