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Salary: USD 130,000 - 140,000 / annual
The Athletic, a sports media company powered by a 500+ person newsroom delivering coverage across 47+ North American markets and English Premier League clubs, seeks a Manager of Commercial Strategy and Finance based in New York City (hybrid, 3 days/week in office).
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 the Vice President of Advertising Finance.
Key responsibilities include:
• Commercial Planning & Analysis: Translate dense financial data into high-impact visual narratives for leadership discussions, articulating the 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 (minimum guarantees, revenue shares, recoupment schedules), partnering with Legal and Accounting to ensure term sheets translate to sound financial outcomes.
• Post-Close Performance Tracking: Own the full lifecycle of deals—once live, track actuals vs. benchmarks, manage P&L impact, and provide FP&A oversight to course-correct or scale.
• 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 the quantitative engine driving commercial strategy, evaluating ideas before launch and deals before signing, then rigorously tracking performance post-launch.
Requirements:
• 5+ years 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 around accuracy in valuations and performance reporting
• Expert-level financial modeling and executive presentation skills
• Deep understanding of commercial deal terms, negotiations, and deal processes
• Strong FP&A fundamentals (budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis)
• BS in Finance/Economics (MBA a plus)
• Genuine motivation aligned with The Athletic's mission in premium sports journalism
