Sponsorship & Partnerships Manager in Southampton

This is a newly created role at the centre of Vistage UK’s commercial growth strategy. The Sponsorship & Partnerships Manager exists to bring together two functions that have historically operated in silos: event sponsorship and strategic partnerships. The Sponsorship & Partnerships Manager will own the full commercial relationship with corporate sponsors and partner organisations, driving revenue through our event portfolio and building referral pathways that fuel chair and member growth.

Vistage is the world’s largest CEO coaching and peer advisory organisation for small and medium size business (SME) leaders. We offer the most effective approach for SME enterprises to achieve better results and grow faster as well as for SME leaders to maximise their impact. The 45,000+ members we serve are MDs/CEOs, owners and executives of SME organisations located across the UK and around the world. These SME executives typically spend a day or more with Vistage every month to immerse themselves in our comprehensive platform for making better decisions, getting better results and becoming better leaders.

Vistage was founded more than 65 years ago and we’ve grown every year since then by innovating to stay on the cutting-edge of business and being relentless in delivering value to our members. Our success is demonstrated by the fact that Vistage member companies grow 2.2 times faster than non-Vistage peer companies.

Vistage’s success is anchored by a unique culture which reinforces employee commitment to the Vistage mission. It is a spirit of collective success and achievement which is also reflected in our workplace. Here’s a sample of the employee experience that helps drive our success:

• Welcome to our home. Our UK Office sits in Hedge End, Southampton while our US headquarters sits in San Diego, California. The Hedge End office features an open, modern aesthetic with lots of collaboration spaces and free coffee!
• We invest in your career. Each employee has an actionable career progression plan developed through individual collaboration with their manager. We focus on promoting from within and employee progression plans are complemented by all, we invest in staff development days as well as access to tons of individualised development resources and a tuition reimbursement program.
• We invest in you. Our employee benefits program is incredibly generous! We offer life insurance of 4 times your base salary up to a maximum £1,250,000 benefit. Take care of your financial future with a pension plan where employees are automatically enrolled at a 5% contribution, and matching of 4%. You’ll also start with 20 days annual leave to allow you to relax and recharge. Employees receive additional annual paid days off based on tenure. All employees also have access to our Employee Assistance Programme, Travel Emergency Service, and more!
• We keep it fun! Whether you’re enjoying office celebrations or toasting your co-workers at our epic annual holiday party, you’ll see that we take having fun as seriously as helping our members succeed! The office vibe is business casual with flexible schedules that take a hybrid approach, splitting time between working in the office and working from home on an agreed cadence. We value mutual respect and laughter; we hate stiff formality.
• Vistage’s culture and sense of mission drives employee loyalty: more than half of our staff has been with the company for five years or longer.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Event Sponsorship (Inbound) Lead the commercial sponsorship programme across Vistage UK’s flagship events: the Scotland Leadership Forum, the North of England Leadership Forum, the AI for Growth Forum, and CEO Connect, our flagship annual conference for members and chairs. This includes building and managing the sponsor pipeline, negotiating Thought Leader and Marketplace packages, securing renewals, and bringing on new sponsors through Chair networks, in particular Vistage member companies, outbound prospecting, and inbound enquiries. You will benchmark our packages against the wider market, develop sponsorship collateral, and own the full sponsor lifecycle, including a customer service mindset that ensures sponsors feel looked after at every stage. On the day, you act as the lead sponsor liaison on site, making sure the marketplace and breakout sessions run smoothly.
• Outbound Sponsorship & Brand Presence Where Vistage chooses to sponsor or attend external events (industry conferences, awards programmes, third-party forums), you will lead our participation, evaluate opportunities, negotiate terms, and ensure our presence delivers measurable value. Holding both inbound and outbound under one role gives Vistage a sharper commercial view of the wider sponsorship market and how we benchmark against competitors.
• Strategic Partnerships Build and manage Vistage UK’s strategic partnership programme: long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with organisations whose client base aligns with the Vistage member profile. This is a significant commercial channel, with a defined commission structure for partner-sourced chair and member introductions. You will identify, qualify, and onboard new partners, structure agreements that work for both sides, embed partners into chair group activity where appropriate, and exit relationships that are not performing.
• Thought Leadership & Content You will contribute to our thought leadership programme and provide content for PR outreach and social channels off the back of sponsor and partner activity, including event recaps, white paper inputs, and partner spotlights. Digital savvy is essential: you should be comfortable shaping content for LinkedIn, working with our PR partners, and spotting commercial stories worth telling.

QUALIFICATIONS

You are a commercial operator who understands that sponsorship and partnerships are relationship businesses first and transactional businesses second. You enjoy negotiation and have a track record of building pipelines from cold. You bring:

• Demonstrable experience selling sponsorship, partnerships, or B2B advertising.
• Confidence engaging senior executive audiences and a professional, peer-to-peer manner.
• Strong commercial instincts and the confidence to negotiate.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to write sponsorship collateral, partnership proposals, and executive correspondence.
• A genuine customer service ethic, where sponsors and partners feel looked after, not processed.
• Working knowledge of Salesforce or equivalent CRM, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and the broader B2B marketing tech stack.
• Digital savvy across LinkedIn and content tools, with an eye for stories worth telling.
• A clean, professional approach to managing data, contracts, and member privacy obligations.

JOB LOCATION

Hybrid in Hedge End; a mix of on-site and off-site days.