Athlete Marketing Manager

Is responsible for identifying, managing, and activating a portfolio of nationally relevant, world-class athletes across diverse sports disciplines. It acts as the bridge between athletes and Red Bull, ensuring partnerships align with the brand's strategic goals and marketing priorities. The position supports athletes in their performance, marketing, and communication needs while leveraging Red Bull's global athlete network to elevate brand visibility and drive consumer engagement in India.

• Build and maintain a nationally relevant, diverse, and high-performing athlete portfolio aligned with Red Bull's brand values and strategic priorities, and identify emerging talent that fits the long-term sports marketing strategy.
• Contribute to Red Bull India's sports marketing strategy by identifying high-impact athletes, teams, and competitions, and develop short- and long-term plans with strategic KPIs and innovative activations.
• Monitor, evaluate, and optimise athlete partnerships using data and insights to ensure efficiency, strong ROI, and enhanced campaign impact.
• Develop long-term athlete and team development pathways that strengthen Red Bull's credibility in sport and ensure partnerships support global and local marketing priorities.
• Lead the management of team partnerships, including key collaborations such as Rajasthan Royals, to deliver brand visibility, athlete integration, content opportunities, storytelling, and fan engagement, and identify new opportunities to partner with teams, leagues And sports properties aligned with brand strategy.
• Collaborate with the Media Network, Content, Digital, and Events teams to create athlete-led content, integrate athlete campaigns with wider marketing initiatives, and identify authentic storytelling opportunities.
• Provide customised support to athletes, including performance tools, marketing strategies, communication plans, and financial packages, and act as a mentor on performance, branding, and communication challenges.
• Drive activation of athlete partnerships through projects, events, social-first content, appearances, grassroots programmes, and on-ground and digital fan engagement experiences, integrating athletes and teams into Red Bull events and campaigns.
• Oversee budgets and contracts for all national athlete activities, screen and evaluate athlete proposals, and ensure compliance with international benchmarks and guidelines.
• Manage relationships with athletes, agents, federations, support teams, team management, leagues, agencies, and internal and external stakeholders, ensuring alignment between Red Bull's global athlete marketing frameworks and local execution, and champion innovation by inventing new events
• Athlete branding, and project ideas and transforming them into credible concepts.
• Track record of developing and delivering athlete-led content, brand activations, and integrated marketing campaigns.

• Minimum 6 years of experience in sports marketing, athlete marketing, team partnerships, or a related field, including direct responsibility for managing professional athletes.
• Demonstrated success managing professional athletes and/or high-value team partnerships.
• Established experience working closely with leading sports federations, leagues, teams, and governing bodies across key sports.
• Deep understanding of the Indian sports ecosystem, including leagues, federations, athlete management agencies, commercial partners, and emerging talent pipelines.
• Proven ability to lead complex, multi-stakeholder partnerships and build trusted, long-term relationships across internal and external stakeholders.
• Exceptional negotiation, project management, stakeholder management, and written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present strategies and results to senior leadership.
• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Sports Management, Business Administration, or a related discipline.
• Full professional proficiency in English, with strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Willingness and flexibility to travel frequently for athlete engagements, events, competitions, and project delivery.
• Proven ability to lead teams and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Strong experience in developing and executing long-term athlete and brand strategies.
• Experience managing large-scale athlete projects, activations, initiatives, and events.
• Strong ability to manage internal and external relationships, ensuring alignment and collaboration across teams.
• Ability to leverage data and insights to refine strategies and improve the impact of athlete campaigns.

• Experience within cricket or other major Indian sports leagues is preferred.