Business Development Senior Manager, Sports & Media

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.

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.

• 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.