Independent Media
Senior Partnerships Manager
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About Independent Media
Independent Media comprises The Independent, Standard Digital, Bulletin, BuzzFeed UK, HuffPost UK, Tasty UK, Seasoned, IndyBest and indy100.
Harnessing market-leading innovation and excellence across its portfolio of pioneering brands, Independent Media has unrivalled scale, integrity and authority via its sites, apps, video, audio, experiential, newsletters and social media.
While each Independent Media brand speaks in an authentic, unique voice to a loyal and distinct audience, they stand together in their commitment to positivity, inclusivity, and quality journalism and content.
Independent Media’s network reaches 650 million users each month, with 1.1 billion content views across its brands and platforms, including web, apps, social media, podcasts, email, YouTube, syndication partners and print.
The role and the team
The Independent is seeking a Senior Partnerships Manager to step into a high-impact leadership role within our Ecommerce business (one of the company’s key strategic pillars). Reporting into the Head of Ecommerce Solutions & Partnerships, you will manage a P&L and drive our performance partnerships growth strategy.
In this position, you will directly lead, manage, and coach a team of two Partnership Managers, setting clear performance benchmarks and scaling existing partnerships and new verticals. You will act as a core commercial driver, translating the strategic vision into operational profitability and market expansion.
Scope
- Brands: The Independent (inc IndyBest) UK and US, The Standard UK, HuffPost UK, BuzzFeed UK.
- Territories: UK and US
- Channels: Social (organic and paid), Search (organic and paid), LLMs, Web, Newsletters and Off-Platform.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
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We champion diversity in our teams and in our reporting. As a growing and global brand, we must have a workforce that’s more representative of our readers, viewers, clients and partners, and a workplace that creates a sense of belonging for everyone.
We are committed to hiring and developing a diverse workforce regardless of background, and we support our people to thrive in their careers here.
The Independent is an equal opportunities employer, if you require any reasonable adjustments to complete your application, please do not hesitate to advise us accordingly.
Key responsibilities and accountabilities
- P&L & Commercial Leadership: Take full accountability for the partnership revenue stream and channel P&L, driving top-line growth, margin optimization, and long-term financial viability.
- Team Management & Coaching: Directly manage and mentor two Partnership Managers, developing their skills, guiding complex deal structuring, and overseeing their day-to-day execution against core SLAs and targets.
- Senior Deal & Contract Execution: Lead end-to-end commercial negotiations, contract drafting, and strategic partnership sign-offs, operating with high autonomy while providing final review on the team’s proposals.
- Strategic Portfolio Ownership: Oversee macro relationship management across all core verticals, continuously scanning the broader market to unlock enterprise-level opportunities inside and outside existing portfolios.
- Cross-Functional Synergy: Collaborate closely with sales, editors, audience growth teams, and external agencies to align partnership output with wider company strategy and brand values.
- Executive Stakeholder Reporting: Maintain clear, transparent reporting on portfolio yield, risks, and ROI directly to the Head of department and ultimately the Ecommerce Director and senior executive stakeholders.
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What we are looking for
- Proven Experience: 5+ years of progressive experience in affiliate marketing, partnership management, or performance sales, including direct team management or direct supervisory experience.
- Commercial Acumen: Track record of owning or significantly contributing to a P&L, with deep expertise in evaluating revenue models, performance marketing metrics, and deal profitability.
- Leadership & Coaching: Demonstrated ability to build, line-manage, and elevate mid-level commercial talent to hit ambitious operational targets.
- Network & Industry Influence: Strong, established network of senior affiliate relationships that can be leveraged immediately for high-value business development.
- Strategic & Technical Depth: Deep fluency in SEO principles, audience acquisition tactics (paid and organic social, PPC, newsletter), and cross-channel content integration.
- Executive Communication: Exceptional negotiation, stakeholder management, and project prioritisation skills under fast-paced digital publisher culture.
Our values – you will deliver across all our values
- Inclusive: We champion diversity in our teams and in our reporting. Working as a team, we put transparency and effective communication at the heart of everything we do.
- Innovative: From the very beginning, The Independent has been breaking the mould. We take risks and are always looking to try new ideas in pursuit of excellence.
- Independent: Nobody tells us what to think; we make up our own minds and aren’t afraid to do things differently. Like our readers, we value honesty and integrity above outside influences.
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