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Account Director, Earned Media Strategy – Sports

New York, New York, United States

Account Director, Earned Media Strategy – Sports

About the Opportunity:
The Weber Shandwick team (as part of The Weber Shandwick Collective) is seeking an Account Director, Earned Media Strategy with exceptional earned strategy, media relations prowess, and a specialized focus and passion for sports, including football and MMA. This opportunity offers you the chance to work on high-profile clients across CPG, Retail, Food & Beverage, helping them earn meaningful attention across culture.

About You:
You breathe earned media, live for a great pitch, and have a robust network of relationships within top tier business, broadcast, sports lifestyle, food & beverage and entertainment. You move seamlessly between traditional media and emerging platforms like Substack, podcasts, and content creators. Fluent in sports and internet culture and always ahead of the trends, you know what’s buzzy, what’s next, and how to help brands break through.

You’re a strategic thinker who thrives in fast-paced environments and knows how to manage multi-faceted, integrated campaigns without missing a beat. You bring structure to chaos, all while juggling deadlines, media moments, and client needs with calm confidence. You’re immersed in sports, pop culture and entertainment and know how to turn cultural insight into earned impact. A creative storyteller and collaborative partner, you bring curiosity, originality, and hustle to everything you do. Ready to make waves with a team of leading earned strategists? Let’s talk.

Responsibilities:

• Build and nurture strong relationships with top-tier sports media, including football journalists, national and local broadcasters, correspondents, and key influencers within sports culture, while seamlessly extending this network to encompass business, lifestyle, food & beverage, and entertainment media verticals.
• Maintain a strong understanding of the media and cultural landscape, as well as emerging issues that may impact clients directly or indirectly. Approaches client work with curiosity — always seeking to understand the brand, its competitors, and the broader industry context
• Proactively and reactively crafts compelling, newsworthy stories that drive earned coverage
• Lead the development and execution of earned and integrated media programs from start to finish
• Develop strategic earned plans and write high-quality media materials, including pitches, press releases, and messaging documents
• Deliver consistently high-caliber work with a client-first mindset and sharp attention to detail
• Counsel and interact effectively with clients and leaders at client organizations
• Collaborates effectively with agency and inter-agency partners, serving as a key contributor across teams to drive alignment and deliver cohesive, large-scale campaign work
• Mentors and develops junior team members through hands-on guidance, feedback, and professional development
• Cultivates and participates in new business opportunities and pitches

 Competencies:

• Business Acumen– align talent strategies to drive business goals
• Client Service– client focus and ability to build trust and rapport across all levels
• Proactivity – exhibit relentless pursuit for new and innovative talent strategies
• Collaboration– build strong relationships at all levels across the organization
• Critical Thinking– ask probing questions; anticipate and address critical talent gaps and needs
• Conflict Resolution– possess sound judgment and savvy in navigating and resolving complex talent and organizational issues

Basic Qualifications:

• 6-8 years of experience.  
• Experience leading projects from start to finish, working with integrated teams across various disciplines.
• Earned strategy and media relations experience
• Bachelor’s degree 

The Weber Shandwick Collective recognizes that your health and wellbeing are a priority. This is why we offer a full suite of benefits including:

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• 401k (with employer match)
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Juice Money – $60 monthly reimbursement to be used towards purchases that nourish your health, mind, body, and soul
• MyDays – Flexible holiday schedules
• Short-Term Disability
• Paid Employee Family Leave
• Family Building Benefit

This is a hybrid role tied to our New York office.

NYC Salary range: $100,000 – $130,000

Where an employee or prospective employee is paid within this range will depend on, among other factors, actual ranges for current/former employees in the subject position; market considerations; budgetary considerations; tenure and standing with the company (applicable to current employees); as well as the employee’s/applicant’s background, pertinent experience, and qualifications.

Weber Shandwick is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Weber Shandwick recruits qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, ethnic or national origin, protected veteran status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or citizenship status.

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