Retail Licensing Manager

At Aston Villa Football Club, our Retail and Licensing department plays a vital role in the club's commercial success and fan engagement. We take pride in offering a wide variety of high-quality football merchandise and leisurewear to our fans, both online and in-store, while maintaining a strong connection to our brand and culture. As the Club has grown, we have expanded and enhanced our product offering and bringing our fans across the world closer to the Club through products they love.

We have a fantastic, new opportunity for a Retail Licensing Manager to join our growing team. Working closely with the Head of Licensing, you will help shape and grow Aston Villa's licensing portfolio across both traditional and digital categories. This is an exciting opportunity to be at the heart of one of football's most recognisable brands, identifying new commercial opportunities, supporting negotiations with prospective partners, and helping to deliver products that engage fans around the world. You will collaborate with multiple teams across the Club and play a vital role in driving the success of our licencing programme both in the UK and internationally.

The Retail Licensing Manager will be responsible for managing the relationships with our current portfolio of licensees and retail partners ensuring excellent account management whilst also ensuring smooth operational efficiency ensuring products are developed, distributed and marketed in a way that reflects our Club’s values and brand standards. You will be involved in supporting product approvals, monitoring commercial performance, conducting market research and identifying new growth opportunities.

The Licensing Manager will support the growth of Aston Villa's licensing programme,  working closely with the Head of Licensing across new business development, licensee management  and retail expansion. You will be responsible to help identify new licensing opportunities, support the  negotiation and administration of agreements, and build strong day-to-day relationships with licensees  and retail partners. Acting as a point of contact across Retail, Marketing, Brand and Finance, the  Licensing Manager will help ensure licensed products are well developed, well distributed and true to the  Club's brand.

Main Responsibilities & Accountabilities of the Retail Licensing Manager

• Help identify and develop new licensing opportunities across traditional and digital categories,  supporting the Head of Licensing in building a pipeline of prospective licensees and retail partners  and assisting with pitches and negotiations.
• Manage day-to-day relationships for an assigned portfolio of licensees, acting as the first point of  contact, supporting business reviews and flagging opportunities for growth or product extension.
• Work with licensees and retailers to support distribution and visibility of licensed product across the  UK and priority international markets, contributing to range reviews and buyer meetings.
• Help track licensing income and costs against budget, support revenue forecasting, and monitor  performance against KPIs ahead of business review meetings.
• Support licensee product approvals and help ensure ranges align with brand guidelines, working  closely with Brand and Marketing on style guides and usage of club IP.
• Conduct regular market and competitor research, gathering retail insight to feed into category  strategy and partner discussions.
• Act as a day-to-day liaison across Retail, Marketing, Brand, Legal and Finance, and support the wider 
• Partnerships team on cross-over licensing and partner opportunities.
• Support the Head of Licensing in representing Aston Villa at UK and select international trade shows,  and help host licensees, retailers and other guests on matchdays as required.
• Any other reasonable duties and responsibilities which your line manager or another senior manager  at the club asks you to perform.
• Demonstrate commitment to Safeguarding by adhering to relevant policies, procedures and values  relating to safeguarding children and adults at risk
• Support the Club’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion

What Aston Villa Football Club is looking for…

Required:

• Experience in brand licensing, retail or consumer products, ideally with exposure to marketing, buying or merchandising.
• Strong relationship management, communication and presentation skills
• Good understanding of the product development lifecycle and how products are ranged and sold at retail.
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and a varied contract 
• workflow.
• Experience in working in a fast-paced environment under pressure whilst managing multiple projects  simultaneously
• Good attention to detail and takes responsibility for the accuracy of their work
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Work flexible hours as the Club requires; this will include matchday and events working evenings and  weekends
• Able to travel between our Club sites, predominantly the London Office, and able to travel to Bodymoor  Heath Training Ground and Villa Park frequently

Beneficial:

• Degree-level qualification or equivalent professional experience. 
• Experience working within professional sport, football and/or retail

Why Join Us?

There has never been a better time to join Aston Villa Football Club. Our drive to succeed is visible on the global stage, we are building a family ethos and culture to be proud of, and realising our ambitious plans for the expansion and improvement of our world-class facilities. If you are already excited by this challenge and want to play your part in our historic Club, then you'll be pleased to hear about our amazing staff benefits you'll receive whilst working for us! See our Staff Benefits booklet to find out more.

Equality Statement

Aston Villa Football Club celebrates the diversity of its Club and embrace equal opportunities for all.

We welcome applications from all candidates regardless of age, race, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, sex and religion or belief.

Safeguarding Statement 

Aston Villa Football Club is fully committed to safeguarding children and adults at risk across our Club. As such, we adhere to Safer Recruitment processes and for some roles a satisfactory enhanced disclosure via the Disclosure & Barring Service may be required prior to starting in a role at the Club. For more information, please see Aston Villa Football Club | The official club website | AVFC - Safeguarding.