Hybrid Commercial Strategy Manager

at WRU - Welsh Rugby Union

• Job title: Commercial Strategy Manager
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Mid level, Senior
• Salary: Not specified
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Location requirements: Hybrid, Cardiff, United Kingdom

About the role

• Commercial Strategy Manager at the Welsh Rugby Union, leading strategic projects and partnerships to drive commercial growth. Managing partnerships and hospitality sales in a hybrid role.

Responsibilities

• Lead, or play a key support role, on the delivery of strategic commercial projects that will underpin the successful delivery the of the WRU’s commercial strategy.
• Deploy a core consulting skillset and approach to solve complex problems, build trusted relationships and deliver actionable results that drive the business forward.
• Structured problem solving, data analysis and modelling, clear and concise communication and presentation of ideas, project management and stakeholder management.
• Drive projects from inception all the way through to implementation.
• Clearly document and analyse projects, concepts and strategies in Microsoft PowerPoint, Word and Excel to enable the business to make data driven and strategy led decisions quickly and seamlessly.
• In collaboration with the broader Commercial team, manage the research and insights program for the commercial program on a day-to-day basis ensuring the team has access to the required research and data and that it is presented in an insightful manner to enable data driven decision making.
• Ensure all commercial research and data is stored in a way which is organised and easily accessible to the relevant stakeholders in the business.
• Ensure the right level of commercial insight is proactively shared with key internal stakeholders.
• Support the Partnerships team as required.
• Lead on the identification and documentation of all available partnerships inventory so that it is clear what is available to be sold.
• Drive the process with the Commercial team to establish a clear and agreed rate card for the available inventory.
• Support the Head of Commercial and Commercial Director to build a commercial strategy as to how the inventory is to be packaged, taken to market and sold.
• Use data sources, desktop research and industry knowledge and networks to identify target lists of clients for the outreach process.
• Lead on the implementation of the required systems and processes to track the sales pipeline and capture all contact details for sales targets.
• Identify opportunities for creating bespoke commercial partnership proposals.
• Lead on the creation and ongoing maintenance of a suite of templated sales materials that can be quickly and easily refined to apply to any sales opportunity.
• Support the sales team by ensuring they have the required data for the direct outreach to potential clients to setup sales meetings.
• Lead on the preparation of sales materials for key meetings, with support from the wider team.
• Spend an agreed portion of your time on direct outreach to support the Partnership sales team and process, particularly during peak selling periods.
• Support with smooth and detailed handover of sold opportunities to the Partnerships team to enable them to deliver the contracted rights.
• Support the hospitality sales team to build and maintain a healthy and vibrant sales pipeline to convert sales leads into new business to ensure the agreed budgets and targets are met.
• Work collaboratively with the Commercial team to develop strategies to identify and develop new commercial revenue streams that drive innovation and growth.
• Build excellent working relations with internal stakeholders, external stakeholders and prospective partners / sales leads.

Requirements

• Previous consulting and/or commercial strategy experience, preferably gained in a professional services company or equivalent in-house department.
• Demonstrable problem-solving ability with a strong will to be able to diagnose challenging issues and present viable solutions.
• Ability to balance competing demands and requirements to find mutually acceptable solutions.
• Strong data analysis skills.
• Ability to build presentations that tell a clear and coherent story, are easy to digest, insightful and enable quick decisions to be made.
• Demonstrable sales and business development experience or a strong desire to develop these skills.
• Demonstrable experience of developing relationships with key stakeholders.
• Understanding and experience of commercial / sponsorships rights.
• Experience of presenting at introductory and other meetings to a variety of levels of stakeholders.
• Experience of contract negotiation and contract management.
• Self-motivated, proactive and driven to achieve results.
• The ability to work on own initiative effectively, both as an individual and as part of a team.
• Excited by challenges and motivated to find solutions that work for all parties.
• Excellent IT skills, specifically Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills are essential.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship management.
• Ability to communicate and work through the medium of Welsh is desirable.

Benefits

• Salary Sacrifice Pension (5% employee contribution, matched by WRU)
• Life assurance scheme
• WRU Group Ticket Allocation (in line with ticketing policy)
• One additional paid day off (birthday leave)
• Employee assistance programme
• Team Tactics – hybrid working arrangements
• Free stadium parking and gym
• WRU Group store and tour discounts
• WRU Group partnership offers
• Eye Care Voucher Scheme
• Cycle to Work Scheme