Business Director, Sponsorship & Consultancy

We are looking for a Business Director to join the MKTG team on a 6-month Fixed Term Contract to work on delivering and implementing some of the most exciting collaborations in Sport and Entertainment.

As a Business Director, your role is to lead and be accountable for client teams and provide senior level engagement, recommendations, and resource to ensure your client’s needs are met. You will support the SVP in implementing functional and departmental client and business plans as well as overall departmental strategies to drive success and end results for the Sponsorship & Consulting teams. You are viewed as a member of the Extended Management Team and can hold senior level relationships with key decision makers within and outside of the MKTG Sports & Entertainment business.

This role will report into the SVP, Sponsorship + Consultancy and is based in London. We are hiring for an experienced Business Director to lead the client consultancy for two global brands, within football and Formula 1. This individual will oversee the team, provide strategic expertise and high-profile client consultancy of a key UEFA partner, across men & women’s properties, as well as a long-standing partner within the motorsport space.

As a senior lead within the agency, the Business Director will build strong relationships with client stakeholders, developing a deep understanding of their business goals and acting as a trusted advisor on partnership strategy and optimisation opportunities. The Business Director is expected to shape innovative partnership plans that deliver against objectives, connect with audiences, and solve wider marketing challenges. Working closely with teams across the agency, they also help identify opportunities to introduce additional services that create measurable value for clients.

From a commercial perspective, the role demands a strong grasp of budgeting, profitability, and commercial strategy. Business Directors are comfortable managing conversations around sponsorship investments, agency scopes, and fee structures, while supporting senior leadership to ensure efficient resourcing and alignment across accounts.

Beyond client work, the Business Director will contribute to wider agency initiatives, including supporting new business opportunities, pitch development, and broader cultural and strategic projects.

• Client Servicing/Account Management:
• Owns client relationships at a senior and strategic level (above day-to-day client contacts interacting with Client Directors).
• Is a senior level and lead partner to clients.
• Can anticipate and proactively respond to clients’ needs by collaborating across service lines and enhancing the Sponsorship & Consulting team offering.
• Drives client’s business forward through a proactive and strategic approach.
• Accountable for client’s/account fees and activation budgets by entrusting Directors and Snr Managers.
• Has gravitas and ownership to manage clients’ expectations through a consultative approach.
• Leads by example and coaches client service excellence.
• Acts as key point of escalation to solve client problems.
• Understands and is able to report on the commercials of client responsibilities.
• Project Management:
• Oversee client teams’ operational structure and delivery.
• Takes ownership of client contracts, SOW’s and master service agreements and manages amends and prepares renewals.
• Leads client teams to ensure retained client work is being delivered to high standards by empowering client teams to be accountable for setting timelines, expectations, and meeting deadlines.
• Have an overarching view of resource across your client teams and lead in managing pinch points, resource requirements and resource solutions and input changes where necessary.
• Be the point of escalation to solve project delivery problems.
• Accountability/Administration:
• Able to understand your individual client teams time spent on client retainers and projects to make informed decisions on resource.
• Collaborate with Client Directors to accurately report on account time and team timesheets.
• Understand and report on client and project revenue through forecasting and converted pipeline finance.
• Own client development plans and actively participate in client growth and client development discussions across MKTG service lines.
• Culture & Values:
• Demonstrate behaviours to champion our culture & values across Sponsorship & Consulting teams.
• Collaborates across service lines.
• Solves problems and delivers simple solutions.
• Takes responsibility and can make well-informed decisions.
• Commercial Acumen/Business Growth:
• Can identify, upsell and cross sell opportunities for clients to deliver commercial value for clients while generating additional profit for MKTG.
• Can generate new client business by selling in additional services across MKTG service lines.
• Leads in new logo growth by owning new business briefs/projects.
• Has full understanding of MKTG capabilities to drive growth.
• See client development projects through from start to finish.
• Can work seamlessly with the new business team and play integral role in brief responses and pitch teams.
• Marketing:
• Lead the way in directing marketing initiatives.
• Actively involved and encourages team to input in marketing the agency.
• Participates in regular thought leadership in written, presentation and verbal format.
• Represent the agency at webinars and conferences and can talk confidently about MKTG and our positioning.
• Self-Development:
• Strive for and display expertise in the industry.
• Has full understanding and can deliver our strategic and creative sponsorship processes in both client development and new logo work.
• Can collaborate and work effectively with EMT and SMT across multiple projects and initiatives.
• Demonstrate consistent curious and knowledge building behaviours.
• People Management/Communication:
• Has senior presence with the Sponsorship & Consultancy team and wider agency.
• Instils confidence in others, has a trusted point of view and empowers your direct reports and wider team with clear expectations and areas of ownership.
• Instils and communicates positive and encouraging working practices to excite direct reports and encourages direct reports to demonstrate these qualities with their team.
• Supports in shaping and implementing the Sponsorship & Consultancy vision and direction by supporting SVP.
• Act as a mentor and coach to your direct reports to help them develop in their role and career, promoting an inclusive environment where everyone’s voice can be heard.
• Provide regular on the go feedback and regular structured 121’s which focuses on performance.
• Discuss and agree clear performance objectives aligned to vision and direction, which supports both the business and your direct reports personal ambitions, identifying areas of strengths and weaknesses.

What we’re looking for:

You are excited by the prospect of working on award winning sports and entertainment sponsorship projects and are passionate about delivering brilliant solutions for clients. You have the technical knowledge of sponsorships and partnership marketing, as well as attention to detail and drive to manage and develop existing activation programmes. You take pride in your work, thrive in managing projects and are comfortable with strategic thinking needed to develop campaigns, activations and integrated marketing solutions. You also thrive under pressure, enjoy working on sports/events and like to be part of a close-knit team.

To be able to deliver this we need you to have:

• Proven, consistent, experience in marketing either agency side, client side or with a rights holder.
• Proven, consistent, experience working on sport, ambassadors, music or entertainment sponsorships and activation programmes.
• Demonstrable experience in strategically growing client accounts and nurturing senior professional client relationships.
• Outstanding communication and relationship-building skills with the aptitude to foster long-term relationships.
• A strong strategic and logical thinker who can provide counsel to our clients and suppliers in delivering best in class solutions.
• Strong acumen to look at business performance for our clients and how this can be measured to make sponsorship assets more accountable.
• Strong financial management skills, including budget planning, account profitability and resource allocation.
• Demonstrable experience in project management with the ability to manage multiple projects across varied work streams.
• A deep understanding of brand ambassador management.
• A deep understanding of the wider marketing landscape.
• A team mentality, building high performing teams both through line management and brilliant project work.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office tools.

Why MKTG Sports + Entertainment is the right place to do it:

MKTG Sports & Entertainment is a global integrated agency that helps brands and rights holders move at the speed of fans. For over 20 years, we've ignited fandom and innovated activation in the world of sports and entertainment. We have strategised, created and driven partnerships for some of the world's biggest brands and power brands in the making. With one aligned goal - make something worth noticing, engaging, liking, sharing and remembering.

We are part of Dentsu Sports International, a global sports network comprised of MKTG Sports & Entertainment and Dentsu Sports, a leading sports rights holder including federations, leagues, events, teams, and venues.

Inclusion and Diversity: At Dentsu, we embrace diversity and inclusion, valuing the unique perspectives and contributions of every individual. We believe that diversity fuels creativity and innovation, benefiting our employees, partners, and communities. We welcome applications from all individuals, regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, marital status, or any other protected characteristic. Beyond recruitment, we strive to create an environment where everyone feels respected, supported, and empowered to bring their authentic selves to work. We recognize the importance of work-life balance and are open to discussing flexible working arrangements for all roles. If you need reasonable adjustments due to a disability or medical condition during our recruitment process, please contact us at accommodations@dentsu.com, quoting the reference number of the role that you are applying for. Your needs will be handled with respect and confidentiality to ensure an inclusive and accessible experience.