Director, Commercial Operations
Position Title: Director, Commercial Operations
Department: Revenue and Marketing
Direct Manager: Chief Commercial Officer
Date: March 3, 2023
Company Description :
The Canadian Football League is Canada’s home for professional football. With over a century of rich history and nine member teams across the nation, the CFL provides world-class entertainment and excitement to a passionate and dedicated fan base. A season-long journey of unforgettable moments and must-see-TV broadcasts culminates in Canada’s largest single-day sporting event – the Grey Cup, where the newly crowned champions earn the right to hoist the iconic emblem of Canadian football.
The CFL leads a global movement to grow and modernize the game. The league is committed to a global vision as it connects with fans around the world. It is transforming into a digital-first sports league through an innovative, first-ofits-kind partnership with Genius Sports to maximize fan engagement through data analytics, technological advances, and sports betting.
Just as important as its industry-leading operations, the CFL proudly champions the values on which Canada was built – unity, diversity, inclusion, strength, and service to the community. The league is supportive of all peoples, cultures, and backgrounds, offering a respectful and inclusive working and playing environment, centered on acceptance and understanding. The CFL’s successes are measured not only on the field and within its ranks, but also in its unparalleled impact in affecting positive change and bettering Canadian communities and lives.
Position Summary:
Reporting directly to the Chief Commercial Officer, The Canadian Football League is looking for an experienced operations professional to join its Global Partnerships team. The candidate will possess the business acumen to convert strategic concepts into efficient and effective processes and systems that drive growth. The incumbent has a track record for enabling new business acquisition and partner retention, working across the sales and account management areas of the partnership business. This individual will lead the development and management of the
Global Partnerships budget. Leveraging strong interpersonal skills, the individual will forge key external relationships to lead the department’s partner research and valuation plan to develop data-driven cases to attract and retain partners. Intellectually curious, the successful candidate stays current with industry trends and best practices to work cross-functionally to build innovative partner marketing programs.
Essential Functions:
The Director, Commercial Operations leads operations for the partnerships team at the league office.
• Lead the development and management of the Global Partnership team’s budgets, including quarterly forecasting and ongoing reporting against revenue targets and expenses to mitigate risk.
• Establish processes and systems to enable the sales team to focus on revenue generation.
• In partnership with the AVP, Global Partnerships, and AVP, Licensing and Retail, establish regular reports on sales goals and metrics.
• Support the Chief Commercial Officer with revenue updates, projections, and other commercial reports across Global Partnerships, Licensing, Tickets, DTC initiatives, and Broadcast partnerships in preparation for Board and other League Wide meetings.
• Plan and organize monthly league-wide partnership sales and activation calls in concert with the AVP, Global Partnerships, and Account Director, Global Partnerships.
• Manage and oversee the successful centralization of the sponsorship business, working with the league’s nine (9) member clubs and the internal data analytics and engineering team to accurately report on available and sold inventory, and associated revenues, identifying areas of success and opportunity.
• Work closely with the Global Partnerships team to identify and implement inventory management systems to effectively and efficiently assign, prioritize, monitor, and report asset allocations.
• Work collaboratively with league-wide virtual signage partner to oversee the successful execution of a league-wide program.
• Lead league-wide team education and compliance with the league’s commercial model, including the formal execution and updating of associated legal documents and due diligence to optimize existing parameters.
• Analyze, synthesize, and present key league-wide insights, to optimize revenue generation.
• Lead external vendor negotiations, relationship management, and strategic activation of research and media valuation partners to support new business and partner retention objectives.
• Collect quantifiable partner feedback through surveys, and conduct a detailed analysis of results and production items to assist with achieving partner objectives.
• Support the development of asset rate cards and inventory management on an ongoing basis.
• Work cross-functionally with other internal departments to identify, refine and develop sales materials for sponsored opportunities that successfully support broader organizational objectives.
• Maintain and grow industry and marketplace knowledge, use research tools, partner with data science and analytics team to understand market trends, fan affinity, etc.,
Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Experience):
• The ideal candidate has experience in/knowledge of a variety of functional areas, such as sales, operations, budgeting, and marketing.
• A self-starter, they are proactive in establishing best-in-class systems and processes to drive growth and mitigate risk.
• Ability to develop compelling data-driven business cases to demonstrate client value.
• Strong working knowledge of digital media and sponsorship marketing with a specific focus on best
practices and principles related to the sale and implementation of corporate partnerships and creative digital & experiential activations, including:
o Intellectual Property Rights
o Digital and social media platforms
o Brand activation and promotion across all key touchpoints (events, retail, multimedia) and key
stakeholders (consumer, employee, trade).
o Working knowledge of other key marketing concepts and functions, including Media (TV, Radio,
Print, Digital, Mobile); brand strategy and positioning; marketing metrics (broadcast ratings,
research in brand and promotion tracking).
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills; an experienced presenter.
• Highly organized and collaborative with an ability to juggle competing priorities in a fast-paced, everchanging environment.
• Proficient in Microsoft Suite. An advanced understanding of MS PowerPoint and other creative presentation software is preferred.
• Tenacious with a track record for getting things done where others would have given up.
• A strong understanding of Canadian football is a definite asset.
• Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline; or equivalent work experience.
• Minimum of seven years experience in a direct sports and entertainment corporate partnerships business development or operations role.
• Experience in digital media and sponsorship is required.
Key Relationships/Contacts:
• Chief Commercial Officer
• AVP, Global Partnerships
• Account Director, Global Partnerships
• AVP, Sports Betting, Gaming and Innovation
• AVP, Licensing and Retail
• Senior Director, Business Intelligence
• AVP, Digital Transformation
• AVP, Finance
• AVP, Tech and Software
• Vice President, Marketing
Direct Reports:
• Coordinator, Commercial Research and Insights
• Coordinator, Commercial Operations
Location:
The CFL League Office is in Toronto. Most employees are working remotely or hybrid. Must be willing and able to attend meetings or other business events at the league office or other venues as business needs dictate. Proof of vaccination is a condition of employment.
Contact:
If interested, please submit resume to sjonesbouk@cfl.ca. We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted
We are working to create a more diverse and inclusive work environment and welcome applications from traditionally underrepresented groups such as women, visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, people living with disabilities and people identifying as LGBTQ2S+.