Sponsorship Sales Executive

ABOUT ELEVATE 

Elevate is an award-winning global sports and entertainment agency founded in 2018 and the chosen growth partner for the world’s leading brands, properties, and experience-driven businesses. Through one integrated model, Elevate serves as the trusted advisor for more than 1,000 clients, helping them solve complex challenges and drive business wins. 

What began in sports has evolved into a platform now serving clients across culture, attractions, culinary, and hotels. Today, Elevate brings operational expertise, data-driven intelligence, and world-class creativity together under one roof. 

Elevate’s more than 750 employees sit across 14 offices around the world, from North America to Europe to Asia, and speak and write in 17 different languages. 

ROLE OVERVIEW 

Elevate is looking for an ambitious Sponsorship Sales Executive to join our UAE commercial team. 

This is an exciting opportunity for someone at the early stages of their commercial career who wants to build their experience in sponsorship sales across the sports, entertainment and culture sectors. 

Working alongside experienced members of the commercial team, you will focus on building the sales pipeline by researching prospective partners, identifying the right decision makers, conducting outbound prospecting and securing qualified meetings with potential sponsors. 

You will gain exposure to the wider sponsorship sales process and learn how successful partnerships are developed, pitched and ultimately converted, while contributing directly to the commercial success of our clients. 

We are looking for someone who enjoys the challenge of opening doors. You will be curious, resilient and commercially minded, with the confidence to approach new people, create conversations and turn research into opportunities. 

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES 

The Sponsorship Sales Executive will support the commercial team in developing a strong and consistent pipeline of prospective partners. Typical responsibilities include: 

• Research and identify prospective brands and commercial partners aligned to client sponsorship opportunities. 

• Identify relevant decision makers and build accurate prospect lists across priority sectors and categories. 

• Conduct proactive outbound prospecting through  appropriate channels. 

• Generate interest in client partnership opportunities and secure qualified meetings for the commercial team. 

• Qualify prospective partners by understanding their business, marketing objectives, audiences and potential interest in sponsorship. 

• Develop tailored outreach messages that clearly communicate the relevance and commercial value of an opportunity. 

• Maintain consistent prospecting activity and follow-up to progress opportunities through the early stages of the sales funnel. 

• Maintain accurate and up to date prospect, activity and pipeline information within the relevant CRM system. 

• Support senior sales colleagues with meeting preparation, prospect research and relevant market intelligence. 

• Attend prospective partner meetings alongside senior colleagues, taking increasing responsibility as experience develops. 

• Support the preparation of sales presentations, proposals and other commercial materials. 

• Build knowledge of brands, industries and marketing trends across the GCC to identify new partnership opportunities. 

• Develop a strong understanding of Elevate clients, properties and sponsorship propositions. 

• Collaborate with colleagues across Elevate Commercial, Strategy, Insights and Account teams. 

• Contribute to a high-energy, target driven and collaborative commercial environment. 

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE 

Success in this role will be measured primarily by your ability to create high-quality commercial opportunities for the wider sales team. This includes: 

• Consistent outbound prospecting activity. 

• High quality prospective brands and decision makers identified. 

• Qualified meetings secured with relevant potential partners. 

• Conversion of outreach into conversations and opportunities. 

• Strong management and accuracy of the sales pipeline. 

• Increasing commercial knowledge and ability to qualify opportunities independently. 

• Contribution to sponsorship revenue opportunities generated by the wider team. 

CRITERIA 

We are looking for someone who is ambitious, commercially curious and motivated by targets and results. You will ideally bring: 

• 3-6 years' experience in sales, business development, lead generation, partnerships or another commercial environment. 

• A genuine interest and passion for sports, entertainment, culture and the sponsorship industry. 

• Confidence approaching and engaging new people  

• Strong verbal and written communication skills 

• A proactive mentality and willingness to generate opportunities rather than wait for them 

• Resilience and comfort working in an environment where not every conversation results in an opportunity 

• Strong research skills and the ability to identify relevant companies and decision makers. 

• Good commercial judgement and curiosity about how brands use sponsorship and partnerships to achieve business objectives. 

• Strong organisation and attention to detail, particularly when managing multiple prospects and follow ups. 

• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a commercial team. 

• GCC experience or knowledge of the regional business landscape would be advantageous. 

• Fluency in English; Arabic language skills would be advantageous. 

• Working knowledge of PowerPoint, Excel and Word. 

• Experience using CRM and sales prospecting tools would be advantageous. 

OTHER 

The right candidate will be ambitious, proactive and hungry to build a career in commercial partnerships and sponsorship sales. 

This role will suit someone who gets satisfaction from creating opportunities; researching a company, finding the right person, crafting the right approach and ultimately getting that person into a conversation with Elevate. 

You will have the opportunity to learn from experienced sponsorship professionals, gain exposure to major sports and entertainment properties and develop the commercial skills required to progress into a full sponsorship sales role.