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Salary: USD 130,000 - 140,000 / annual
The Athletic, a major sports media company with 500+ full-time journalists covering hundreds of professional and college teams across 47+ North American markets and English Premier League clubs, is seeking a Manager of Commercial Planning based in New York City.
You will serve as the primary architect and steward of The Athletic's most complex and high-value commercial initiatives and partnerships. This role sits at the intersection of business development, strategy, deal-making, and operational rigor, reporting to a Vice President of Advertising Finance. The position requires 3 days per week in the New York City office.
Key responsibilities include:
• Commercial Planning & Analysis: Translate dense financial data into high-impact visual narratives for leadership discussions, articulating the strategic rationale behind major investments.
• Modeling & Evaluation: Build clean, flexible financial models to value complex integrated deals across licensing, advertising, and other revenue streams.
• Deal Construction: Analyze and support negotiation of deal mechanics, focusing on minimum guarantees, revenue shares, and recoupment schedules. Partner with Legal and Accounting to ensure term sheets translate into sound financial outcomes.
• Post-Close Performance Tracking: Own the full lifecycle of deals. Track actuals vs. benchmarks, manage P&L impact, and provide FP&A oversight to course-correct or scale successful partnerships.
• Forecasting & Variance Analysis: Integrate live deal performance into rolling forecasts, explain variances to leadership, and identify trends in audience monetization and rights costs.
You will be a "dual-threat" professional combining deep analytical rigor with commercial acumen, serving as the quantitative engine driving commercial strategy from pre-deal evaluation through post-launch performance management.
Requirements:
• 5+ years of experience in corporate development, strategic finance, consulting, or investment banking
• Analytically rigorous with experience evaluating high-stakes deals, ideally including content licensing
• Deep understanding of negotiation leverage points and how legal clauses impact financial outcomes
• Ownership mentality regarding accuracy in valuations and performance reporting
• Expert-level financial modeling capabilities
• Strong executive presentation development skills
• Deep understanding of commercial deal terms, negotiations, and deal processes
• Experience with key FP&A processes (budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis)
• BS in Finance/Economics (MBA a plus)
• Genuine motivation aligned with The Athletic's mission in premium sports journalism
