Senior Manager, Athlete Marketing

Develops and implements the overarching strategy for Red Bull's athlete marketing programme, ensuring alignment with global brand objectives and regional needs. It manages a national portfolio of locally and nationally relevant athletes and oversees strategic partnerships with teams, leagues, and federations. The position coaches and mentors Athlete Marketing Managers and Specialists while collaborating with Marketing, Sales, Finance, Operations, International HQ, and the Media Network.

• Develop and communicate the national athlete marketing strategy, aligning it with global objectives and regional needs, and design national efficiencies for executions, marketing, activations, and the annual business plan.
• Drive the team to create innovative athlete marketing and media opportunities, and lead concept creation for projects, marketing tactics, and content from ideation to implementation.
• Collaborate with Marketing, Sales, Finance, and Operations on annual athlete marketing plans, develop retail programmes with Sales and Brand teams, and increase Red Bull's brand presence in mainstream sports, Olympic disciplines, fitness, and active lifestyle.
• Identify and capitalise on sports trends, new playgrounds, athletic trends, sports media rights, and innovations to evolve Red Bull's sports presence and develop unique tactical opportunities with athletes.
• Ensure alignment with global athlete marketing strategy, serve as a liaison with International HQ, and leverage Red Bull's global athlete portfolio and partnerships to meet local market demands.
• Explore athlete-relevant opportunities to drive brand growth and visibility, and consider media rights, social media, and name, image, and likeness in athlete contracts and goals.
• Manage and diversify the national athlete portfolio, ensuring top talent selection, and lead negotiations with athlete representation, creative, and marketing agencies.
• Provide tailored athlete support, including marketing tools, salary, bonuses, communications, and performance guidance, and organise and deliver up-to-date athlete branding guidelines with efficient material storage and logistics.
• Set athlete targets, manage athlete communications via Red Bull Sportsnet, and coordinate business support for top athlete projects with country-specific insights.
• Own the budget and brand appearance for national athlete activities, adhering to international guidelines, and ensure the Athlete Marketing team manages athlete relationships and partnerships.
• Oversee the RBCA athlete roster, improving performance tracking and portfolio balance with HQ, and deploy national athlete strategies in-store with Sales and Brand teams.
• Include Creators in athlete activities to broaden reach among Canadian consumers, ensure athletes communicate product efficacy during key fitness and lifestyle events, and utilise third-party relationships to communicate product efficacy through athletes.
• Collaborate with internal partners to create engagement metrics for athlete brand image.
• Identify new talent, personalities, partnerships, and opportunities that fit the Red Bull brand, scout athletes, and develop custom branding solutions.
• Partner with the Media Network to maximise exposure and reach, and develop distribution strategies with the Media Network, teams, leagues, and sports organisations.
• Hire, manage, and lead teams and agencies for athlete project execution, and procure strategic partnerships to offset project costs and add brand value.
• Collaborate with Communications, Programming, and Media House to create credible content for priority athletes, and coordinate support for top-performing athletes and partnerships to deliver the brand vision.
• Enhance contribution to Brand, Sales, MN, and Field teams, ensuring effective deployment of athlete assets, and create streamlined tools for athlete marketing training, tracking, evaluation, reporting, and archiving.
• Showcase Red Bull as an innovative brand in sports by building a strong network and being approachable, and lead and support the team with project kickoffs using current project management principles.
• Align activities with broader business needs through cross-departmental collaboration, and share best practices and lessons learned nationally and globally with sports, regions, and marketing teams.
• Set standards for reporting, target setting, brand messaging, evaluation, and ROI for Red Bull and partnerships, and provide best-in-class tools and support for athlete marketing and management.
• Deliver feedback on project highlights and ideas, including evaluation standards, optimise budgets by challenging expenditures against ROI, and coach team members to develop comprehensive marketing, communication, and performance plans for each athlete asset.
• Identify and engage with the most fitting sports organisations to expand Red Bull's presence into regional markets, and lead partnership negotiations towards strategic and authentic partnerships aligned with Red Bull's brand guidelines.
• Drive all marketing activities related to teams, leagues, and federations, sharing Red Bull brand values and product knowledge with partners, and foster relationships with key stakeholders within these organisations.
• Establish Red Bull as a functional beverage and innovative brand within team sports by engaging with athletes, trainers, opinion leaders, club partners, communities, industry stakeholders, agencies, and media.
• Set up workflows and workgroups to ensure the execution of team marketing projects is defined during business planning, monitor all executions, and manage annual budgets.
• Demonstrate creativity by developing individual and innovative marketing concepts, including events, athlete projects, media network and digital formats, field marketing activities, and brand campaigns.
• Report project executions to the Head of Sports Marketing and handle related reporting within Red Bull Sportsnet.
• Clearly communicate roles to all core team members and ensure proper execution, and establish Red Bull as a functional beverage in sports by strengthening product communications and education.
• Collaborate with the National Athlete Manager and Specialist, and marketing teams on impactful local projects, and work with the Red Bull Media network to create supporting communications and content plans.
• Collaborate with HQ departments such as risk management and legal to evaluate and mitigate risks, and participate in meetings and trainings to share learnings and align strategies.
• Screen and respond to athlete-related consumer requests, and increase cross-departmental awareness and utilisation of athlete activities.
• Apply successful models in Canada based on key learnings from other countries, provide strategic input based on local business needs for adaptation by other countries, and work with HQ Athlete teams to develop new practices, tracking, and analysis.
• Support sports and regions in building out targets and business plans, and drive SportsNet tracking compliance, timely updates, and news postings.
• Provide strategic and timely feedback for employees and leadership, and remain fiscally responsible for the national athlete marketing budget.
• Review and provide feedback on athlete plans, proposals, and recaps, and support ongoing feedback for mid-year and end-of-year performance evaluations as needed.
• Conduct mid-year and end-of-year reviews, and annual compensation planning.

• 6+ years in sports or athlete marketing.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the Canadian and global sports landscape, including key athletes, leagues, governing bodies, and emerging industry trends.
• Extensive network within sports, creative, and media industries.
• Strong leadership, innovation, organisation, and team skills.
• Excellent understanding of media and digital landscapes and trends.
• Expertise in partnership success, performance, marketing, and communication.
• Supervision of marketing projects, strategy, communication, logistics, finance, legal, and sales challenges.
• Personal skills: leadership, creativity, public speaking, innovative, sporty, open-minded, confident, motivated, team-oriented, friendly, loyal, communicative, responsible, organised, stress-resistant, calm.
• Proficient in PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Outlook, Adobe Creative Suite.
• Educated in sports, experiential marketing, or media with work experience in sports industry, event or marketing agency, sport institution, federation, or as a journalist.
• Experience in inventing and organising sports projects.
• Fluent in written and spoken English.

• Experience in sports or athlete marketing with an agency, brand, or federation.
• University – Bachelor's Degree.
• Second language appreciated.