Senior Director, Business Solutions

Position Overview

The Senior Director, Business Solutions is a crucial leader within the Los Angeles Lakers Global Partnerships team, primarily responsible for heading the Business Solutions vertical. This role combines creative, strategic, and analytical expertise to empower the Partnership Sales and Activation teams in achieving both immediate and long-term partnership revenue goals.

Key Responsibilities

• Direct the Business Solutions team to create integrated partnership strategies including commercial packaging, pricing, and proposal development aimed at driving new business initiatives.
• Lead, mentor, and manage the Business Solutions team, set priorities, enhance workflows, and ensure the delivery of high-quality outputs across all sales projects.
• Collaborate closely with Partnership Sales leadership to craft client-tailored solutions aligning partner marketing goals with Lakers assets, intellectual property, and fan engagement opportunities.
• Design the department's commercial strategies, including sponsorship packaging, asset valuation, inventory optimization, pricing, and go-to-market tactics for premium offerings.
• Advise on current partner considerations and potential conflicts and recommend deal structures and assets informed by thorough contract and asset knowledge.
• Champion innovation within Global Partnerships by identifying new sponsorship categories, developing scalable sales tools and best practices, and promoting cross-department collaboration.
• Support the Partnership Activation Team in partner retention and growth by defining success metrics, fulfilling KPIs, and maximizing client investments.
• Oversee the CRM system (e.g., Salesforce/KORE), collaborating with the BI team to develop data sets for reporting and analytics.
• Manage selection and coordination of third-party research vendors to produce data for prospecting materials, sales presentations, proposals, and post-campaign recaps across multiple domains such as broadcast valuation, consumer research, sponsor impact, social media valuation, and sales support.
• Assist Global Partnership leadership with revenue management, tracking, executive reporting, and business calendar and revenue forecasting.
• Flexibly adapt responsibilities to meet evolving organizational needs as directed by management.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required, preferably in Marketing, Advertising, or a related discipline.
• At least nine years of experience in business development, strategic planning, or partnership management, ideally within sports or entertainment sectors.
• Minimum two years of experience managing and developing a team.
• Proficiency with CRM platforms like Salesforce or KORE, Microsoft Office, Adobe Suite, and Tableau.
• Strong self-motivation, multitasking ability, and a results-driven work ethic suitable for fast-paced environments.
• Extensive understanding of partnership activation, sponsorship sales, and sports/entertainment marketing methodologies.
• Experience managing inventory, budgets, and crafting category strategy approaches.
• Excellent problem-solving, communication, organizational, interpersonal, and time management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to foster collaboration across departments and gain consensus on strategies and initiatives.
• Skilled in developing integrated marketing partnership presentations based on brand objectives and KPIs.
• Knowledge of third-party research and data sources to develop data-driven sales stories.
• Familiarity with the Los Angeles Lakers or broader sports industry is preferred.

Additional Information

• Physical demands include the ability to lift up to 25 lbs and extensive walking within the arena on game days.
• Work locations include El Segundo offices (Monday to Friday), downtown Los Angeles at Crypto.com Arena for select home games, and off-site client meetings.
• Travel requirements are up to 5% for league meetings, conferences, and pre-season games.
• Work hours include regular office hours Monday through Friday, plus evenings and weekends for game and client events.
• The salary range for this role is $155,000 to $170,000 annually. Compensation packages are determined based on the candidate's skills, experience, certifications, and internal equity considerations.
• The organization practices equal employment opportunity, considering all qualified applicants without discrimination based on protected classes.