The Athletic is seeking an experienced Sales Director to help expand its Advertising business to be an industry leader. You will be a key member of our growing Brand Partnerships sales team responsible for driving ad revenue via client direct and agency relationships. In this role you will own the end to end sales process for new sourcing, developing, and partnering with new ad partners who want to get their brand in front of The Athletic’s audience across all platforms including web, mobile, audio, newsletters, and social media. Additionally, you will be responsible for maintaining and nurturing relationships with existing ad partners in order to drive renewals and support ongoing business. This is a temporary role running from September 2026 - April 2027.
Responsibilities
- Serve as one of the Sales Directors, helping grow our overall brand advertiser sales revenue via client and agency relationship.
- Manage a book of business with ambitious individual and team quarterly and annual revenue targets.
- Identify new ad partners that have a brand/product that is a strong fit with our listener base, and manage the navigation to the appropriate decision maker for each partner.
- Drive advertising revenue across all of The Athletic’s key platforms and surfaces including web, mobile, audio, newsletters, and social media.
- Define strategies and guide the account management teams in replying to RFPs and client opportunities including program, content, and media plan guidance.
- Share partner insights and sales lessons across the team including new ad products and opportunities our clients are looking for.
- Represent The Athletic brand well.
Requirements
- 10+ years of digital ad sales experience, ideally with a blend of web/app, social media, and podcast sales experience.
- Established agency and client direct relationships that you can leverage on day one.
- Demonstrated experience building on a foundation that is already in place but enjoy having the freedom and flexibility to make things better: better sales tools, better communication, better processes, etc.
- Ability to work independently as an experienced individual contributor and as a team leader.
- A passion for the sales process and the advertising industry.
- A track record for being motivated by and meeting ambitious targets.
- A self starter who is good at getting work done without someone looking over your shoulder.
- You are an excellent communicator over email, on the phone, and in person.
- You are good at working independently but enjoy being part of a team.
We are excited to learn more about you and your experience. To keep our hiring process as fair and authentic as possible, we ask that you submit your own work and not use GenAI tools to generate substantive content during the application and interview process. If you are a candidate for a technical role, we will let you know what specific tools you are permitted to use for your technical assessment.
Skills Required
- 10+ years of digital ad sales experience, including web/app, social media, and podcast sales.
- Established agency and client direct relationships that can be leveraged immediately.
- Experience managing a book of business with individual and team revenue targets.
- Demonstrated ability to build and improve sales tools, communication, and processes.
- Ability to work independently as an individual contributor and as a team leader.
- Experience defining strategies and guiding account management teams on RFPs and media plans.
- Proven track record of meeting ambitious sales targets.
- Excellent communication skills via email, phone, and in-person.
- Self-starter comfortable executing without close supervision.
- Passion for the sales process and the advertising industry.
What We Do
Here for every sports story that matters. -- The Athletic (http://theathletic.com) is a subscription-based media publisher of smarter sports coverage for die-hard fans. Founded in 2016, The Athletic’s all-star team of writers have produced thousands of quality stories for subscribers free of ads, pop-ups and auto-play videos. The Athletic now offers in-depth local coverage in 47 North American pro sports markets along with premium national coverage across MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA & more. Readers can count on original, authentic storytelling written by talented local and national sports journalists like Ken Rosenthal, Pierre LeBrun, Seth Davis, Stewart Mandel, Shams Charania and many more. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.
