Account Director, Sports - Brand Consulting

This role leads the strategic management and day-to-day execution of a premier collegiate sports sponsorship portfolio on behalf of the agency and its clients within Brand Consulting. Serving as primary client lead, the position develops partnership strategies, negotiates commercial agreements, manages integrated sponsorship activations, and delivers measurable business results across collegiate properties. The role runs a specific sports vertical and manages a junior team, interfacing with the client and working cross-functionally with internal and external partners, vendors, clients, and agencies.

• Lead day-to-day management of collegiate partnerships across NCAA, conferences, universities, athletic departments, NIL initiatives, and campus engagement platforms.
• Develop and lead comprehensive partnership strategies, identifying and maximising sponsorship assets to deliver measurable client value and secure stakeholder buy-in.
• Serve as primary point of contact for university partners, conference leadership, multimedia rights holders, clients, and agency partners at executive level, leveraging established collegiate athletics relationships.
• Lead negotiations for sponsorship agreements, marketing and naming rights, and partnership renewals, and own senior client relationships as a trusted strategic advisor throughout the partnership lifecycle.
• Lead cross-functional planning and execution of integrated sponsorship campaigns, campus activations, hospitality programmes, student engagement initiatives, and experiential marketing.
• Partner with Data & Analytics to establish KPIs, measurement frameworks, ROI reporting, and optimisation strategies, and collaborate with Creative, Experiential, Social, PR, Digital, and Insights teams.
• Identify new collegiate sponsorship opportunities across athletics, campus life, NIL, women's sports, esports, and emerging properties aligned with client objectives.
• Mentor, develop, and manage junior team members while fostering a collaborative, high-performing culture; run a specific sports vertical and interface with clients, vendors, agencies, and internal/external partners.
• Attend collegiate sporting events, championship tournaments, conference meetings, sponsorship summits, and client activations, and support hospitality programming, VIP experiences, on-campus events, and student engagement initiatives.
• Lead planning and execution of bowl game entitlement programmes and serve as senior lead on multi-agency activation teams for major collegiate events, ensuring contractual rights are fulfilled across branding, hospitality, media, digital, on-site activations, executive stakeholder engagement
• And coordination with university stakeholders, conference partners, production teams, and experiential agencies; oversee activation planning from concept through execution.

• Bachelor's degree, preferably in Marketing, Communications, Business, or similar discipline.
• 8–10+ years of experience in sports marketing, sponsorship consulting, brand partnerships, collegiate athletics, media rights, or a related agency, property, conference, or brand environment.
• Extensive experience developing and managing college sponsorship programmes across NCAA institutions, conferences, athletic departments, or collegiate media rights organisations.
• Demonstrated experience managing bowl game entitlement sponsorships, including strategic planning, contract negotiation, rights management, activation execution, stakeholder coordination, hospitality, and partner fulfilment.
• Established relationships throughout the collegiate sports landscape, including universities, conferences, athletic administrators, multimedia rights holders, and industry partners.
• Proven ability to develop partnership strategies that drive client investment and long-term commercial success.
• Demonstrated experience negotiating complex sponsorship agreements and managing partnerships from contract execution through activation and renewal.
• Exceptional client service and relationship management skills across clients, partners, internal stakeholders, and external agencies.
• Experience leading, mentoring, and developing high-performing teams.
• Strong understanding of collegiate athletics, NCAA regulations, NIL opportunities, student-athlete marketing, and the evolving college sports landscape.
• Proficiency in Google Workspace and Microsoft Office Suite.
• Experience managing sponsorship budgets, forecasting, and financial reporting.
• Ability to lead and execute integrated sponsorship programmes across universities, conferences, governing bodies, student organisations, and talent partnerships.
• Recognised as a strategic thought leader capable of influencing clients and senior stakeholders with data-driven recommendations.
• Highly collaborative, solution-oriented, and able to thrive in a fast-paced environment.

• Agency experience highly preferred.
• Experience in tech/AI is a plus.

• Role is based in the New York or Los Angeles office.
• Brand Consulting department offers a flexible work schedule and requires a minimum of three days per week on-site.

• Eligible for a discretionary bonus.

• Competitive benefits package for all regular full-time employees.
• Medical insurance, with the company paying 80%-100% of the cost.
• Basic life and AD&D insurance, with the company paying 80%-100% of the cost.
• Telemedicine, with the company paying 80%-100% of the cost.
• Employee assistance and mental health counselling in person, virtually, or through text, with the company paying 80%-100% of the cost.
• Paid vacation/holidays, with the company paying 80%-100% of the cost.
• Paid sick time, with the company paying 80%-100% of the cost.
• Paid parental leave and other paid leaves of absence, with the company paying 80%-100% of the cost.
• NICU leave, with the company paying 80%-100% of the cost.
• Bereavement resources, with the company paying 80%-100% of the cost.
• Adoption benefits, with the company paying 80%-100% of the cost.
• Educational assistance, with the company paying 80%-100% of the cost.

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) is the leading entertainment and sports agency, with global expertise in filmed and live entertainment, digital media, publishing, sponsorship sales and endorsements, licensing, media finance, consumer investing, fashion, trademark licensing, and philanthropy.