Business Development Senior Manager, Sports & Media

RESPONSIBILITIES:Account Intelligence & Research
Build awareness and generate your own leads.
Build and maintain deep intelligence briefs on target accounts — including organizational structure, strategic priorities, technology investments, recent news, leadership changes, and competitive landscape.
Monitor trigger events (funding, exec changes, partnerships, product launches, league/team activity) and surface timely engagement opportunities.
Develop and maintain a target account tracker that serves as the operational foundation of our vertical GTM motion.
Top-of-Funnel & ABM Execution
Design and execute account-based outreach sequences that are personalized, value-first, and tailored to each account's specific context — not templated blast campaigns.
Collaborate with APPLY marketing to activate campaigns, events, and content assets as engagement vehicles for target accounts.
Create bespoke outreach materials: one-pagers, account-specific research briefs, personalized decks, and leave-behinds that open doors and establish credibility before a first conversation.
Support event strategy and execution — identifying relevant industry events (league summits, sports tech conferences, sponsorship forums) and helping develop engagement plays around them.
Follow up on APPLY marketing campaigns and inbound leads.
Introductory & Discovery Support
Qualify and schedule introductory and discovery calls on behalf of the Vertical Growth Lead.
Prepare pre-call intelligence packages and talking-point briefs for every meeting.
Attend introductory and discovery calls to support note-taking, next-steps tracking, and follow-up execution.
Draft follow-up communications, recap emails, and initial materials to advance early-stage conversations.
Pursuit & Pipeline Ownership
Manage and evolve a vertical/territory sales plan, including key targets and stakeholders.
Qualify new opportunities along with the sales support team.
Support pre-qualification scoring and deal qualification in collaboration with the Vertical Growth Lead and Pursuit Operations.
Work closely with the APPLY partnerships leads and external partnerships contacts (Google Cloud, Contentful, Twilio, etc) to account map and coordinate co-sell opportunities into mutual target accounts.
Assist in proposal development, pitch preparation, and RFP responses for active pursuits.
Coordinate with APPLY's Pursuit Operations Lead on proposal logistics, internal alignment, and deal support activities.
Help manage CRM hygiene, pipeline reporting, and deal status updates to keep the GTM motion organized and visible.
REQUIREMENTS:Experience & Background
5+ years of experience in a business development, sales, ABM, or GTM-adjacent role — ideally at a consultancy, agency, technology firm, or within the sports/media industry itself.
Some exposure to a full sales cycle is strongly preferred — we want someone who understands where top-of-funnel fits in the bigger picture, not just how to fill a calendar.
Familiarity with account-based marketing principles and tools;
comfort creating outreach materials and research assets without heavy template reliance.
Experience in or genuine passion for sports, entertainment, media, or live experiences — an informed point of view on this industry is a real asset.
Comfortable working knowledge of AI tools and agentic workflows, enough to speak credibly with clients and collaborate effectively with delivery teams.
Skills & Attributes
A strategic relationship builder and great listener who can quickly develop trust and build rapport.
A natural storyteller with the ability to take clients on a journey.
Solid interpersonal skills – you're comfortable working alongside technical directors, salespeople, designers, and CEOs alike.
A natural researcher who goes three layers deep and finds angles others miss.
Strong writer — your outreach reads like it was written by a thoughtful human, not a sequence tool.
Creative and resourceful: you find non-obvious ways to get in front of the right people.
Organized and systems-oriented: you can manage a large target list with rigor and keep the machine running without dropping threads.
Comfortable working in ambiguity and building structure where it doesn't yet exist.
Collaborative by nature — you work well alongside senior sellers, operations, and marketing.
Intellectually curious and genuinely interested in how APPLY's capabilities create value for sports and media brands.
Ambitions that extend beyond an SDR motion — you want to learn how to sell, consult, and eventually own a territory.
NICE TO HAVES:Experience using AI tools for research, content creation, or outreach personalization.
Familiarity with the sports tech, sponsorship, fan experience, or media rights landscape.
Exposure to Google Cloud or technology partner ecosystems.
Experience with tools like HubSpot, Common Room, Apollo, or similar GTM platforms.
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