Manager – Sports Marketing

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Manager, Sports Marketing (Baseball & Hockey)

Location: Hybrid, 3 days per week onsite. Corporate offices in Bethesda, MD or Manhattan, NY.

Reports To: Sr. Manager, Sports Marketing

About the Role

Within Marketing at GEICO, our sports activations are among the most visible ways the brand shows up in culture and in local markets. We are deeply committed to getting the deals right and getting the most out of every asset we buy.

The Manager, Sports Marketing partners with the Sr. Manager and Lead to run GEICO's league, team, school and talent partnerships. Together, you will negotiate and renew agreements and manage partner relationships, and you will lead activation from strategy through launch and recap — bringing Social, Influencer, Creative, Analytics, Go-to-Market, and Experiential together around a shared plan. You will also lead and develop a team from day one and make sure league-level and team-level rights work as one portfolio, with no overlap, no gaps, and a clear line from every dollar spent to a business outcome.

This role is built for someone who can negotiate a strong deal with a league or club, then go back and lead the team and cross-functional partners who bring it to life. It is a high-visibility role with direct exposure to senior leaders, and there is real room to scale and build the internal team, as the sports partnerships function continues to grow.

How We Work

The Marketing organization at GEICO is guided by a clear set of principles: we hire the best at every level and invest in developing them. We believe that strategy comes before action — if we don't know why we're doing something, we don't do it. We bring the same care and accountability to how we spend resources as we would if it were our own business. And when there are challenges, we face them directly and collectively. Leaders in this organization are expected to bring that same mindset to their teams.

Key Responsibilities

Partnership Strategy & Negotiation

· Partner with the Sr. Manager to negotiate, renew, and manage GEICO's partnerships, working alongside Legal, Procurement, and agencies

· Evaluate proposals and renewal terms with rigor — asset valuation, pricing benchmarks, exclusivity and category definitions, renewal and matching rights, and rights gaps — and, with the Sr. Manager, bring clear recommendations and tradeoffs to senior leaders

· Help build the business case for each partnership: what we are buying, what it is worth, and how it ties to brand and business objectives

· Manage day-to-day relationships with league and team partners and partner with the Sr. Manager on executive-level relationships, setting a regular business review cadence and holding partners accountable for contractual deliverables

· Make sure league-level and team-level rights (national and local, media, in-venue, and digital) work together as a coherent portfolio

Activation & Portfolio Management

· Own activation strategy, translating sponsorship rights and assets into plans aligned to brand and business objectives, including local market priorities

· Ensure partnership assets are fully utilized — tracking inventory, deliverables, and fulfillment against contract

· Identify new activation opportunities within existing rights, and flag assets that are not earning their keep

Cross-Functional Leadership

· Lead cross-functional sports planning across Social, Influencer, Creative, Analytics, and Media— managing timelines, approvals, deliverables, and dependencies

· Partner with internal creative teams and external agencies to brief, develop, and deliver activation assets that meet program needs and brand standards

· Collaborate with the Experiential Marketing team on sports-tied experiential executions, ensuring integrated planning and seamless handoffs

· Set the standard for workbacks, trackers, activation plans, and status updates across multiple concurrent initiatives, and ensure your team executes against it

People Leadership & Team Building

· Lead, coach, and develop the team members— setting clear priorities and expectations, giving regular feedback, and holding a high bar

· Assign workstreams, review work, and build the team's standards for activation planning, tracking, and recap

· Work with the Sr. Manager to shape how the team is structured and where it grows next, including role design, hiring, and onboarding as the portfolio and the sports partnerships function scale

Measurement, Budget & Process

· Own measurement and reporting for assigned partnerships — define success metrics up front, evaluate performance, and turn learnings into renewal and investment recommendations

· Manage budgets for assigned partnerships, including forecasting, invoice approval, and financial tracking

· Identify opportunities to strengthen internal coordination and improve the efficiency of sports partnership activations, and contribute to building the team's playbook as the function matures

You May Be a Good Fit If You

· Have negotiated or renewed sports sponsorship agreements — at the league level, team level, or both — and can walk through the terms you pushed on and why

· Have managed relationships with league and club partnership executives and earned credibility on both sides of the table

· Know the baseball and hockey landscape — how MLB and NHL clubs, the leagues, and their local markets work — well enough to recognize a great opportunity and flag a bad one

· Have worked inside a company where driving customer acquisition and conversion was central to the business model, and you can connect a sponsorship to a business outcome, not just reach and impressions

· Can turn a complex proposal — pricing, rights, exclusivity — into a clear recommendation that lands with senior leaders, and are comfortable pressure-testing a partner's numbers and claims

· Hold complex cross-functional workstreams together without relying on formal authority, and keep work moving across Social, Creative, Analytics, and Go-to-Market

· Have led and developed people — set a high bar, coached through feedback, and grown a team's capability — and want to build a team, not just manage a book of business

· Thrive when building, not just maintaining — you want a hand in shaping how a growing sports partnerships function and team operate

· Are a genuine baseball and hockey fan who wants to be inside a transformation at an iconic brand, not adjacent to it

Ideal Experience

· Experience: 8+ years in sports marketing, sponsorships, or partnership marketing, including direct experience negotiating and managing sponsorship agreements and leading cross-functional activations from planning through recap.

· Negotiation and deal evaluation: Demonstrated experience negotiating or renewing sponsorship agreements, including asset valuation, pricing, exclusivity, and category protections, and working alongside Legal and Procurement.

·Sports sponsorship fluency: Deep familiarity with the baseball and hockey landscape, including league versus team partnership structures, local market rights, and how properties package media, in-venue, and digital inventory.

·Service company context: Experience working inside a conversion-driven service business — financial services, insurance, SaaS, or banking — where marketing is tied directly to customer acquisition and retention.

· Partner relationships: Experience managing senior-level relationships with properties, agencies, and vendors while driving execution across internal teams.

·Cross-functional leadership: Demonstrated ability to lead multiple concurrent initiatives with high organization, precision, and follow-through in a matrixed environment.

·People leadership: Experience managing, coaching, and developing team members, with a track record of setting a high bar and growing talent.

·Analytical and financial acumen: Experience managing budgets and using measurement and learnings to evaluate performance and inform renewal and investment decisions.

· Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills, including executive-ready memos and presentations.

· AI tools: Comfort using AI tools like Claude or Copilot to speed up analysis, drafting, and workflow.

· Education: Bachelor's degree in marketing, business, sports management, communications, or a related field preferred.

Strong Candidates May Also Have

· Experience on the league, team, or agency side of the business, giving you a view into how partners think about pricing and deal structure

· Direct relationships with MLB, NHL, or club partnership teams, or with agencies in the sports marketing ecosystem

· Experience with local market partnership strategy, including local media and broadcast rights

· Experience managing activations tied to experiential or live events

· Experience building or scaling a team, including defining roles, hiring, and onboarding

#LI-HB1

Annual Salary

$109,675.00 - $172,200.00

The above annual salary range is a general guideline. Multiple factors are taken into consideration to arrive at the final hourly rate/ annual salary to be offered to the selected candidate. Factors include, but are not limited to, the scope and responsibilities of the role, the selected candidate’s work experience, education and training, the work location as well as market and business considerations.

At this time, GEICO will not sponsor a new applicant for employment authorization for this position.

The GEICO Pledge:

Great Company: Protecting customers through life’s twists and turns with innovation and integrity.

Great Careers:Personalized development programs, mentorship, and certification assistance.

Great Culture:Inclusive and collaborative culture rooted in shared success.

Great Rewards:Competitive pay, benefits, and flexibility to support your well-being and future.

The equal employment opportunity policy of the GEICO Companies provides for a fair and equal employment opportunity for all associates and job applicants regardless of race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, age, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, familial status, disability or genetic information, in compliance with applicable federal, state and local law. GEICO hires and promotes individuals solely on the basis of their qualifications for the job to be filled.

GEICO reasonably accommodates qualified individuals with disabilities to enable them to receive equal employment opportunity and/or perform the essential functions of the job, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship to the Company. This applies to all applicants and associates. GEICO also provides a work environment in which each associate is able to be productive and work to the best of their ability. We do not condone or tolerate an atmosphere of intimidation or harassment. We expect and require the cooperation of all associates in maintaining an atmosphere free from discrimination and harassment with mutual respect by and for all associates and applicants.