Job Summary
The Business Development Manager (BDM) is responsible for leading all commercial and partnership activities for a fast-growing sports engagement platform serving leagues, clubs, players, and match content across Iraq, Kurdistan, and the MENA region. The role focuses on expanding the partner ecosystem, securing relationships with clubs, leagues, media partners, and advertisers, and driving revenue growth through sponsorships, partnerships, and marketing campaigns. The Business Development Manager oversees commercial relationships from acquisition through ongoing account management while supporting the platform’s regional expansion. This position requires a strong understanding of sports, digital platforms, and strategic commercial partnerships.
Key Responsibilities
1. Partnership Acquisition:
- Identify and acquire clubs, leagues, academies, and sports organisations
- Build relationships with sports authorities and federations
- Secure content partnerships, match coverage rights, and media collaborations
- Pitch the client’s value proposition to sports entities
- Sell advertising packages, sponsored content, and campaign placements
- Develop commercial proposals for brands and agencies
- Manage negotiations, pricing, and contract closing
- Coordinate with the marketing team on campaign execution
- Manage the onboarding of clubs, leagues, and advertisers
- Maintain long-term relationships with partners
- Ensure partners receive analytics, reports, and campaign results
- Act as the main point of contact for all commercial partners
- Expand the client’s presence across Iraq, Kurdistan, GCC, and MENA
- Attend sports events, conferences, and federation meetings
- Build a strong network within the sports ecosystem
- Develop revenue plans and partnership strategies
- Identify new commercial opportunities (content, media, events)
- Prepare business proposals, pitch decks, and partnership packages
- Work closely with the founder on strategic initiatives
- Work with the product team to align partner needs with platform features
- Work with the marketing team on campaigns and partner activations
- Use HubSpot CRM to manage pipeline, segmentation, and reporting
Requirements
- Minimum 5+ years of relevant experience in business development, partnerships, or sponsorship sales
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Media, Sports Management, or a related field
- Strong understanding of sports, media, or digital platforms
- Experience in managing commercial partnerships and sponsorship deals
- Strong negotiation, communication, and relationship-building skills
- Familiarity with CRM systems (HubSpot)
- Fluency in English is a must, and Arabic is an advantage
*Only applicants meeting the strict criteria outlined above will be contacted as part of the shortlisting process.