Sports Partnerships Marketing Manager

Internal use only - Grade E

About us. 

We’re the team behind digital retailer Very. 

Our purpose, helping families get more out of life, powers everything we do. 

And we want our people to get more out of life too! If you’re high-performing, ambitious and make the most of every opportunity, we want to hear from you. In return, you’ll enjoy heaps of flexibility, great perks and benefits, and the freedom to be yourself, keep learning and take your career wherever you want it to go. 

If you love making a difference, you’ll love making it sparkle for millions of Very customers. ✨ 

About the role.

Very Media Group (VMG) is Very’s retail media proposition. Our vision is to be the UK’s destination pureplay retail media network, delivering insight-led, strategic, and high-performance marketing campaigns in collaboration with our brand partners.

It is a fantastic time to join VMG as we have ambitious plans for growth. We are looking for a Sports Partnership Marketing Manager to lead this high-growth category. You will be responsible for working with our most significant strategic partners to define and deliver co-branded, performance-driven marketing activity across the annual calendar.

You will own and build on strong partner relationships, leveraging first-party data to define partner marketing strategies and identifying opportunities for media innovation to drive sales, performance, and incremental partner funding.

The Sports Partnership Marketing Manager will work collaboratively with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders -including global brands, category buyers, media agencies, and creative teams - to deliver best-in-class creative execution that secures Very’s position as a Partner of Choice.

You will be responsible for:

Strategy & Partnerships

• Defining joint business plans, event plans, and marketing strategies with partners, creating high-performance retail media campaigns aligned to partner KPIs and Very’s commercial objectives.
• Building strong relationships with global brand partners, evolving interactions from transactional to strategic long-term partnerships.
• Influencing and navigating internal stakeholders across category leads, data, insights, agencies, brand, and creative teams to deliver integrated campaigns.

Driving Commercial Growth

• Maximising partner investment through data-led pitches, influencing budgets, and identifying opportunities for innovation.
• Negotiating high-value media investments and managing complex P&L forecasts.
• Tracking partner income and working with category and finance teams to build accurate revenue forecasts.
• Achieving retail media revenue targets and driving year-on-year growth within the sports category.

Campaign Strategy and Execution

• Build best-in-class briefs, delivering on high-impact, high-performing creative that brings together our partner and Very’s brand identities.
• Collaborate with internal and external agencies to build our Sports community through exceptional creative, adhering to Very and partner guidelines, gaining stakeholder approvals where relevant.
• Utilise first-party insights with creative thinking to build compelling campaigns and delivering on objectives, ensuring seamless end-to-end execution.

Data & Insights

• Applying strong data literacy to translate first-party data and post-campaign analytics into actionable insights for partners.

Campaign Performance

• Monitoring campaign effectiveness by tracking key metrics including conversion rate (CVR), click-through rate (CTR), share of voice on the digital shelf, and upper-funnel metrics such as brand penetration and salience.
• Collaborating with campaign activation teams to optimise campaigns for maximum efficiency and performance.
• Maintaining a strong understanding of retail media ad-tech, including sponsored search, display advertising, and closed-loop measurement tools.

About you. 

• Proven experience in combining first-party insights with creative thinking to build compelling, commercially successful propositions and best-in-class strategic campaigns.·       
•  Deep experience in Sports marketing is required, with a strong understanding of the sports audience and category trends.
• Broad base of retail media and marketing experience across the full funnel - acquisition, engagement, and brand - with a track record of delivering multi-channel campaigns that drive both sales and performance.
• Experience in building high-value, collaborative relationships, with a proven ability to establish credibility and influence with global sports brands and external agencies.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to navigate a complex matrix environment and galvanise colleagues to deliver ambitious Joint Business Plans (JBPs).
• Solid financial acumen, including experience tracking media budgets, managing revenue forecasts, and identifying opportunities to over-deliver on commercial targets and ROAS.
• Expertise in delivering best-in-class creative execution, ensuring all partner activity is mobile-optimised, high-impact, and aligned with brand guidelines.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment, balancing long-term strategic planning with the agility required for live campaign optimisation.

Some of our benefits 

• Flexible, hybrid working model 

• Inclusive culture and environment, check out our Glassdoor reviews  

• £1,000 flexible benefits allowance to suit your needs 

• 30 days holiday + bank holidays 

• LinkedIn learning access 

• Bonus potential (performance and business-related) 

• Up to 25% discount on Very.co.uk 

• Matched pension up to 6% 

• More benefits can be found on our career site  

How to apply 

Please note that the talent acquisition team are managing this vacancy directly, and if successful in securing this role, you will be required to undertake a credit, CIFAS, Right to Work checks and if a specific requirement of your role a DBS (criminal records) check. Should your application progress we require you to let the team know if there is anything you need to disclose in relation to any of these checks prior to them being undertaken, including any unspent criminal convictions.  

What happens next? 

Our talent acquisition team will be in touch if you’re successful so keep an eye on your emails! We’ll arrange a short call to learn more about you, as well as answer any questions you have. If it feels like we’re a good match, we’ll share your CV with the hiring manager to review. Our interview process is tailored to each role and can be in-person or held remotely.  

You can expect a two-stage interview process for this position:  

1st stage - An informal 30-45 minute video call with the hiring team to discuss your skills and relevant experience. This is a great opportunity to find out more about the role and to ask any questions you may have.  

2nd Stage – A one-hour formal task based interview where you can expect both competency and technical questions.

As an inclusive employer please do let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments.  

If you'd like to know more about our interviews, you can find out here. 

Diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities

We’re building a culture of everyday inclusion, and welcome applications from anyone who believes they can do the job. We don’t discriminate based on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

We want our recruitment process to be accessible to everyone. If you need reasonable adjustments to apply, interview, or perform a role, let us know via talentacquisition@theverygroup.com. We’ll be happy to support you.

We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Committed Employer and have nine brilliant colleague networks - including DAWN (Disability Awareness at Very) and Think (Neurodiversity at Very) - that are helping us make Very an even more inclusive place to work.