Director, Licensing – Business Development

About the role

Earthbound Brands is a brand licensing agency that builds and manages licensing programs on behalf of a diverse portfolio of clients spanning all industries including Food & Beverage Home Fashion Celebrity Lifestyle Automotive and Character. Our Licensing team is organized into two groups: Sales (licensee business development) and Brand/Product (program and product management). This role leads on the Sales side and reports to the VP of Licensing Sales.

The Director Licensing Business Development owns the licensee deal-making engine for a portfolio of clients: driving prospecting and pipeline negotiating and closing licensee agreements and leading a team of Sales Managers and Sales Associates. This is not a retail or wholesale sales role and it is not client acquisition (our New Business team secures licensor clients) its about building best-in-class licensing programs by bringing the right licensee partners to our clients brands.

What youll do

Licensing strategy & deal-making

• Co-develop the licensing strategy for each client phase 1 category priorities stretch categories deal parameters in partnership with your Brand & Product counterpart leading on the commercial and licensee-market dimensions and present jointly to the VPs for approval
• Drive prospecting: review and approve target lists leverage your licensee network and identify white-space and cross-client opportunities
• Lead complex deal negotiations and proposal development for new licensee partnerships working closely with our legal team on contract terms and deal flow
• Contribute the trade show strategy (Licensing Expo and others) and attend key meetings
• Identify program challenges and bring solutions to the VP of Licensing Sales

Client & licensee relationships

• Serve as the senior face of the sales team to clients: the main point of contact owning individualized client strategies and state-of-the-business reporting
• Build and maintain senior-level relationships across the licensee community to strengthen programs and surface new opportunities
• Expedite resolution of client and licensee issues

Team leadership

• Manage mentor and develop a team of Sales Managers and Sales Associates
• Coach managers through deal negotiation and closing
• Partner with the VP of Licensing Sales on team culture structure and growth
• Model cross-functional collaboration with legal brand/product and finance

Operations

• Create and manage client-level budgets and resource allocation
• Deliver high-level business reporting to the VP of Licensing Sales and clients

What youll bring

• 10 years of experience in brand licensing with a track record of sourcing negotiating and closing licensee deals (agency licensor or licensee side)
• 3 years managing teams ideally including managers
• An existing network of licensee relationships across relevant categories
• A consultative relationship-first approach to deal-making
• Strong negotiation presentation and communication skills
• Strong command of licensing deal structures royalties minimum guarantees term territory category rights
• Analytical mindset: comfortable using data to shape strategy and drive action
• Bachelors degree

Location schedule & travel

Our office is in the Flatiron District of NYC; the team is in office MondaysWednesdays. The role includes domestic travel to clients and key industry events including Licensing Expo.

Compensation: $125000$150000 base salary plus eligibility for a performance-based bonus tied to portfolio results.

Required Experience:

Director