Marketing Manager, Sponsorship Activation Strategy and Enablement

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Job Description

Reporting to the Director, Sponsorship Client Marketing, the Manager, Sponsorship Activation Strategy & Enablement will be responsible for maximizing the commercial and marketing value of Visa’s sponsorship and partnership portfolio across Europe.

The role will act as a key partner to Marketing Services, Sales, Account Executives and Client Marketing teams, helping translate Visa’s sponsorship rights, assets and benefits into clear, compelling and scalable activation opportunities. The role will ensure sponsorship opportunities are strategically planned, effectively communicated and successfully activated with clients.

The successful candidate will lead the planning, forecasting and tracking of activation opportunities across Visa’s sponsorship and partnership portfolio in Europe. They will develop scalable frameworks for client engagement, translate sponsorship rights, assets and benefits into client-ready activation opportunities, support the creation of compelling sell-in materials, and deliver actionable performance reporting to inform future investment and activation strategies.

This role requires a unique blend of strategic thinking, commercial acumen, analytical rigor and stakeholder management, along with the creativity and adaptability to continually evolve Visa’s sponsorship activation and enablement model.

Key Responsibilities:

Client Activation Strategy & Planning:

• Own the planning, forecasting and prioritisation of sponsorship activation opportunities across Visa's sponsorship and partnership portfolio.

• Develop activation strategies tailored to Visa's Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 clients, ensuring the right level of support, investment and opportunity is provided to each segment.

• Work closely with Sales, Account Executives and Marketing Services teams to identify and prioritise sponsorship opportunities that support business objectives.

• Build annual and quarterly activation roadmaps aligned with sponsorship calendars, client priorities and market opportunities.

• Identify new approaches and activation models that increase client participation and improve the scalability of Visa's sponsorship offerings.

• Support onsite delivery of selected sponsorship activations where required, ensuring client opportunities are brought to life consistently with the agreed strategy, objectives and activation plan.

Commercialization & Sell-In Support:

• Develop best-in-class sell-in materials, toolkits and client-facing resources that help Visa teams communicate partnership opportunities effectively.

• Act as a subject matter expert for sponsorship activation, advising Sales and Marketing Services teams on the most effective use of assets.

• Create frameworks and recommendations that help client-facing teams align sponsorship and partnership opportunities with client business goals.

• Support strategic client conversations and key business development opportunities where sponsorship marketing solutions can drive value.

Stakeholder Engagement & Ways of Working:

• Serve as a key liaison between Sponsorship Marketing, Marketing Services, Sales, Client Marketing and local market teams.

• Establish and continuously improve processes, governance and ways of working that enhance cross-functional collaboration.

• Drive alignment across teams to ensure sponsorship and partnerships opportunities are communicated consistently and executed efficiently.

Performance Measurement & Reporting:

• Lead and maintain a centralized view of sponsorship activation opportunities, pipeline status and client engagement.

• Track activation performance and business outcomes across sponsorship programmes.

• Produce regular reporting, dashboards and insights for leadership and key stakeholders.

• Identify trends, successes and optimisation opportunities to improve future sponsorship and partnership activation strategies.

• Support the development of measurement frameworks that demonstrate the value and impact of Visa's sponsorship investments.

Sponsorship and Partnerships Portfolio Enablement:

• Support the creation of activation toolkits, planning resources and strategic guidance for Visa markets.

• Ensure sponsorship opportunities are accessible, well-communicated and easy for client-facing teams to leverage.

• Contribute to the long-term evolution of Visa’s sponsorship and partnership activation strategy across Europe.

Visa requires at least 3 days in office, expectations of these days will be confirmed by your Hiring Manager.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications:

• Experience in marketing, consulting, market research, insights, marketing analytics, business analytics, corporate or agency environments.

• Experience conducting analysis of primary quantitative and qualitative market research data.

• Experience leading and managing large market research tracking programs at a large global organization or for a large global client.

• Experience with qualitative and quantitative research methodologies.

• Experience in analyzing and synthesizing information to drive insights and strategic business decisions.

• Experience transitioning from technical research perspectives to practical business considerations.

• Experience presenting complex analyses in an easily digestible format for senior management and client consumption.

• Experience uncovering insights using multiple sources of data, identifying trends, outliers, and limitations.

• Experience organizing, prioritizing, and managing multiple projects simultaneously.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in payments or financial institutions.

• Experience managing senior-level stakeholder feedback.

• Experience partnering with senior-level business leaders to meet deadlines.

• Experience working independently within complex and ambiguous environments.

• Experience handling and prioritizing multiple project workstreams simultaneously.

What We’re Looking For:

• Experience working across sales, marketing and client-facing functions to deliver integrated commercial and marketing solutions

• Experience in sponsorship/partnership marketing, marketing strategy or a related commercial marketing discipline.

• Strong analytical capability with experience using data and insights to drive decision-making.

• Experience developing strategic plans, frameworks or operating models.

• Strong project and programme management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.

• Excellent stakeholder management skills and experience working in highly matrixed organisations.

• Experience supporting sales organisations through the creation of client proposals, presentations and commercial narratives.

• Ability to simplify complex information and translate strategy into actionable plans.

• Comfortable building reporting frameworks, dashboards and performance measurement approaches.

• Strong presentation, storytelling and communication skills.

• Curious, proactive and continuously seeking new ways to improve processes, collaboration and business outcomes.

• Demonstrated ability to lead by influence and drive alignment across diverse stakeholder groups.

Visa is an EEO Employer

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.

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