Manager, Account Activation

Summary

Players Era is a company focused on college sports events, athlete opportunities, and sponsorship platforms. The Manager, Account Activation is responsible for delivering contracted partner assets, coordinating execution partners, managing activation timelines and budgets, ensuring quality and approvals, and leading on-site event operations and performance reporting.

Responsibilities

• Own contractual delivery. Break every partner agreement into a master asset and deliverable tracker covering media units, signage and on-site presence, hospitality and tickets, athlete appearances and NIL content, digital and social, broadcast integrations and event-specific programs. Maintain the tracker as the single source of truth for fulfillment status across the portfolio
• Run the activation calendar. Build and manage the integrated activation timeline across the Volleyball Showcase, Men's Championship, Women's Basketball Showcase and international events, including creative deadlines, production lead times, approval windows and on-site run-of-show dependencies
• Coordinate execution partners. Serve as the day-to-day point of contact for partner deliverables with our creative services, production and game presentation, broadcast, hospitality, ticketing, venue, digital/social and communications partners. Issue clear briefs, confirm scope and specifications, and hold each partner to deadline and quality
• Assure quality. Establish and enforce quality-assurance standards for partner execution: on-site walk-throughs and signage checks, broadcast integration verification, creative and brand compliance, hospitality and ticket fulfillment, and athlete appearance logistics. Catch issues before the partner does, and resolve them on the spot
• Lead the approvals process. Manage the submission, review and approval of partner creative and Players Era brand usage across all channels, coordinating with league, venue and broadcaster requirements and keeping approval timelines on schedule
• Capture proof of performance. Collect photography, broadcast logs, impressions, social metrics, attendance and hospitality data for every deliverable and package it into recap materials and season-end wrap reports that the account team can put in front of partners
• Manage budgets and vendors. Own partner activation budgets, vendor scopes, purchase orders and reconciliation; work with finance on billing milestones tied to deliverable completion
• Run the on-site operation. Lead partner activation on the ground during event weeks, including load-in and load-out, activation footprints, hospitality experiences, talent and athlete appearances and real-time problem-solving
• Build the playbook. Document the procedures, templates and standards that let the activation function scale as the portfolio and event slate grow; develop and mentor coordinators and seasonal staff
• Work with content and production. Work closely with the Players Era content and production team on all brand projects and partner deliverables, aligning creative timelines, production specs and delivery windows so partner assets are executed inside our production process and captured for proof of performance
• Close the loop with sales and leadership. Keep Jigsaw Labs and Players Era senior leadership current on fulfillment status, delivery risks and available inventory so that what is being sold reflects what can be executed, and so that proof of performance feeds directly into renewal and expansion conversations
• Anticipate. Flag risks to delivery early, propose practical solutions, and identify unused or under-used assets that can be redeployed to add value for partners before the term closes

Skills

• 2-4 years in sponsorship activation, partnership fulfillment, event production or account management at a property, league, agency or brand, with direct responsibility for contracted asset delivery
• Hands-on experience managing production, broadcast, hospitality or game-presentation vendors and holding them to scope, schedule and standard
• Deep working knowledge of event marketing operations and logistics: credentials, signage and build, ticket and hospitality fulfillment, talent logistics, run of show
• Experience leading creative and brand approval processes involving multiple stakeholders and rights holders
• A reputation for organization and detail: you build trackers people actually use, and nothing falls through because of you
• Calm, decisive and solutions-oriented under live-event pressure
• Strong written and verbal communication; able to write a precise vendor brief and a clear partner recap
• Advanced Excel and PowerPoint; familiarity with project-management, CRM and asset-tracking tools
• College sports, NIL or athlete-content experience is a plus

Qualifications

Must Haves

• 2-4 years in sponsorship activation, partnership fulfillment, event production or account management at a property, league, agency or brand, with direct responsibility for contracted asset delivery
• Hands-on experience managing production, broadcast, hospitality or game-presentation vendors and holding them to scope, schedule and standard
• Deep working knowledge of event marketing operations and logistics: credentials, signage and build, ticket and hospitality fulfillment, talent logistics, run of show
• Experience leading creative and brand approval processes involving multiple stakeholders and rights holders
• A reputation for organization and detail: you build trackers people actually use, and nothing falls through because of you
• Calm, decisive and solutions-oriented under live-event pressure
• Strong written and verbal communication; able to write a precise vendor brief and a clear partner recap
• Advanced Excel and PowerPoint; familiarity with project-management, CRM and asset-tracking tools

Nice to Haves

• College sports, NIL or athlete-content experience is a plus

Benefits

• Annual discretionary bonus
• Eligible for review for participation in the Players Era equity option plan
• Open to remote
• Flexible start date