Lead, Brand Partnerships
About This Role
Strava is the leading subscription platform at the center of connected fitness, with more than 100 million community members in over 190 countries. The platform offers a holistic view of your active lifestyle, no matter where you live, which sport you love, and/or what device you use. Everyone belongs on Strava when they are pursuing an active life.
The Brand Partnerships team works with brands interested in engaging with the Strava community, delivering an innovative and exciting alternative to standard advertising channels and formats. As the North America Partnerships Lead, you are a manager/player, as confident leading and coaching a team as you are with pitching, winning, and nurturing your own book of business.
You are an expert in how to sell to marketers at all levels and have ample experience in agency sales as well as direct-to-brand. You know how to align Strava’s sponsorship and media solutions to deliver on marketing objectives. You are comfortable working in a dynamic business environment with ambitious goals, and you know what is required to support your team to achieve them. You will be challenged to stretch your creative and strategic muscle, working in lockstep with cross-functional teams, including marketing, creator partnerships, and product.
Strava has a positive and supportive culture - we are looking for inquisitive, humble, hard-working and collaborative teammates who are able to balance challenging revenue goals and partner value with Strava user value.
You’re excited about this opportunity because you will:
- Sell Sponsored Challenges and other brand activation opportunities within the Strava app
- Deepening existing brand partners relationships, whilst also bringing in new logos
- Lead and develop our North American commercial team, covering Brand Partnerships for North America and APAC
- Play a key role in strategic partner pitches to brands as well as agencies
- Work cross-functionally (Partner Operations, Legal, Product, CRM & Marketing) to build and deliver local and global digital sponsorships
- Serve as the voice of our brand partners in your market, surfacing feedback and partner trends to team members and leadership
- Develop immersive brand activations that delight your clients as well as our Strivers
You will be successful here by:
- Effectively partnering and collaborating with internal stakeholders to ensure the best outcome for brand partners and Strivers
- Selling on brand value and return on investment rather than technical specifications
- Creating demand by uncovering customer problems and the ways our solutions can solve them
- Understanding prioritization between different opportunities and quickly learning to balance both inbound and outbound sales
- Educating customers on Strava’s values and identifying and prioritizing partners who are aligned with our mission and vision
- Maintaining pipeline hygiene across your team to support forecasting and revenue achievement
- Coaching and developing your team, leading with compassion and care
- Consistently exceed quarterly and annual revenue targets assigned by management while contributing to overall team targets.
We’re excited about you because:
- You have 10+ years of experience in a quota-carrying commercial digital advertising or sponsorships role
- Multiple years of experience managing a commercial team in a digital advertising environment
- You move effortlessly between being a manager and a player, looking after your own partners whilst also leading and coaching your team
- You have in-depth knowledge of the digital media and advertising landscape
- You have experience working with product teams, using your extensive knowledge of the digital landscape and marketer needs to help guide product development
- You are a well-versed communicator, able to engage your audience and clearly articulate a value proposition whether it’s an internal or external pitch
- You are organized and experienced in pipeline management and forecasting
About Strava
Strava is Swedish for “strive,” which epitomizes who we are and what we do. We’re a passionate and committed team, unified by our mission to connect athletes to what motivates them and help them find their personal best. And with billions of activity uploads from all over the world, we have a humbling and audacious vision: to be the record of the world’s athletic activities and the technology that makes every effort count.
Strava builds software that makes the best part of our athletes’ days even better. And just as we’re deeply committed to unlocking their potential, we’re dedicated to providing a world-class, inclusive workplace where our employees can grow and thrive, too. We’re backed by Sequoia Capital, Madrone Partners and Jackson Square Ventures, and we’re expanding in order to exceed the needs of our growing community of global athletes. Our culture reflects our community – we are continuously striving to hire and engage diverse teammates from all backgrounds, experiences and perspectives because we know we are a stronger team together.
Strava is an equal opportunity employer. In keeping with the values of Strava, we make all employment decisions including hiring, evaluation, termination, promotional and training opportunities, without regard to race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, physical handicap, mental disability, medical condition, disability, gender or identity or expression, pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition, marital status, height and/or weight.
We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.