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Head of Partnerships
Welsh Rugby Union (WRU)
Governing body for the national sport of Wales. Leading Welsh rugby to the forefront of the global game in performance and reputation. Developing grass-roots rugby, increasing participation, supporting clubs and bringing communities together.
Job Posted- 27 Mar 2026
Status- Full Time
Location- Wales
Closing date- 7 Apr 2026
The WRU Commercial team is growing. If you are passionate about building high performing teams that deliver world class partnerships and marketing solutions for our partners that support all elements of the rugby ecosystem, from grassroots to national team, this may be the opportunity for you. We are seeking passionate, disciplined and structured team members who want to apply and hone their commercial skills and play a key role in the future success of Welsh rugby.
This role will be responsible for:
- Strategic management, direction and delivery of the WRU’s commercial partner programme, including all commercial partners’ contractual rights.
- Leadership of the Partnerships Team to ensure they deliver for the WRU and its commercial partners in an efficient and effective manner with excellent relationship management and project management skills.
- Management of the professional development of the Partnerships Team.
- Ensuring that the WRU partners are exceptionally well serviced, to achieve their business objectives, leading to high levels of partner satisfaction.
- Inputting into and delivering on the WRU group’s commercial strategy.
- Actively seeking opportunities for commercial partnership up-sells.
The Person
- Strong project management experience with clear evidence of delivery against tight timescales. Ability to plan ahead, proactively thinking 6-12 months down the line.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills are essential with the ability to communicate confidently with a variety of stakeholders.
- Ability to provide structure, planning and clarity to a large, complex, program of work.
- Ability to think strategically but also be a strong operational problem solver that presents solutions and recommendations, rather than problems.
- Demonstrable experience in building and delivering partnership-oriented projects.
- Demonstrable experience of setting and delivering strategy for commercial opportunities.
- Strong interpersonal skills and relationship management both internally and with key client-side decision makers.
- Ability to influence at all levels of an organisation.
- Experience of presenting to key stakeholders of varying levels of seniority, adapting approach and style accordingly
- An ability to understand client needs and objectives and then build plans that work hard to deliver against them.
- Ability to balance competing demands and requirements to find mutually acceptable solutions.
- Understanding of the sponsorship market and how sponsorship deals work.
- Understanding of conventional and digital and social media platforms.
- Strong business acumen and experience of contract negotiation.
- Experience of leading, motivating and organising an efficient and effective team that delivers exceptional client outcomes.
- The ability to work on own initiative, both as an individual and as part of a team.
- Excellent IT Skills, specifically Microsoft Word, Excel & PowerPoint.
- Ability to communicate and work through the medium of Welsh is desirable
The Role
Key Responsibilities & Tasks
Team Management:
- Lead, coach and develop the Partnerships team, building a culture of quick feedback and personal development within the team.
- Empower and support the Partnerships Team to ensure they are setup to deliver for the WRU and its commercial partners in an efficient and effective manner with excellent relationship management, project management and communication skills across the WRU Group, WRU commercial partners and other key stakeholders.
Programme Management:
- Create a high-performance environment and culture of excellence in delivery as it relates to managing the WRU’s commercial partner program.
- Oversight of the delivery of all commercial partners’ contractual rights.
- Ensure a clear and well documented Account Management Plan is in place and managed for each partnership.
- Create an environment to ensure the Partnerships team are planning well ahead of time, taking a proactive approach to account management and project management.
- Support the Partnerships Team to develop creative activation proposals for commercial partners that align with their strategy.
- Ensure a system is in place to track partner satisfaction via an NPS style survey and ensure that all partners are achieving the agreed target scores.
- Be the central point of contact and escalation point internally and externally for all commercial partner related activity.
- Ensure the digital, communications, marketing, ticketing, operations, national team, hospitality sales and all other internal teams are proactively, clearly and concisely communicated to with regards to all contractual campaign activities of commercial partners.
- Build a culture of excellence in communication and stakeholder management.
- Ensure the Partnerships team is working collaboratively with Marketing & Comms teams to design digital, social and content campaigns for commercial partners.
- Liaise with event organisers and other national federations to ensure implementation and delivery of commercial partners’ rights.
- Ensure the correct systems and processes are in place to track the delivery of commercial rights (e.g. Kore, Salesforce)
- Ensure all data for key partner contacts in held in the WRU’s chosen CRM system.
Reporting
- Lead the team to ensure the required research and data points are captured, organised and easily accessible regarding the WRU Commercial Programme (e.g. media values, consumer research, etc).
- Lead the team to ensure a best practice level of reporting is available to the WRU Group.
- Lead the team to ensure industry leading post event reporting is available to the WRU Commercial Partners.
- Input into internal reporting processes in a timely manner and in a way that clearly enables team members to understand the status of the commercial program.
- Flag risks and issues early to enable plans to be put in place to mitigate risks.
Upsells and renewals:
- Identification of new commercial opportunities to discuss with commercial partners and up-sell, in collaboration with the Partnerships team and Commercial team.
- Involvement in contract renewal negotiations with current commercial partners. This will involve leading on certain renewals and playing a key support role to the Commercial sales team in others.
Partnership Sales:
- Support the Commercial sales team as it relates to new partner acquisition, inputting on partnership tracking data, rights package design, etc.
Stakeholder management:
- Lead on the planning and delivery of commercial partner workshops.
- Lead on the planning and delivery of on boarding for new commercial partners, with the support of the Partnerships team.
- Build excellent working relations with other stakeholders – including Welsh Government, local Council, Regional Teams, SNRL, URC, other Unions, etc.
Event Day Commercial Operations:
- Build and deliver a world class environment for hosting commercial partners’ at WRU matches, other rugby events (e.g. Rugby World Cups) and other third-party events.
- Ensure that everything runs smoothly with regards to partner rights delivery across all WRU Partners.
Budgets
- Work with the Commercial Director and Finance team to set the budget for the Partnerships management team and ensure that budgets are closely monitored and delivered upon.
WRU Requirements
The WRU require that individuals are proficient in IT skills, specifically Microsoft packages. Excellent written and verbal communications are essential, along with the ability to build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
Ability to communicate through the medium of Welsh and a Valid UK Driver's License is desirable. This role is subject to a basic/enhanced DBS check.
The Perks
As a permanent member of the WRU Group, you will have access to our full range of employee benefits, including:
- Salary Sacrifice Pension (5% employee contribution, matched by WRU)
- Life assurance scheme
- WRU Group Ticket Allocation (in line with ticketing policy)
- One additional paid day off (birthday leave)
- Employee assistance programme
- Team Tactics – hybrid working arrangements
- Free stadium parking and gym
- WRU Group store and tour discounts
- WRU Group partnership offers
- Eye Care Voucher Scheme
- Cycle to Work Scheme
How to Apply
Please click “Apply Now” to begin your application.
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