International Motor Sports Association (IMSA):
The International Motor Sports Association, LLC (IMSA) was originally founded in 1969 and owns a long and rich history in sports car racing. Today, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the premier sports car racing series in North America. IMSA also sanctions the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge and Historic Sportscar Racing, as well as five one-make series: Ferrari Challenge North America, Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, Mazda MX-5 Cup, Mustang Challenge and Porsche Carrera Cup North America. IMSA – a company within the NASCAR family – is the exclusive strategic partner in North America with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) which operates the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a part of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The partnership enables selected IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors to earn automatic entries into the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. For more information please visit www.IMSA.com, www.twitter.com/IMSA, www.facebook.com/IMSA or www.instagram.com/imsa_racing.
Position Summary
IMSA is seeking a high-performing, self-motivated, entrepreneurial leader to lead its Business Development team. This newly created role will play a critical part in accelerating revenue growth, expanding IMSA’s corporate partnership portfolio, and elevating the organization’s position within the global motorsports and sports marketing landscape.
This role will be responsible for identifying, structuring, negotiating, and closing multi-year high-value sponsorship, hospitality, and experiential marketing partnerships with leading national and global brands. This individual will serve as a strategic revenue leader focused on developing integrated partnership solutions that align with client business objectives while maximizing the value of IMSA assets and fan engagement platforms.
The ideal candidate brings a proven track record of success in professional sports, motorsports, entertainment, media, or agency environments, with strong executive relationships, exceptional business development capabilities, and experience managing complex partnership negotiations.
This role requires a proactive, results-oriented professional who thrives in a fast-paced, relationship-driven environment and is motivated by building long-term commercial growth.
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Partner closely with senior leadership to establish commercial priorities, target categories, and go-to-market strategies aligned with long-term revenue objectives.
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Originate, structure, negotiate, and close multi-year corporate sponsorship, marketing, and hospitality partnerships with national and global brands.
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Drive significant new business revenue through strategic prospecting, networking, industry engagement, cold outreach, and relationship cultivation.
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Lead the full partnership sales cycle from prospect identification and consultative selling through proposal development, negotiation, and execution.
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Meet or exceed annual revenue targets, prospecting benchmarks, and pipeline development goals.
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Support annual budgeting, inventory planning, pricing strategy, and long-term commercial growth initiatives.
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Build and maintain strong relationships with C-suite executives, brand marketers, agencies, and key industry stakeholders.
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Develop customized partnership solutions integrating sponsorship, experiential marketing, hospitality, digital activation, content, team and league assets, and fan engagement platforms.
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Establish innovative marketing and hospitality initiatives designed to enhance partner ROI and create premium race weekend experiences.
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Represent IMSA at race weekends, industry conferences, networking events, and corporate meetings to strengthen market presence and expand business opportunities.
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Collaborate cross-functionally with Brand Marketing, Digital Communications, Partnership Marketing, Administration, and Event Operations teams to develop partnership proposals that meet both prospect and organizational objectives.
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Maintain accurate sales forecasting, pipeline reporting, and account activity within CRM systems.
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Analyze industry trends, competitive dynamics, audience insights, and emerging categories to identify new revenue opportunities and inform commercial strategy.
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Support the development of future partnership products across media, digital, content, data, and fan engagement platforms.
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Perform additional duties as assigned.
Directly oversees the Manager, Business Development, including coaching, performance management, and leadership support. Provides strategic direction and cross-functional leadership for commercial partnership initiatives and business development efforts.
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Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Sports Management, Communications, or related field required.
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10–15 years of progressive experience in sponsorship sales, corporate partnerships, business development, or commercial strategy within professional sports, motorsports, media, entertainment, hospitality, or related agency environments.
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Proven success generating significant new revenue and closing complex six- and seven-figure partnership agreements.
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Strong understanding of sponsorship valuation, integrated marketing partnerships, premium hospitality, experiential activation, and fan engagement strategies.
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Demonstrated ability to prospect, cultivate, negotiate, and close high-level business opportunities independently.
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Established executive presence with the ability to engage, influence, and present effectively to C-level stakeholders and senior decision-makers.
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Strong financial acumen, including experience with revenue forecasting, pricing strategy, and deal structuring.
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Exceptional communication, presentation, negotiation, and relationship-management skills.
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Self-motivated, competitive, and highly driven with the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, performance-oriented environment.
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Ability to manage multiple priorities while maintaining attention to detail and executional excellence.
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Proficiency in Microsoft Office and CRM platforms, including Microsoft Dynamics 365 or similar systems.
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Willingness to travel and work evenings, weekends, and race events as business needs require.
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Experience in motorsports, automotive partnerships, luxury lifestyle brands, or premium sports properties.
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Background working within a sanctioning body, sports league, team, media company, or global sports marketing agency.
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Existing network of corporate brand and agency relationships across key sponsorship categories.
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Experience developing integrated sponsorship programs across digital, experiential, hospitality, and media platforms.
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Knowledge of emerging trends in sports marketing, fan engagement, and premium partnership strategy.
Primarily office-based with extended periods of sitting and computer use. Ability to travel and support race weekends, industry conferences, partner meetings, and business events as required. Ability to operate effectively in fast-paced, deadline-driven environments while managing multiple priorities and stakeholder relationships.
Apply Now!
Learn more about this role and our team by applying at www.careers.nascar.com for consideration.
We are a company unlike any other. We want you to bring your experience, skills and passion to our close-knit, high-energy environment in which our employees thrive and where you can prosper. We know the key to our success is our employees and we offer highly competitive salaries, a solid benefits package focused on wellness, and opportunities for you to grow and develop both personally and professionally. It won’t take you long to find out that you are on the right track here at NASCAR!
NASCAR is committed to fostering a diverse work environment where all employees feel valued and empowered. NASCAR is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EEO). We seek to attract and retain the best qualified people available. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, gender, gender identity and expression, age, national origin, disability, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, pregnancy, veteran status or any basis that is protected by applicable law except where a bona fide occupational qualification exists.
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