Media & Sponsorship Manager

## About the Role:

Baird is seeking a Media & Sponsorship Manager to lead the strategy, planning, and execution of media and sponsorship investments across the firm. This role connects business priorities to effective media and partnership strategies, ensuring investments are well-managed, measurable, and aligned to brand and growth objectives. Serving as both a strategic advisor and hands-on contributor, you will partner across Marketing & Communications, business units, community partners, and external vendors to deliver integrated, high-quality programs while leading and developing a small team.

## The Impact You’ll Make:

– **Develop media strategies** — Develop and execute media and sponsorship strategies aligned to brand and business objectives
– **Guide media mix** — Guide mix of media investments across a broad set of channels, overseeing budget allocations and campaign timing decisions across initiatives
– **Identify opportunities** — Identify emerging media and sponsorship opportunities and recommend innovative approaches while balancing stakeholder priorities
– **Manage sponsorships** — Evaluate, negotiate, and manage sponsorship and naming rights investments across sports, nonprofit, and community partnerships
– **Build portfolios** — Build and manage sponsorship portfolios aligned to firm and business-unit priorities
– **Translate investments** — Translate media and sponsorship investments into measurable business and marketing outcomes
– **Advise stakeholders** — Serve as a trusted advisor to Marketing & Communications and business stakeholders
– **Partner with marketing** — Partner with marketing colleagues to translate business objectives into actionable media and sponsorship strategies
– **Build relationships** — Build and maintain strong relationships with vendors, partners, and internal teams
– **Monitor performance** — Monitor performance against goals and leverage data and insights to optimize outcomes
– **Manage budgets** — Manage budgets with discipline, accountability, and transparency
– **Ensure execution** — Ensure high-quality, consistent execution across multiple initiatives and workstreams
– **Lead team** — Lead the media and sponsorship function, including managing and developing a team while remaining actively engaged in key initiatives

## What You’ll Bring to Baird:

– **Bachelor’s degree** — Bachelor’s degree in Advertising, Marketing, Business, or related field or equivalent combination of education and experience
– **Professional experience** — 15 years of relevant professional experience with 7–10+ years in media planning, buying, and sponsorship strategy
– **Financial services** — Financial services experience is preferred
– **Enterprise support** — Experience supporting enterprise-level initiatives and multiple business units with aligned strategies
– **Negotiation skills** — Excellent negotiation skills and understanding of how to add incremental value and communicate that to clients
– **Leadership** — Experience in leading people and building a team
– **Media knowledge** — Strong understanding of both traditional and digital media channels as well as sponsorship marketing
– **Tools knowledge** — Experience and knowledge of Salesforce, RFP processes, demos, and selection of media and sponsorship planning/buying software tools
– **AI familiarity** — Familiarity in using AI tools, especially for tasks like ideation and research
– **Vendor management** — Proven ability to manage vendor relationships, work across teams, and influence stakeholders at all levels
– **Analytical skills** — Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with attention to detail

## Compensation and Total Rewards Package:

$102,000 – $156,900 annual salary range
Bonus potential up to 25% of base salary
Compensation and bonus are commensurate with experience, performance, firm profitability, and location

Check out our Total Rewards at Baird, which is a summary of our benefits and compensation.
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## More About Our Firm

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Media & Sponsorship Manager
Commitment to Inclusion & Diversity
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