Business Development Senior Manager, Sports & Media in Vancouver

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Account Intelligence & Research
  • Build awareness and generate your own leads.
  • Build and maintain deep intelligence briefs on target accounts — including organizational structure, strategic priorities, technology investments, recent news, leadership changes, and competitive landscape.
  • Monitor trigger events (funding, exec changes, partnerships, product launches, league/team activity) and surface timely engagement opportunities.
  • Develop and maintain a target account tracker that serves as the operational foundation of our vertical GTM motion.
• Top-of-Funnel & ABM Execution
  • Design and execute account-based outreach sequences that are personalized, value-first, and tailored to each account's specific context.
  • Collaborate with APPLY marketing to activate campaigns, events, and content assets as engagement vehicles for target accounts.
  • Create bespoke outreach materials: one-pagers, account-specific research briefs, personalized decks, and leave-behinds that open doors and establish credibility before a first conversation.
  • Support event strategy and execution — identifying relevant industry events and helping develop engagement plays around them.
  • Follow up on APPLY marketing campaigns and inbound leads.
• Introductory & Discovery Support
  • Qualify and schedule introductory and discovery calls on behalf of the Vertical Growth Lead.
  • Prepare pre-call intelligence packages and talking-point briefs for every meeting.
  • Attend introductory and discovery calls to support note-taking, next-steps tracking, and follow-up execution.
  • Draft follow-up communications, recap emails, and initial materials to advance early-stage conversations.
• Pursuit & Pipeline Ownership
  • Manage and evolve a vertical/territory sales plan, including key targets and stakeholders.
  • Qualify new opportunities along with the sales support team.
  • Support pre-qualification scoring and deal qualification in collaboration with the Vertical Growth Lead and Pursuit Operations.
  • Work closely with the APPLY partnerships leads and external partnerships contacts to account map and coordinate co-sell opportunities into mutual target accounts.
  • Assist in proposal development, pitch preparation, and RFP responses for active pursuits.
  • Coordinate with APPLY's Pursuit Operations Lead on proposal logistics, internal alignment, and deal support activities.
  • Help manage CRM hygiene, pipeline reporting, and deal status updates to keep the GTM motion organized and visible.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Experience & Background
  • 5+ years of experience in a business development, sales, ABM, or GTM-adjacent role — ideally at a consultancy, agency, technology firm, or within the sports/media industry itself.
  • Some exposure to a full sales cycle is strongly preferred.
  • Familiarity with account-based marketing principles and tools; comfort creating outreach materials and research assets without heavy template reliance.
  • Experience in or genuine passion for sports, entertainment, media, or live experiences.
  • Comfortable working knowledge of AI tools and agentic workflows.
• Skills & Attributes
  • A strategic relationship builder and great listener who can quickly develop trust and build rapport.
  • A natural storyteller with the ability to take clients on a journey.
  • Solid interpersonal skills.
  • A natural researcher who goes three layers deep and finds angles others miss.
  • Strong writer — your outreach reads like it was written by a thoughtful human.
  • Creative and resourceful.
  • Organized and systems-oriented.
  • Comfortable working in ambiguity and building structure where it doesn't yet exist.
  • Collaborative by nature.
  • Intellectually curious and genuinely interested in how APPLY's capabilities create value for sports and media brands.
  • Ambitions that extend beyond an SDR motion.

NICE TO HAVES:

• Experience using AI tools for research, content creation, or outreach personalization.
• Familiarity with the sports tech, sponsorship, fan experience, or media rights landscape.
• Exposure to Google Cloud or technology partner ecosystems.
• Experience with tools like HubSpot, Common Room, Apollo, or similar GTM platforms.