About us:
United by the desire for adventure, ambition, limitless boundaries and sailing excellence, the Clipper Ventures brands enable extraordinary sailing experiences by making them accessible, safe and human.
Clipper Ventures encompasses our flagship brand the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and our growing pillars; Clipper Events, SKIRR Adventures, Hamble School of Yachting and Clipper China.
Clipper race is a race without equal; one of the biggest challenges of the natural world and an endurance test like no other. The Clipper Race is a powerful blend of fiercely intense competition and stirring human endeavour. We aren’t afraid to compete and push boundaries – the world’s longest yacht race enables individuals to pit their wits, skills, and courage against the toughest oceans, with no previous sailing experience required.
Since 1996 the Clipper Race has developed over 7,000 people into competent ocean racers and built a reputation for showcasing brands and building international trade links between partners and host destinations.
What we are looking for:
The Clipper Race is looking for an established Head of Partnerships and Events to lead a growing and dynamic team responsible for the management of the Clipper Race partnership portfolio. This department is also responsible for the Host City partnerships that deliver our Stopovers.
This role will be responsible for some of our most important projects and partnerships in the Clipper 2025-26 Race (and beyond), so we’re looking for someone that has high expectations of themself and the team.
The successful candidate will report into the Managing Director and will be actively involved in constantly evaluating the partnerships offering whilst also delivering acute attention to detail to ensure that partner accounts are serviced to the highest standard.
Key responsibilities:
- Be accountable for the day to day running of the Partnerships department and will include account management of some Tier 1 partners. These are fast-paced accounts, and the Clipper Race is a live product, with constantly evolving stories.
- Mentor, motivate and work collaboratively with the partnerships team, leading them to deliver full spectrum account management; leading by example in driving excellent service for partners and securing renewed partnerships with key clients.
- Encourage strategic planning to deliver for partner objectives including a hands-on approach to solving their challenges, earn the trust of the client quickly, as the ‘go-to’ for all things on projects.
- Attend Clipper Race Stopovers at key Host City venues and oversee development of the city partnerships programme developing campaigns and events that deliver on our Host Cities objectives. This will include a level of live Event Management.
- Lead the development of creative ideas, working with other departments and the client to question campaign objectives and deliver insightful, creative solutions for each partner.
- Reporting and evaluation for partner accounts setting timelines for the delivery of partner reports and managing your team to deliver these.
- Ensure monthly forecasting is accurate and regular reports are provided to senior management.
- Participate in and lead high-level meetings with diplomatic and c-suite contacts, you should have cultural awareness and hold yourself to high account.
- Contribute to developing new and innovative sponsorship opportunities for the Clipper Race and work with the sponsorship team to generate leads throughout the race network.
- Manage and support our retained agency in securing new partners.
- Be the primary point of contact for all inbound sales enquiries, working to create partnerships sales resources on demand in collaboration with Clipper Race directors and agency partners.
- Responsible for managing the contractual negotiations with clients through to signature.
- Maintain a good knowledge of competitor events and relevant sponsorships.
Key requirements:
- Demonstrable experience of managing partnerships and renewing/signing partners around sports/events/teams.
- A thorough understanding of account management and event management and an ability to build long lasting relationships with stakeholders.
- An effective leader with strong people management skills and, the ability to excel in a fast-paced environment.
- A good knowledge and understanding of brands, how they buy and leverage sponsorship/partnerships and an understanding of the brand landscape and its changing patterns.
- Strong organizational skills and a keen eye for details;
- The ability to multitask in a fast-paced environment – managing stakeholders expectations and prioritising workloads.
- Excellent time management skills, and the ability to communicate clearly and concisely in an engaging manner.
- You are a creative thinker, comfortable with delivering ideas away from the traditional but equally at home with conventional marketing techniques.
- You’re natural at building rapport with just about anyone at any level in an organisation with a proven ability to build and maintain strong working relationships with clients and colleagues.
Due to the nature of the role and the Clipper Ventures business, this role will involve extensive international travel. This includes being away for approximately 2 weeks at a time, at least 8 times each race cycle [every other year].
The Executives in Sport Group are retained on behalf of Clipper Ventures to appoint a Head of Partnerships. All direct applications and CV’s will be forwarded to The Executives in Sport Group.
Please note that due to the volume of applications received, we are unable to provide specific feedback on unsuccessful applications.