Associate Brand Manager, Partnerships and Sponsorships

Why Valvoline Global Products?

We’ve been inspiring and enabling what moves the world forward for more than 150 years, starting with the invention of the world’s first branded motor oil. Today, we’re a leading worldwide marketer and supplier of premium branded lubricants, automotive and industrial chemistries, and a business solutions provider to our customers and partners, driven every day by a people-centered focus on innovation and customer excellence.

We’re proud to be The Original—the first to see potential in things others overlook. Originals are the first to develop sustainable solutions. Originals move the world forward. At Valvoline Global Products, that’s what we do every day in over 140 countries worldwide. We create future-ready products that improve the performance of automotive and industrial equipment and services that help our businesses grow and thrive. As The Original, we’ve been innovating to solve problems for over 150 years. And we’ll continue to invent and reinvent the way forward, to always meet our customers’ needs – today and in the future.

Living out our values is what makes our company, our employees, our partners, our customers, and the communities we serve, great. It is our responsibility. It is what drives us. It is who we are.

We’re looking for people who care, operate with integrity, strive for excellence in everything they do, are eager to develop new skills to win, and show passion for delivering on our commitment to all our stakeholders. We are looking for Hungry, Humble, and Smart individuals. If this is you, you’ve come to the right place, and we invite you to join The Original!

Careers for the Driven

Valvoline has a rewarding opportunity as an Associate Brand Manager, Partnerships and Sponsorships. We wholeheartedly adopt a ‘never idle' mindset. We also know that outstanding service begins and ends with our employees. So, we’re looking for good people to join our team. You bring your skills, talents, and drive. We will give you a great place to work, a competitive salary and benefits, and the resources and support to develop and advance within our global company.

*Valvoline World Headquarters is located in Lexington, KY, but we invite remote candidates to apply as well. Ideally, we are open to remote candidates willing to visit HQs monthly and as needed.

How You’ll Make an Impact

The Associate Brand Manager, Partnerships and Sponsorships, will drive sustained growth and set the Valvoline Global Product (VGP) business up for future success by building brand equity and affinity with consumers and business partners through Sports & Entertainment (S&E) and sponsorship initiatives. Key responsibilities include agency management, sports and entertainment, sponsorship strategy, influencer activation, content strategy and development, campaign development support, and budget management. Beyond building brand equity, this role will leverage domestic and global partnerships to increase awareness and consideration, creating value for retailers and installers. This role will work to support all business units of VGP (DIY, Installer Channels, International) and will be responsible for the negotiation of contracts to extract the maximum value from Valvoline Global Product’s sponsorships around the world.

In the role, you would be responsible for:

• Leading sports and entertainment strategy and execution for both domestic and global partnerships. Negotiate contracts, manage assets and image usage rights, approve messaging, and creatively manage the S&E budget.
• Managing annual S&E planning, editorial calendars, and ROI measurement. Works closely with Brand Manager, Social & Equity, on strategy and channel approach. Manage contract executions and on-time billing. Maintain a pulse on new, emerging prospects to support key business strategies. Responsible for ongoing measurement to drive creative optimizations with partners. Provide quarterly and annual reporting insights and recommendations to the Brand Manager, Equity, and Equity Director to measure against the full media plan.
• Managing S&E agency, driving agency efficiency with a focus on time management and strategic priorities. Defines KPIs and measures the effectiveness/ROI of sponsorship initiatives. Establishes and ensures we work within the parameters of SOW/budget with an agency partner. Manages agency and partner billing.
• Working directly with VGP Trade Marketing and Sales teams to develop assets and sell-in sponsorship activations to retailers and installers.
• Managing agency collaborates with content and social managers to incorporate S&E assets into communication strategy.
• Serving as main Valvoline POC for activation/execution of events, the “boots on the ground” to ensure assets are being leveraged and appropriate content is being captured for the brand.
• Other duties and responsibilities as determined by Valvoline from time to time in its sole discretion.

What You’ll Need

• Bachelor's degree in business, marketing, advertising, or a related area
• Minimum three years experience in marketing with a focus on sponsorships and/or influencer
• Working knowledge of sports and entertainment
• Working knowledge of traditional and digital media
• Ability to travel 30 - 40%, with approx. 25% overnight travel
• Strong relationship-building skills
• Expert negotiation skills
• Ability to demonstrate experience, translating objectives into strategic and tactical plans
• Ability to evaluate and optimize creative
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to work collaboratively and independently, as needed
• Strong presentation skills; detail oriented; deadline driver, data and performance focused
• Strategic Thinker/ Data Based: Ability to distill and synchronize various data sources to develop fact-based and strategically sound recommendations and express them in a clearly articulated, persuasive manner
• Marketing Expert: Understands how to define consumer and customer targets, identify powerful insights, and build effective marketing campaigns to deliver growth
• Motivational Leader and Influencer: Ability to enroll, energize and enable multi-function teams behind growth strategies; demonstrate seasoned judgment and ability to make brilliant decisions on time; ability to handle complexity and numerous priorities and project; ability to lead by influence across the organization, and build support behind your strategic proposals
• Collaborator/Networker: Demonstrated ability to pull from and leverage diverse thinking, ideas, and viewpoints from across the business to build an optimal solution/ approach
• Team Player: The Valvoline organization has a strong team culture. A successful candidate will embrace the idea that success as a team comes first (and is most rewarding)
• Organization Builder: A thought leader that works “on” the system not just “in” it.
• Must be authorized to work in the U.S.

What Will Set You Apart

• Sales experience
• Cross-cultural experience

Benefits That Drive Themselves

• Health insurance plans (medical, dental, vision)
• HSA and flexible spending accounts
• 401(k)
• Incentive opportunity*
• Life insurance
• Short and long-term disability insurance
• Paid vacation and holidays*
• Employee Assistance Program
• Employee discounts
• Tuition reimbursement*
• Adoption assistance*

*Terms and conditions apply, and benefits may differ depending on the position.

Valvoline provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Are you good at what you do? Join us.

The Company endeavors to make its recruitment process accessible to any and all users. Reasonable accommodations will be provided, upon request, to applicants with disabilities in order to facilitate equal opportunity throughout the recruitment and selection process. Please contact Human Resources at 1-800-Valvoline or email [email protected] to make a request for reasonable accommodation during any aspect of the recruitment and selection process. The contact information is for accommodation requests only; do not use this contact information to inquire about the status of applications.