Sponsorship Director – Sustainability Events

The Sponsorship Director will drive sales efforts for Times Higher Education's flagship sustainability event, the Global Sustainable Development Congress (GSDC), by securing new sponsors and building client relationships globally. The role involves managing the end-to-end sales process, developing lead generation campaigns, and collaborating with events, marketing, and operations teams. The candidate will have autonomy to establish themselves as a sector expert and set their own strategy to drive commercial results.

Responsibilities

• Build relationships from the ground up; find, engage and nurture your own client base of corporate companies
• Drive event sales growth by identifying and winning new business opportunities
• Manage the end-to-end sales process, from initial prospecting and high-impact proposals to negotiating complex contracts and closing
• Prepare and present regular sales forecasts, performance reports, and market analyses to senior leadership
• Partner with the Event Director and Marketing team to develop targeted lead generation campaigns that specifically address the needs of the sustainability market
• Create innovative solutions that meet your clients’ needs and that keep GSDC and THE at the forefront in the market
• Maintain an overview of competitor landscape
• Resolve customer issues by investigating problems; developing solutions; preparing reports; making recommendations to management.
• Maintain professional and technical knowledge by attending educational workshops; reviewing professional publications; establishing personal networks; participating in professional societies.
• Attend industry events to maintain relationships with clients and develop new relationships

Requirements

• Sales background ideally in live or digital events, with experience in the sustainability sector highly desirable
• Quick to grasp new concepts and understand the value proposition for different groups of prospective clients
• Confident and independent self-starter who is able to hit the ground running
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to work with senior leaders from government, education and industry
• Commercially astute and entrepreneurial outlook
• Ability to work to agreed deadlines, working well under pressure
• Excellent planning and organisational skills in order to manage and prioritise workload
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Passionate about the power of education and importance of sustainability to global development
• MS Office essential – Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Flexibility to travel internationally to THE and industry