Marketing Manager – Athlete Brand Marketing and Brand Collaborations (FTC 12 Months)

Organisation: The Football Association
Salary: Competitive
Location: London
Contract type: Fixed Term (Full time)
Closing date: 3 June 2026
Job Description: Welcome to a new era for women's professional football in England. With the creation of WSL Football, an independent company solely dedicated to the women's professional game, we can transform women's football in this country. And by transforming football, we transform society.

WSL Football will accelerate the sustainable growth of the women's game. Our leagues (Barclays WSL and Barclays WSL2) are already the pinnacle of domestic women's club football. We have the best footballers on the planet; 94 players from the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 and 84 players from the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 played in the Barclays WSL, which is more than any other league in the world. These players are a new breed of female athlete superstar playing for some of the most recognisable football club brands in the world. From Ella Toone to Alessia Russo, Lauren James to Khadija Shaw, they are shaping culture, amassing huge social media followings and selling out stadia across the country.

Looking ahead, the next phase of growth is underpinned by our internal positioning statement ‘New Wave Football', bringing new energy, new ideas and new ways of engaging fans. We are building a team of brilliant people who are passionate about bringing this new wave to life.

This role focuses on two of our most exciting growth areas: Athlete Brand Marketing and Brand Collaborations. This season, we piloted an Athlete Brand Marketing Programme with 6 of our 24 clubs, and we're looking to expand the pilot for 2026/27, bringing more clubs in and evolving the model as we go.

You'll lead the strategy and delivery (with agency support), working closely with players to help them build their personal brands and commercial prospects. That includes skills labs (personal brand, social, commercial skills and more) and selecting a small group for a WSL Football Ambassador Programme, where they'll work more directly with the league. We're looking for someone with strong athlete-brand experience who enjoys spending time with players and can travel to clubs when needed.

Athlete Brand Marketing is the main focus, but you'll also shape and deliver brand collaborations that boost the visibility and cultural relevance of our leagues, clubs and players - especially with younger fans in mind.

In summary, you'll own day-to-day planning and delivery across clubs, agencies and partners - scaling and improving our Athlete Brand Marketing Programme, while creating collaborations that bring WSL Football to new audiences and build our connection with younger fans.

This role is advertised as a fixed-term contract for up to a period of 12 months.

What will you be doing?

Athlete Brand Marketing Programme – Strategy & Expansion:

Lead the expansion of the Athlete Brand Marketing Programme pilot from 2026/27, including iteration of the delivery model and selection of clubs.
Lead the development of the long-term future of the programme in collaboration with the Head of Brand Marketing, CMO and our brilliant agency partner - ensuring the programme remains aligned to business strategy.

Athlete Brand Marketing Programme – Delivery, Agency & Evaluation:

Oversee end-to-end execution of the programme, including the management of skills lab sessions in club environments and day-to-day operational planning. Please note you have agency support here, alongside some support from our Marketing Coordinator.
Own monitoring, reporting and evaluation of the pilot, capturing learnings and translating them into improvements for subsequent seasons.

Club Relationships & Partner Integration:

Build incredibly strong working relationships with clubs, providing clear guidance, proactive communication and consistent support throughout the season.
Integrate and manage key stakeholders into the Athlete Brand Marketing Programme, including commercial and broadcast partners, social platforms and representative bodies (e.g. League Managers Association, Professional Football Association), ensuring clear roles, shared objectives and high-quality delivery.

Brand Ambassadors:

Lead the relationship, planning and marketing execution with WSL Brand Ambassadors (currently four players on contract), ensuring activity supports league priorities and all contracted appearances are delivered to a high standard.
Support the evaluation of this part of the programme and provide a recommendation on how it evolves.

Brand Collaborations & New Audiences:

Collaborate with the Head of Brand Marketing on the creation of new brand IP targeted at Gen Alpha, developing marketing plans with licensee partners to support commercialisation.
Plan and execute non-commercial brand collaborations that introduce WSL Football to new audiences and increase cultural relevance, leveraging player appearances and stories where appropriate.

Budget Management:

Oversee management of the budget associated with your workstreams, tracking spend and ensuring activity is delivered efficiently and within agreed parameters.

Coaching:

Please note this role does not currently have line management responsibilities, but it will have the support of the Marketing Team Coordinator and will therefore have elements of overseeing workload delivery and coaching.

Other:

Executes additional tasks as required to meet Women's Super League Football's changing priorities.
Comply with all company policies and procedures to ensure the highest standards of health, safety, and well-being can be maintained.
As part of Women's Super League Football's commitment to ensuring a safe environment for everyone in football, every employee will be required to complete a DBS check. The level of the check required will be based on the activity of the specific job role and in line with legislation and government guidance.

What are we looking for?

Essential for the role:

Proven athlete brand marketing experience - hands-on working with athletes to shape personal brand, content and commercial readiness, with clear examples of impact.
Brilliant communication skills. Building rapport with players and club staff is a foundational skill required for success.
Experience designing and scaling programmes - able to iterate a pilot model, select and engage clubs and build a long-term roadmap aligned to business strategy.
Strong delivery and operations capability - confident planning and running workshops in club environments, managing timelines, logistics and multiple workstreams.
Excellent club and stakeholder relationship management - able to provide clear guidance and maintain proactive communication across clubs, players and internal teams.
Proven agency management - able to brief and inspire agencies to deliver the best work of their careers and hit agreed KPIs.
Experience integrating commercial / broadcast / social platform stakeholders into programmes - setting clear roles, shared objectives and smooth ways of working.
Strong collaboration and influencing skills - comfortable working with senior stakeholders and representing the programme internally and externally.
Analytical mindset - able to monitor performance, evaluate pilots, capture learnings and translate insight into improvements season-to-season.
Budget and resource management - confident tracking of spend, prioritising activity and delivering efficiently within agreed parameters.
Coaching and management skills to oversee selected workstreams for the Marketing Coordinator.
Digitally confident and highly organised - strong Microsoft Office skills and practical use of AI-enabled tools to improve productivity.
Very flexible approach to working hours and travel. This role will involve extensive travel to clubs to deliver the programme.

Beneficial to have:

Strong understanding of women's football and the evolving fan/cultural landscape - able to apply that insight to collaborations that grow relevance with younger audiences.
Experience working directly with football clubs and / football talent - helpful for running in-club delivery, building trust quickly and supporting ambassador activity.
Experience collaborating with broadcasters, social platforms or major commercial partners - useful for integrating stakeholders into programmes.
Exposure to licensing and IP development - able to support creation of new brand IP and work with licensee partners on marketing plans to drive commercialisation.
Comfortable in a growth-phase organisation - able to help shape new processes, test-and-learn approaches and pragmatic ways of working as programmes scale.

Living the values through our behaviours:

FOR THE LOVE OF THE WOMEN'S GAME - Every decision we make drives the growth, quality, and impact of women's football for future generations.
GREATNESS NEVER SETTLES - We have the relentless drive to keep the women's game growing and reaching for more. We dare to push boundaries, innovate boldly and continuously rewrite the playbook.
FIND A WAY TO WIN, TOGETHER - We move as one – lifting each other and having each other's backs. Together, we unite players, clubs, fans, and communities to achieve greatness.
CHAMPION THE FEMALE ATHLETE, ON AND OFF THE PITCH - We celebrate and support female athletes, empowering them to shine in their football careers and beyond.
PUT FANS IN THE FRONT ROW - Fans are the VIPs at the heart of our game. We must thrill, inspire, and connect with them to build lifelong loyalty.

Please note that Women's Super League Football office is based in Farringdon in Central London. The team are working within a hybrid working model whereby the expectation is to work from your contractual location for part of the week, and as and when required by the team. The remaining days can be worked remotely. We will continue to monitor this model, and it may be adjusted in future if deemed necessary.

Women's Super League Football welcomes applications from everyone. If you have any particular requirements in respect of the recruitment or interview process, please mention this during your application.

As part of Women's Super League Football's commitment to ensuring a safe environment for everyone in football, every employee will be required to complete a DBS check. The level of the check required will be based on the activity of the specific job role and in line with legislation and government guidance.
How to apply: https://careers.thefa.com/jobs/vacancy/marketing-manager--athlete-brand-marketing-and-brand-collaborations-ftc-12-months-1098-farringdon-central-london/3082/description/