Partnerships Manager

Location: Remote 

Role is remote / WFH but with regular national travel (either to existing Soul Padel clubs or for external meetings)

Person ideally based in North West of England, or Scotland

Reporting to: Operations Director 

Salary: £32,000 - £38,000

Bonus: Up to 25% bonus (paid quarterly)

We’re not just opening padel clubs. We’re building communities.

Soul Padel is on an ambitious growth journey to become the UK’s most dynamic and recognisable grassroots padel operator. As we continue to expand nationally, we are looking for a commercially driven, energetic and organised Partnership Manager to help grow our partnerships, events and community presence.

This is not a traditional office-based partnerships role for an established rights holder- this is a hands-on, varied role inside a fast-growing padel business where relationships, energy and execution matter.

You will help bring the Soul Padel brand to life through:

• sponsorships and partnerships
• corporate events
• tournaments
• brand activations
• supplier relationships
• and community engagement

You’ll work closely with the CEO, Operations Director, Finance Director, Property Director, Brand & Marketing Manager as well as Club teams to help drive revenue, grow participation and commercial opportunities across the business.

OVERVIEW

The Partnership Manager role is both sales and account management related with core responsibilities focussed around the management of existing partners as well as the generation of new partners, increased corporate events / tournament bookings and community driven commercial activity across all club locations.

• Build relationships and secure mutually beneficial partnerships with local and national brands
• Manage all partnership related activation
• Secure and activate all corporate events and tournaments
• Support all on and off court related commercial opportunities across clubs
• Help embed Soul Padel within local communities

This is a high-energy role for someone early in their commercial sales and management career who wants to take the next step up within an organisation and have a high degree of responsibility, autonomy and exposure to community driven sports partnerships and events. All inside a fast growing UK sports business, operating within the world’s fastest growing participation sport!

CORE PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

To support the growth of the Soul Padel brand through brand partnerships / sponsorships, corporate bookings, events and community-driven commercial activity.

Our values guide everything we do:

Meet. Play. Connect.

Your role is to help create experiences, relationships and activations that grow both community engagement and commercial performance.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Identify prospective local and national partners and create both industry and geography specific target lists
• Align partnership support with specific Soul Padel commercial assets and participation pathways
• Build relationships with brands, agencies, suppliers and community organisations
• Outreach to targeted companies, manage a pipeline of varied opportunities 
• Act as point main point of contact for all partnership enquiries and conversations 
• Build bespoke partnership proposals, pitch and execute deals
• Help deliver all new partnership activations across clubs and events

2⃣ Corporate Events & Tournaments Sales

• Drive outreach to local businesses and corporate groups to generate one off, regular and recurring court bookings
• Build and maintain a pipeline of corporate opportunities across Soul Padel clubs
• Support the growth of corporate bookings, venue hire and local business engagement across all club locations
• Coordinate and deliver tournaments, launch events and corporate activations
• Ensure events are professionally executed and commercially successful
• Represent the Soul Padel brand at local and industry networking and community events

• Build relationships with local schools, universities, sports clubs and businesses
• Support local partnership activity across all Soul Padel locations
• Help embed Soul Padel within local communities
• Support participation-driving initiatives and community programmes

• Maintain strong relationships and account manage existing commercial partners across retail, equipment, food and beverages and other sectors
• Act as main point of contact for all partnership comms and activity  
• Coordinate supplier logistics and any event management
• Track and report (internally and externally) on commercial performance of existing partnerships 
• Ensure partnership and event activity aligns with the Soul Padel brand

5⃣ Soul Padel Brand Activation & Club Support

• Work closely with club teams to support any activations and events
• Help create energetic, community-led experiences within clubs
• Support social and content opportunities around events and partnerships
• Bring energy, visibility and strong relationship-building into every venue

PERFORMANCE ACCOUNTABILITY

You will be measured on:

• Partnership and sponsorship growth
• Corporate bookings and events growth
• Outreach and increased business relationships
• Community engagement and relationship-building
• Event delivery and activation
• Contribution to participation and revenue growth
• Brand representation and club engagement

CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS

• 1-5 years experience in sales and account management 
• Community driven or sports partnerships sales and account management experience beneficial, but not essential
• Experience working in start up and / or customer-facing environments
• Strong organisational, communication and presentation skills
• Experience building relationships with businesses and external partners
• Experience supporting events, activations or community initiatives

SKILLS & COMPETENCIES

• Highly organised with strong attention to detail
• Energetic, proactive and commercially minded
• Strong people and relationship-building skills
• Confident communicator
• Comfortable working across multiple projects and locations
• Hands-on mentality with a willingness to get involved operationally
• Passion for partnerships, sport, community and customer experience
• Commercially aware with confidence building relationships with businesses and external partners

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

• High energy and positive attitude
• Entrepreneurial and hands-on
• Commercially curious and eager to learn
• Relationship-led and community-focused
• Comfortable in a fast-growth and scale up environment
• Strong ownership mentality
• Team player with low ego

WHY THIS ROLE IS EXCEPTIONAL

• You will help shape one of the UK’s fastest-growing sports brands
• You will work directly with senior leadership and club teams
• You will help grow a sport and community movement nationally
• You will operate in a fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment
• You will have genuine progression opportunities as Soul Padel scales
• You will gain hands-on exposure to partnerships, events and commercial growth within a scaling national sports brand

This is a build role. Not a maintenance role.

READY TO HELP BUILD A MOVEMENT?

We’re not just opening courts.

We’re creating places where people meet, play and connect.

If you bring energy, organisation, people skills and commercial drive, we’d love to hear from you.

Same padel. More soul.