Our Purpose
Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200+ countries and territories worldwide. Together with our customers, we’re helping build a sustainable economy where everyone can prosper. We support a wide range of digital payments choices, making transactions secure, simple, smart and accessible. Our technology and innovation, partnerships and networks combine to deliver a unique set of products and services that help people, businesses and governments realize their greatest potential.
Title and Summary
Director, Sponsorships
Director, Sponsorships & Partnerships -Sports/ Football
Overview
The Sponsorships and Partnerships function in Europe owns the regional strategy, governance, and performance of sponsorship investments, with accountability for delivering consistent, high impact activation, executional excellence, and measurable outcomes across markets. The function operates as a regional center of gravity for sponsorship decision making, ensuring assets are selected, managed, and activated to maximize brand differentiation, commercial return, and long term enterprise value.
The Director, Sponsorships and Experiential Marketing serve as the regional owner for sponsorship strategy and delivery, with end to end responsibility for portfolio performance across Europe. This role sets direction, establishes standards, and drives alignment across local, regional, and global stakeholders, ensuring sponsorship assets are deployed with discipline, scale, and impact. The Director is accountable not only for execution, but for the business results sponsorships deliver, including brand strength, consumer engagement, partner value, and revenue contribution.
A core mandate of the role is to architect and steward a strategic portfolio of assets that clearly differentiates the brand in a competitive market, while ensuring those assets are activated through integrated marketing, product, and experience platforms that accelerate business growth. Sponsorships are treated as growth engines — tightly connected to product integration, issuer and merchant priorities, and measurable consumer outcomes.
The role also leverages sponsorships as a platform for category leadership, with Football serving as a flagship vertical across Europe.
Through ownership of the football ecosystem — spanning clubs, leagues, federations, and major tournaments — the Director positions the brand as a credible, influential, and value creating partner within the sport, using scale, expertise, and innovation to shape industry conversations and elevate regional leadership.
Responsibilities
You will be responsible for setting functional objectives within your area, delivering strategies, and leading the work efforts of teams (internally and externally) that have a direct impact on the business. This position oversees a strategic portfolio of sponsorship assets and experiential platforms, capitalizing on consumer passions — with Football as a primary vertical — to influence behavior and drive profitability for Mastercard and partners.
- Ensure the application of business and marketing priorities and the use of relevant data in the selection of sponsorship marketing partnerships, acquisition of rights, benefits, assets and incentives, with a strong focus on football ecosystems including clubs, leagues, federations, and tournaments
- Ensure activation plans are aligned with segmentation, marketing, and business strategies to drive revenue and long term brand equity
- Support the construction, evolution, and governance of the sponsorship marketing portfolio to support consumer, issuer, and merchant initiatives, anchored by Football as a lead passion point across Europe
- Spot, anticipate, and leverage emerging consumer and cultural trends to refine segment strategies, prioritize consumer passions — including evolving football fandom and participation patterns — and gain efficiencies in sponsorship investments
- Develop and execute sophisticated marketing solutions to support Mastercard marketing and business initiatives, including turnkey solutions for issuers and merchants, hospitality and CRM programs, premiums, and other sponsorship management and delivery tools
- Oversee on site activation and event delivery for priority sponsorship properties, including major football matches and tentpole events
- Identify business development opportunities with issuers and merchants, in partnership with Partner Marketing, Services, and Business Development teams, through the strategic application of sponsorship assets and the pursuit of new revenue streams
- Lead the creation of offline and online content for product and marketing programs, leveraging synergies across marketing platforms and football led storytelling opportunities
- Drive fully integrated activation of sponsorship properties within broader marketing campaigns, collaborating with key Mastercard functional groups including product, digital, corporate communications, media, and brand marketing
- Support and contribute to the ongoing development of standardized metrics and measurement tools to assess the effectiveness and ROI of sponsorship investments and initiatives
- Provide senior level guidance and best practices for property identification, negotiation, and activation to maximize the commercial and brand impact of the sponsorship portfolio, with deep expertise in football partnerships
- Manage compliance tools, charitable support programs, and work with the legal team on sponsorship/ambassador contracts, terms/conditions, consumer waivers and creative reviews.
- Develop, manage, and maintain executive level relationships with front , middle , and senior line managers of select partners, property owners, and retailers, including senior stakeholders across the football industry
- Manage the Sponsorship budget and deliver against annual revenue, performance, and budget goals
- Ensure compliance with internal policies, procedures, and audit requirements related to sponsorship and asset management
- Utilize consumer data and program results to continuously optimize program performance
- Lead and manage external agencies responsible for the activation and delivery of sponsorship properties
Experience / Qualification
- 10+ years of Global and/or regional sponsorships and promotions experience, preferably in the media, packaged goods or financial service industries (agency experience a plus)
- Advanced skills in sponsorship management, event planning, event management and consumer activation
- Direct experience in negotiating and optimizing sponsorship contracts
- Direct experience with digital and social marketing and AI tools
- Experience in building and managing a large sponsorship program with top national brands
- Demonstrated expertise in activating sponsorships with consumers as well as B2B channels
- Proficiency in budget management and financial forecasting
- Strong problem-solving skills to identify critical issues and opportunities, evaluate options and provide clear recommendations for business and brand growth
Education & Experience
BA or MBA in Marketing/Finance preferred
Skills / Abilities
- Strong interpersonal and organizational skills
- Expert communication and presentation skills
- Proven people management skills (cross-functional, internal and external agencies and properties)
- Strong customer management and relationship skills
- Strong negotiation & sales skills
- Leadership and project management skills
- Thrives in a fast-paced environment
- Proficient in handling multiple projects at a time
- Strong cross-functional team and relationship building skills
- Knowledge of how to navigate through heavily matrixed managed organization
- Strong leadership and influencing skills
- Strong people and budget management skills
- Willingness for occasional travel
- Strong MS Office skills (PowerPoint, Excel, Word)
Corporate Security Responsibility
All activities involving access to Mastercard assets, information, and networks comes with an inherent risk to the organization and, therefore, it is expected that every person working for, or on behalf of, Mastercard is responsible for information security and must:
Abide by Mastercard’s security policies and practices;
Ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the information being accessed;
Report any suspected information security violation or breach, and
Complete all periodic mandatory security trainings in accordance with Mastercard’s guidelines.
