Freelance Sponsorship Coordinator (2-4 days per month)
Hillhead High School War Memorial Trust (Incorporating Hillhead Sports Club)
About Hillhead and the Opportunity
Hillhead Sports Club is a large and diverse multi-sport membership club and community sports hub in Glasgow's West End. Our origins stretch back to 1892, with the Hillhead High School Club turning into Hillhead High School War Memorial Trust following the First World War to provide sport and recreation as a lasting memorial to former pupils who served and gave their lives.
Today, Hillhead brings together a wide range of sports, activities and communities at our Hughenden home. Our five-year strategic plan, From Surviving to Thriving, sets an ambitious vision to become Scotland's leading multi-sport club.
Developing sustainable commercial partnerships is an important part of that ambition. We are therefore looking for an experienced freelance Sponsorship Coordinator who can develop our sponsorship strategy and then lead its delivery.
This is an opportunity to build something: establishing a compelling commercial proposition around the collective strength of a multi-sport organisation, and then taking that proposition to market.
Contract at a Glance
Contract: Freelance / self-employed
Initial engagement: Three-month trial, with the intention of continuing subject to successful completion and review
Time commitment: Approximately 2–4 days per month
Remuneration: By negotiation, commensurate with experience
Location: Flexible/hybrid. The role can be undertaken largely remotely, but attendance at Hillhead Sports Club and relevant external meetings will be required from time to time. Proximity to Glasgow would be advantageous but is not essential.
Start date: By agreement
The Role
The Sponsorship Coordinator will develop and deliver a coherent, club-wide sponsorship strategy aligned with Hillhead's strategic ambitions, values, heritage and organisational capacity.
The initial phase will be deliberately strategy-led. Before significant sponsor outreach begins, we want to understand clearly what we are offering, why it has value, which opportunities should be prioritised and how sponsorship should operate across a complex multi-sport organisation.
Once that strategic framework is agreed, the role will move progressively into implementation: building a prospect pipeline, approaching potential partners, developing proposals, securing sponsorship agreements and managing and growing those relationships.
We are therefore looking for someone who can both design the roadmap and deliver it.
What You'll Do:
Develop the Sponsorship Strategy
Create a clear, practical and Board-ready sponsorship strategy, translating Hillhead's wider strategic ambitions into a prioritised commercial roadmap.
Establish realistic short-, medium- and longer-term objectives and recommend how the sponsorship programme should develop over time.
Build Hillhead's Multi-Sport Proposition
Identify and articulate what makes Hillhead commercially distinctive.
We are a multi-sport club, and our sponsorship proposition should understand how we can capitalise on that key strength and USP.
The successful candidate will identify how our sports, membership, facilities, events, communications and community activity can combine to create compelling club-wide opportunities, while recognising valuable section-specific opportunities where appropriate.
Understand and Package Our Assets
Identify and assess the sponsorship assets available across the Club, including physical, digital, sporting, event, community and other commercial opportunities.
Develop an appropriate Sponsorship Asset Register and use it to inform the development of credible, attractive and deliverable sponsorship packages.
Develop and Convert the Prospect Pipeline
Once the strategic foundations have been agreed, identify and prioritise prospective commercial partners based on strategic fit, values alignment and commercial potential.
Develop tailored approaches and proposals, lead appropriate sponsor conversations and pitches, and progress opportunities through to agreement.
Manage, Retain and Grow Partnerships
Build strong relationships with sponsors and ensure agreed benefits are effectively delivered.
Develop an approach to sponsor stewardship, reporting, renewal and growth, with the objective of creating sustainable long-term partnerships rather than one-off transactions.
Maintain a Coordinated Club-Wide Approach
Work with the External Engagement, Funding & Sponsorship (EFS) Subcommittee, Club sections and relevant contractors to ensure sponsorship activity is coordinated and strategically aligned.
Maintain a clear distinction between commercial sponsorship and grant/public-sector funding, while working constructively with the Funding Coordinator where relationships or opportunities intersect.
How We Need You to Work
This is a self-directed freelance role within a predominantly volunteer-led organisation.
We are looking for someone who can absorb an agreed brief, understand the organisation, apply their professional expertise and translate that into clear strategic and commercial outputs with limited supervision.
Collaboration is important, but the successful candidate must be comfortable taking ownership of the work, exercising professional judgement and progressing it independently. Meetings should principally help inform, test and refine work rather than be necessary to develop it collaboratively from first principles.
We don't expect you to know everything about Hillhead on day one. We do expect you to identify the information you need, ask focused questions and use your expertise to turn that information into recommendations and action.
What We're Looking For
Candidates should be able to demonstrate:
- strong experience in sponsorship, commercial partnerships or closely related commercial development;
- experience of developing sponsorship or commercial strategy, rather than solely implementing an existing strategy;
- experience translating organisational objectives into clear, practical commercial plans;
- a strong understanding of sponsorship propositions, assets, packaging and value;
- experience identifying and approaching prospective commercial partners;
- experience developing proposals, pitching and progressing commercial opportunities;
- evidence of securing, managing or growing sponsorship or commercial partnerships;
- strong strategic and commercial judgement;
- excellent written and verbal communication;
- the ability to work autonomously and deliver agreed outputs within deadlines.
Crucially, we are looking for someone with both strategic development and practical delivery capability.
Desirable Experience
It would be advantageous to have experience of:
- multi-sport clubs, community sports hubs or membership organisations;
- developing commercial propositions across multiple audiences or activities;
- sport, health, wellbeing or community-focused organisations;
- working with Boards, committees or volunteer-led organisations;
- building a sponsorship or commercial function from an early stage.
Direct experience of Hillhead's individual sports is not essential. We are particularly interested in candidates who can see the bigger commercial opportunities created by the organisation as a whole.
The Initial Three-Month Trial
The initial three months will be primarily focused on establishing the strategic and commercial foundations for the role.
The principal early deliverable will be a clear, concise and Board-ready Sponsorship Strategy, supported by an understanding of Hillhead's sponsorship assets, commercial proposition, priorities and a practical roadmap for implementation.
Limited external research and market testing may be appropriate where it directly informs or validates the strategy, but broad sponsor outreach is not the starting point.
The success of this initial phase will be judged primarily on the quality and usability of the strategic framework produced, rather than the volume of research undertaken, meetings held or organisations contacted.
Detailed objectives and deliverables for the three-month trial will be agreed with the successful candidate at commencement.
Subject to successful completion of the trial, the intention is for the role to move increasingly from strategy development into implementation and commercial delivery.
How to Apply
Please provide:
- your CV;
- a short covering statement explaining why you are suited to the role;
- an example of a sponsorship or commercial strategy you have personally developed or materially led; and
- examples of sponsorship or commercial partnerships you have subsequently helped secure, manage or grow, including measurable outcomes where possible.
At interview, candidates should be prepared to discuss how they would approach developing a sponsorship strategy for a multi-sport organisation such as Hillhead before commencing significant sponsor outreach.
We may include a short practical exercise as part of the recruitment process to help us understand how candidates approach and structure a commercial sponsorship brief.
Job Type: Freelance
Pay: £200.00-£300.00 per day
Benefits:
- Discounted or free food
- Employee discount
- Flexitime
- On-site parking
- Work from home
Application question(s):
- Have you personally developed or materially led the development of a sponsorship or commercial partnerships strategy, rather than only implementing an existing strategy?
- As some site visits will be required, please confirm you live within commutable distance of Glasgow, Scotland
- Have you personally secured sponsorship or commercial partnerships, including identifying prospects, developing proposals and progressing opportunities to agreement?
- Briefly describe one sponsorship or commercial partnerships strategy you personally developed and the results achieved when it was implemented. Please be specific about your own role
- Briefly explain how you would approach developing a sponsorship proposition for a multi-sport membership organisation before beginning significant sponsor outreach
- How many years of sponsorship, commercial partnerships or business development experience do you have?
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Glasgow G12 9XP
