Sr. Manager, Sponsorships & Partnership Marketing

At U.S. Bank, we’re on a journey to do our best. Helping the customers and businesses we serve to make better and smarter financial decisions and enabling the communities we support to grow and succeed.  We believe it takes all of us to bring our shared ambition to life, and each person is unique in their potential. A career with U.S. Bank gives you a wide, ever-growing range of opportunities to discover what makes you thrive at every stage of your career. Try new things, learn new skills and discover what you excel at—all from Day One.

Job Description

U.S. Bank’s Brand & Creative team is seeking a strategic marketing partnerships manager to help shape the future of how we show up through partnerships and sponsorships across sports, talent, and entertainment.

This role requires a strategic marketer who can navigate complexity, influence across teams, and lead integrated marketing efforts through partnerships that resonate with people and drive business results. You’ll lead and represent the work—steering cross-functional teams, agency partners, and external relationships with clarity and conviction.

You’ll manage a portfolio of partnerships across sports, talent & entertainment, while developing and leading marketing strategies to deliver client-centric, multichannel marketing programs that drive growth, retention and engagement. You’ll also identify and communicate KPIs to ensure marketing strategies yield a positive return on investment and continuously optimize as needed.

We’re focused on curating partnerships that matter—building affinity, driving relevance, and creating measurable impact. This role is key to helping us scale smarter, move faster, and unlock new potential. If you’re passionate about culture, collaboration and helping build the future of U.S. Bank’s brand partnerships, we’d love to hear from you.

Responsibilities

• Develop marketing strategies for a portfolio of sports sponsorships, talent partnerships, brand integrations, and event sponsorships—ensuring alignment with brand and business goals.

• Manage high-value partner relationships with professionalism and strategic foresight.

• Lead cross-functional teams through the development and execution of sponsorship activations—including brand, media, creative studio, agency partners, comms, social, CSR & business line partners.

• Provide direction and feedback to agency partners; offering both tactical and creative input & leadership.

• Collaborate with media and content teams to deliver 360° campaigns that leverage  partnerships for powerful marketing activations.

• Partner with creative teams to bring brand stories to life in culturally relevant, resonant ways.

• Establish clear KPIs and track impact.

• Understand business line needs to build activations that maximize ROI, sponsorship performance and engagement objectives.

• Communicate clearly and succinctly through presentations, email and written reports; socialize strategic activation plans with senior marketing and revenue line leaders.

• Collaborate with internal partners to ensure all marketing programs are in accordance with all laws, regulations and bank policies.

Who You Are:

• Strategic marketer who sees the big picture but sweats the details.

• Leader among peers—driving work, leading agencies, and influencing without authority.

• Natural storyteller who can synthesize ideas into compelling narratives and sell them through.

• Relationship builder with a track record of forging productive partnerships both internally and externally.

• Cultural connector—curious about consumer behavior, emerging trends, and authentic brand experiences.

• Data-driven decision maker—fluent in brand and business KPIs, and understanding how partnerships move the needle.

• Motivated, self-starter comfortable finding clarity in ambiguity.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree, or equivalent work experience

• Eight or more years of related experience in marketing and marketing strategy with proven ability to deliver results

Preferred Skills/Experience:

• In-depth knowledge of the current principles and best practices within brand partnerships, sponsorships, consumer engagement, and social media marketing.

• Proven experience developing strategy, managing & activating sports, talent, entertainment, or lifestyle partnerships and reporting results.

• Ability to lead large-scale projects and manage multiple stakeholders.

• Experience leading agencies and external partner relationships.

• Strong presentation, communication, and influencing skills; excellent at building decks.

• Proven track record managing and communicating with C-level executives at sponsorship properties and internally.

• Demonstrated ability to handle complex negotiations that maximize ROI.

• Strong analytical, decision-making and problem-solving skills.

• Strong time and priority management skills; ability to juggle multiple projects.

• Passion for sports, culture, creativity, and brand-building.

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office products (Excel, PowerPoint, Word).

• Knowledge of the Financial Services industry preferred.

• Flexibility to work nights & weekends; travel 30%.

INDMO

The role offers a hub schedule, which means there's an in-office expectation of 3 or more days per week and the flexibility to work outside the office location for the other days.

If there’s anything we can do to accommodate a disability during any portion of the application or hiring process, please refer to our disability accommodations for applicants.

Benefits: 

Our approach to benefits and total rewards considers our team members’ whole selves and what may be needed to thrive in and outside work. That's why our benefits are designed to help you and your family boost your health, protect your financial security and give you peace of mind. Our benefits include the following (some may vary based on role, location or hours):

• Healthcare (medical, dental, vision)

• Basic term and optional term life insurance

• Short-term and long-term disability

• Pregnancy disability and parental leave

• 401(k) and employer-funded retirement plan

• Paid vacation (from two to five weeks depending on salary grade and tenure)

• Up to 11 paid holiday opportunities

• Adoption assistance

• Sick and Safe Leave accruals of one hour for every 30 worked, up to 80 hours per calendar year unless otherwise provided by law

U.S. Bank is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or veteran status, and other factors protected under applicable law.

E-Verify

U.S. Bank participates in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security E-Verify program in all facilities located in the United States and certain U.S. territories. The E-Verify program is an Internet-based employment eligibility verification system operated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Learn more about the E-Verify program.

The salary range reflects figures based on the primary location, which is listed first. The actual range for the role may differ based on the location of the role. In addition to salary, U.S. Bank offers a comprehensive benefits package, including incentive and recognition programs, equity stock purchase 401(k) contribution and pension (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements). Pay Range: $119,765.00 - $140,900.00

U.S. Bank will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment. U.S. Bank conducts background checks consistent with applicable local laws, including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance and the California Fair Chance Act as well as the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. U.S. Bank is subject to, and conducts background checks consistent with the requirements of Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA). In addition, certain positions may also be subject to the requirements of FINRA, NMLS registration, Reg Z, Reg G, OFAC, the NFA, the FCPA, the Bank Secrecy Act, the SAFE Act, and/or federal guidelines applicable to an agreement, such as those related to ethics, safety, or operational procedures.

Applicants must be able to comply with U.S. Bank policies and procedures including the Code of Ethics and Business Conduct and related workplace conduct and safety policies.

Posting may be closed earlier due to high volume of applicants.