Senior Partnerships Manager

ABOUT US

Football Australia is situated on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We acknowledge the histories, traditions and living cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and commit to building a brighter future together. 

Football in Australia is a melting pot of approximately 2 million participants represented by over 200 different cultures, we are proud to be the most diverse and globally connected sport within the Australian sporting landscape.  

This diversity in culture, ideas, and experience makes us strong and prepares us to achieve our vision to ‘be a leading football nation where everyone is inspired to live and love the game’. To achieve this, we live by our company values which are:

Welcome: Open doors, open minds, open hearts – One Game for All

Ready: Always ready, Always ahead

Connect: Together, united

Excel: Our best, every day in every way

Protect: Guarding the game, Securing the future

WHAT WE OFFER

At Football Australia we want to look after our people and below are just some of the many benefits of joining our team:

• Flexible work arrangements
• Birthday Leave
• Study Leave
• Wellbeing & Lifestyle leave
• Paid Parental leave in addition to statutory government offering
• Volunteer leave
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Partner discounts
• Workplace Banking Program
• Social Activities such as 5-a-side futsal

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Senior Partnerships Manager is responsible for the relationship management of a portfolio of commercial partners, with an aim of delivering on each of their business objectives, based on a clear understanding of the goals associated with their Football Australia partnership.

This role takes responsibility for all Football Australia partnership properties, with a focus on the national teams – Senior, Youth & Para’s. It plays a central part in connecting leading Australian and global brands to the nation’s most loved teams – the CommBank Matildas and CommBank Socceroos.

Football Australia’s partnership portfolio includes blue chip companies such as Commonwealth Bank, Cadbury, Qantas, Nike, 10 Paramount, Allianz, Coles, MILO, Hahn, Superloop, MJ Bale and Beare Park. The successful candidate will be intimately involved in delivering some of the largest sponsorship campaigns Australia has seen.

The position is responsible for delivering a best-in-class commercial partner management program, ensuring delivery of integrated and cohesive sponsorship agreements across the FA ecosystem, while in tandem enhancing football fans’ experiences in Australia.

Duties & Responsibilities: 

• Ensure FA is fulfilling its contractual obligations to key partners throughout the term of their agreement, delivering value over and above expectations to maintain high levels of sponsor satisfaction
• Lead the end-to-end delivery of partner campaigns across broadcast, digital, experiential and social channels.
• Collaborate with FA’s marketing, media and events teams to integrate partner activity seamlessly into key campaign moments.
• Support renewal and upsell opportunities by identifying new value creation pathways for existing partners.
• Establish a detailed understanding of commercial partner’s marketing and strategic plans and develop, deliver and review creative campaigns for partners.
• Continually monitor and review partner contractual benefits and pro-actively create and present ideas to partners to utilise and deliver against set objectives most effectively
• Support the Commercial department’s planning and compliance with policies, whilst implementing functional best practice and continuous improvements
• Work within governance, compliance, regulatory and policy frameworks when it comes to partner rights and benefits. This will include signage, inventory/rights and the use of teams and players – imagery and access
• Together with the General Manager – Commercial, establish and maintain relationships with relevant players and their agents to ensure appropriate delivery of appearances, management of commercial/IP issues and/or individual partnership deals
• Support fan ratings, attendance and passion through the development of marketing initiatives with sponsors that promote football and drive consumption.
• The ability to build strong relationships with staff members of all Football Australia business units, along with key personnel of each commercial partners teams, is a critical component of this role
• A natural ability to influence, combined with an understanding of how to optimise stakeholder management for sponsorship leverage demonstrating strong ROI and ROO to FA partners, is crucial

A full copy of the position description can be found by copy and pasting the following link into a web browser:

https://footballaustralia.com.au/sites/default/files/2025-11/Position%20Description%20-%20Senior%20Partnerships%20Manager%20-%20Nov%2025.pdf

ABOUT YOU

Experience, Skills and Qualifications: 

• 3-5 years’ experience in a sales/marketing/sponsorship management/agency
• Proven ability to manage multiple partners and complex rights portfolios simultaneously
• Passion for purpose-based partnerships
• Strong commercial acumen
• Understanding of strategic marketing plans & processes
• Experience in servicing blue-chip brands, understanding how they operate and their partnering expectations
• Superior communication skills – written, verbal and presentation skills
• Outstanding customer service and relationship management skills
• Ability to build strong working relationships within the corporate environment
• Results and Performance driven
• Self-motivated
• Competence in Microsoft suite of computer programs
• Effective time management – to be able to respond quickly and effectively to partnership needs

A full list of experience, skills and qualifications can be found in the above position description

Additional Requirements: 

• Full working rights in Australia
• Working with children check (paid/employee) or state-based equivalent 
• International Criminal History Record for each country (other than Australia) in which you have resided for 12 months or more in the last 10 years (if applicable)
• Out of hours and weekend work as required

Click APPLY NOW to submit your application, including a cover letter and current resume. 

Application Closing Date: Friday 12th December 2025.

Football Australia are an equal opportunity employer committed to providing a safe working environment that embraces and values child safety, diversity, and inclusion. Our values and behaviours support and encourage an environment that sees its people drive impact on and off the pitch, are trusting in each other, united to achieve and embrace an inclusive environment.

We encourage applications from people who identify as female or non-binary, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island people, people with disabilities and people with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. If you require support or advice with your application, please contact us.

In submitting an application, you agree to our collection statement. To review, head to the following link: www.footballaustralia.com.au/jobs/collection-statement