Licensing Manager at Manchester City Football Club

Purpose

Manchester City’s licensing programme has grown significantly over the last 5 years, across multiple territories and provides a significant income stream to the club. The Licensing Manager will manage and continue to grow the licensing programme, ensuring the club’s rapidly growing fan base have access to a wide range of official licensed products (physical or digital) that meet their needs and expectations, while fitting with the MCFC brand DNA.

Your Impact

• Manage and grow the Manchester City Licensing programme, maximising the return from the existing licensees, and adding new licensees to the portfolio in the UK and internationally for both physical and digital products. 
• Manage multiple physical and digital licensee and nominated representative relationships over the length of their contractual terms.
• Oversee end-to-end legal contract drafting process, ensuring smooth and efficient expedition of legal paperwork.
• Manage quarterly sales and royalty reporting across all licensees and agents, including creating summarised reports to update the Head of Licensing on overall tracking against budget, and sales by licensee, territory and distribution channel/media outlet.
• Organise licensee business reviews and challenging licensees to continually improve performance.
• Line management of the Licensing Executive, ensuring delivery of their respective objectives.
• Work with the internal brand team to update and deliver style guides and season specific/hot market assets, working closely with licensees to ensure premium, reactive and innovative merchandise is launched to the market, maintaining brand compliance with the MCFC brand DNA and identity.
• Oversee management of the club’s online licensee management system.
• Ensure effective marketing of City merchandise, providing support to licensees through club store promotions, members, and supporter clubs activations.
• Work closely with the retail team and Man City’s official retail partners to ensure club retail sales are maximised, and innovative new products are provided by licensees for club channels.

 What we are looking for

Essential

• Knowledge of the general licensing and sports licensing industries, both in the UK and internationally, including knowledge of licensing contracts, running product development, and approvals across multiple categories
• Knowledge of how to effectively develop and build a brand through licensing and how to help licensees with marketing efforts to bring their products to life
• Understanding of general licensing contract terms and conditions and royalty specific data reporting
• Advanced knowledge of Excel and PowerPoint
• Pro-active team member with strong attention to detail and organisation skills

 Desirable

• Knowledge of sport and fan behaviour, and a have a general interest in football/sports
• Awareness of lifestyle products that are trending or up and coming in fashion/pop culture
• Understanding of the traditional and non-traditional ways that IP can be licensed in the physical and digital worlds
• Experience managing a large number of accounts/partners