Who we are

We are William Reed.

We are the leading expert in the global Food & Drink industry.

From manufacturing through to retail and hospitality – we provide the inspiration, insight and connections to power our customers’ success.

We have offices in Gatwick and London, UK; Montpellier, France; Singapore and Chicago, US. In line with the Company’s current Agile Working Policy, the successful candidate would be eligible to work part of the week from our Crawley office and to work remotely for the rest of the week

Position

Are you an ambitious sales person, keen to progress in the field of international, high-profile food & beverage events? Do you have experience in sponsorship sales and are looking to specialise in global, multi-year partnerships?

If you thrive on creating and nurturing transformative partnerships, we have an exciting opportunity for you within our 50 Best Team as Head of Partnerships, Restaurants. In this pivotal role, you will lead the expansion of, as well as the retention of our extensive global portfolio of the restaurants events.

The 50 Best brand is the leading authority in global, tourism, gastronomy and cocktail culture, highlighting great hotels, restaurants and bars from all over the world to inspiring travellers, diners and drinkers worldwide.

Each year, and across every continent, we create, connect, and celebrate the global hospitality community through the shared passion of food and drink. We communicate via our events programmes, digital channels, and global PR, as well as marketing campaigns. 50 Best aims to bring together communities across the hospitality sector to foster collaboration, inclusivity, diversity and discovery and help drive positive change.

Responsibilities

  • Strong proven experience in sponsorship sales preferably in the B2C and luxury B2B space and ideally with demonstrated international experience.
  • New Business development, including prospecting and pipeline management, ability to develop new categories.
  • High level proposal writing supported by persuasive ROI and KPI based sales marketing materials.
  • Ability to operate at a senior level with clients with excellent networking skills
  • Experience of international hospitality industry
  • A strong understanding of marketing and communications approaches and delivery (including PR) and the impact on commercial relationships and results.
  • Proven experience with blue chip clients.
  • Proven experience in contract management.
  • Experience of online and f2f sales.
  • Develop a pipeline by proactively engaging with senior exec and VP level marketers to fully understand the brand’s decision making process.
  • Use a consultative selling strategy focussed on understanding how 50 Best can help achieve and solve clients’ business challenges and objectives.
  • Negotiate and finalise annual and multi-year deals to deliver 50 Best global sales, achieving both individual and team targets.
  • Work with the relevant internal teams, including marketing, operations and creative editorial to achieve optimal solutions for partners and 50 Best,
  • Stay up-to-date with industry trends and competitive landscape to identify new partnership opportunities.
  • Report on forecast and ROI, KPIs and AVEs to partners.
  • Attendance to the events and international travel will be required.

Requirements

  • Demonstrable experience in sponsorship sales, ideally with demonstrated international experience.
  • A strong understanding of marketing and communications approaches and delivery (including PR) and the impact on commercial relationships and results.
  • Excellent prospecting and pipeline management, with the ability to identify and develop new categories.
  • High level proposal writing supported by persuasive ROI and KPI based sales marketing materials.
  • Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to effectively communicate with and relate to all levels both within and outside the organisation.
  • Willingness and flexibility to travel internationally.
  • Language skills in in any of the following languages would be advantageous but not essential; Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Chinese
  • Good knowledge of MS: Word, Outlook, Power Point and Excel
  • Highly motivated and proactive
  • Strong sense of urgency and results orientation
  • Ability to multi-task and meet deadlines
  • Strong attention to detail
  • Self-motivated and able to work effectively both independently and as part of a team

Other information

Company Benefits Include:

  • A competitive salary
  • 25 days annual leave in addition to bank holidays- increasing by one additional day after 6 years, up to a maximum of 30 days.
  • An additional day of leave for you to take on a cultural celebration day or on your birthday if you like. A day for you! At William Reed, we call this our “MeDay”.
  • A volunteer day to take for supporting a chosen charity and giving back to the community.
  • Opportunity for hybrid working
  • Contributory Pension
  • Life Assurance Scheme
  • Group Income Protection
  • Enhanced family-friendly leave pay entitlements
  • Wellbeing benefits, including: A health care cash plan, Employee assistance programme and a 12-month wellness calendar for company-wide health, wellbeing, diversity & inclusion awareness dates.
  • Cycle to Work Scheme
  • Electric Car Scheme

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