About Us
Powered by one of the largest global newsrooms in sports media, The Athletic brings sports fans the most comprehensive stories about the teams, sports and athletes they love. The Athletic’s newsroom of 500+ full-time staff delivers in-depth coverage of hundreds of professional and college teams across more than 47 North American markets and all 20 football clubs in the English Premier League, as well as many Championship clubs.
About The Role
The Athletic is seeking an experienced Sales Director to help expand its Advertising business to be an industry leader. You will be a key member of our growing Brand Partnerships sales team responsible for driving ad revenue via client direct and agency relationships. In this role you will own the end to end sales process for new sourcing, developing, and partnering with new ad partners who want to get their brand in front of The Athletic’s audience across all platforms including web, mobile, audio, newsletters, and social media. Additionally, you will be responsible for maintaining and nurturing relationships with existing ad partners in order to drive renewals and support ongoing business. This is a temporary role running from September - November 2026 & March - April 2027.
Responsibilities
Serve as one of the Sales Directors, helping grow our overall brand advertiser sales revenue via client and agency relationship.
Manage a book of business with ambitious individual and team quarterly and annual revenue targets.
Identify new ad partners that have a brand/product that is a strong fit with our listener base, and manage the navigation to the appropriate decision maker for each partner.
Drive advertising revenue across all of The Athletic’s key platforms and surfaces including web, mobile, audio, newsletters, and social media.
Define strategies and guide the account management teams in replying to RFPs and client opportunities including program, content, and media plan guidance.
Share partner insights and sales lessons across the team including new ad products and opportunities our clients are looking for.
Represent The Athletic brand well.
Requirements
10+ years of digital ad sales experience, ideally with a blend of web/app, social media, and podcast sales experience.
Established agency and client direct relationships that you can leverage on day one.
Demonstrated experience building on a foundation that is already in place but enjoy having the freedom and flexibility to make things better: better sales tools, better communication, better processes, etc.
Ability to work independently as an experienced individual contributor and as a team leader.
A passion for the sales process and the advertising industry.
A track record for being motivated by and meeting ambitious targets.
A self starter who is good at getting work done without someone looking over your shoulder.
You are an excellent communicator over email, on the phone, and in person.
You are good at working independently but enjoy being part of a team.
