Commercial Manager

Job Title: Commercial Manager

Team: Commercial and Engagement

Responsible to: Commercial and Engagement Director

Office Location: National Badminton Centre, Milton Keynes

Salary: £35,000 - £40,000

Hours: Full Time

Contract: Permanent 

Badminton England is the national governing body for badminton in England. With over a million people playing regularly, badminton is the nation’s most played racket sport and the sixth biggest sport in this country overall.

As our sport continues to grow, so does our ambition. We’re two years into an ambitious, long-term strategy and our commercial model is evolving to support our momentum, enabling us to invest in the future of badminton and broaden its reach across the country.

• We do what matters; we are courageous and honest, always putting the best interests of badminton first.
• We include intentionally; we create safe and connected environments that welcome open and diverse views.
• We play for each other; we listen, respond to feedback and celebrate the successes of our sport and communities.
• We always aim to do today brilliantly; we innovate and constantly challenge the status quo through collaboration, active listening and encouragement of others.

This role would be joining during an incredibly exciting period for badminton in England. We’re proud to be backed by leading partners – Yonex, Babolat, Franklyn Wealth Management, Gateley, and Destination Sport Travel – and to be the custodians of the legendary Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships; the world’s longest-standing and most prestigious badminton tournament, attracting 40,000 spectators annually and reaching over 400 million households worldwide.

With over 1 million people playing regularly and a growing fan base domestically and abroad, we’re capitalising on this momentum with several initiatives – including introducing a new OTT offering and having recently announced a bold new vision for an expanded National Badminton League.

This role will be based at the heart of the action – the National Badminton Centre in Milton Keynes – home to our offices, High Performance Centre, public gyms, hotel, and café – an inspiring environment where the sport’s future is being shaped every day.

The Role

We’re looking for a motivated, passionate and experience individual to join our Commercial and Engagement Team. An exciting and varied role at the core of our organisation, this role offers the opportunity to play a key part in delivering our commercial strategy and unlocking new opportunities for growth.

You will help to deliver Badminton England’s commercial strategy across multiple workstreams, with key responsibilities including:

• Researching and building relationships with potential partners to secure and nurture commercial partnerships.
• Proactively manage partnerships by developing a deep understanding of partner objectives and contractual obligations, and planning and delivering partnership activations in line with budget and resource allocations.
• Working cross-business in the development and execution of our merchandising approach.
• Providing support to the implementation and growth of our OTT offering, helping us to engage fans and audiences in new ways.
• Work with the relevant teams to ensure we realise full commercial value across our events portfolio from ticket sales, partnerships and hospitality – with particular focus on the Yonex All England and National Badminton League.
• Explore and pursue charitable fundraising opportunities, including individual giving, major donors, trusts and foundations, and commercial partners.
• Support the National Badminton Centre team to deliver maximum value from the on-site gym, hotel, and café offering.
• Assist the commercialisation of wider Badminton England programmes.

Person Specification

You will be a commercially minded professional with a demonstrable track-record in driving commercial growth, ideally within sport, entertainment, or a related industry. This will be complemented by an innovative thought process, with the will and ability to push the boundaries and quickly surface and validate new ideas. You will be genuinely passionate about sport and committed to using this to make a difference.

You will have:

• A commercial mindset, demonstrated by your ability to achieve commercial growth in other role – ideally in several of the above areas.
• Proven experience in a commercial or marketing role, preferably in sport, entertainment, events or a similar environment.
• Demonstrable experience in partnership management and showcase the ability to quickly build relationships and understand objectives.
• Strong project management skills and robust planning experience, with a keen eye for detail.
• Ability to work across multiple projects and teams simultaneously.
• An excellent communicator, capable of delivering written and verbal communications to a variety of internal and external stakeholders.
• A passion for staying up to date with the latest thinking and approaches in sport and entertainment, and the ability to spot how these may translate to badminton.
• A passion for sport and genuine desire to help grow badminton across England.