Business Development Manager - Sports Sponsorships

About the role

Rakuten Sports, part of Rakuten Group, is a sports business and marketing agency specialising in commercial partnerships, sports advisory, talent representation and event development. It is recruiting a Business Development Manager to drive commercial partnership sales across Asia Pacific (excluding Japan), covering sponsorship, media rights, event hosting and sports business consulting.

Key responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end business development process: originate, develop and close new commercial opportunities in sponsorship, media rights, event hosting and sports business consulting across Asia Pacific (excluding Japan).
• Identify and evaluate new opportunities in the sports and entertainment industry aligned with Rakuten Sports' long-term growth strategy.
• Develop tailored commercial proposals that match client objectives with sports marketing solutions.
• Build and manage a pipeline of prospective partners through proactive business development, networking and consultative sales.
• Collaborate with Rakuten teams in Japan, Taiwan and global markets to unlock cross-border opportunities.
• Maintain accurate sales forecasts, pipeline reporting and CRM updates.
• Sales support (20%): monitor industry trends, recommend market expansion, build relationships with rights holders, event organisers, governing bodies and media partners, and support contract negotiations, documentation, forecasting and account administration.

Required profile

• 6-8 years of experience in sports sponsorship, media rights, sports marketing or commercial partnership sales, with a proven track record of achieving revenue targets.
• Deep understanding of the sports business ecosystem (rights holders, international federations, sponsors, agencies, broadcasters, media platforms).
• Ability to understand client objectives and turn them into commercial solutions; entrepreneurial mindset.
• Demonstrated ability to engage and influence senior decision-makers and C-suite executives.
• Self-motivated, resilient, able to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced international environment.
• Strong planning, organisational and project management skills, and excellent presentation, negotiation and stakeholder management skills.
• Excellent written and spoken English; Japanese is an advantage.