Sports Recruitment International

Tennis Australia (TA) is the governing body of Tennis in Australia and the rights-holder of the Australian Open Series, which culminates each year during January with the Australian Open held at Melbourne Park. The Australian Open is the Grand Slam of the Asia Pacific region.

Asia Pacific is become the dominant region in the world for future economic growth. Tennis is already a popular sport in the region, and with Asian stars performance levels improving on both the WTA & ATP tours the region has immense growth in participation, interest levels and commercial opportunity. 

The Australian Open Commercial team is looking to further expand its geographic footprint by recruiting a Commercial Director – Asia, to be based within the region; most likely Hong Kong, though a Singapore or Melbourne base remains a possibility. 

Supported by the Melbourne Head Office, the Commercial Director, Asia will be empowered to secure new revenues for TA with targeted, relevant partners on both a region-wide basis, and then with a tiered structure on a country-by-country basis.   

Reporting to the Manager, Sponsorship & Corporate Hospitality, the Commercial Director will be 100% focused on revenue generation but it is important that the style in which business is developed maintains the brand positioning of TA and the Australian Open.  

This is a relationship building role but with a strong commercial agenda. The successful candidate needs to be focused on ensuring all current and future potential partners are presented a logical and compelling story of how value is delivered through TA’s unique properties. 

The role holder will develop a sales pipeline of all major global and regional sponsorship targets within Asia Pacific and identify new opportunities and growth strategies through the current market contacts of TA and also their own personal network. Time will be spent continually analysing growth and emerging industries as well as sponsorship spends in the traditional industries. 

The Commercial Director will need to be a resilient self starter with not only the sales ability to uncover potential partners but the execution skills to close large scale multi million dollar partnerships.

The role will demand extended periods of time travelling the region. As part of the commercial executive and designated ‘leader’ of the region, the Commercial Director will also contribute to the wider marketing and commercial activities of the group. This will include providing regional advice on merchandise, licensing and media strategy. 

The successful candidate will have an in-depth understanding of the differences between the markets of Asia Pacific and a strong knowledge of China and / or Japan. 

Cultural sensitivity is essential and additional Mandarin or Japanese language skills are highly desirable.

The ideal candidate will have a minimum of 12 years working in corporate sales or sponsorship sales and will possess the maturity and gravitas required to communicate the value proposition of the Australian Open. 

Experience of selling large scale ($1m +) sponsorships or partnerships across the Asia region is essential and it is expected that the successful candidate will have worked in the region for a minimum of 3 years.

Additional experience or knowledge in the selling of digital rights and partnerships would also be a distinct advantage.

Whilst the successful candidate may come from a number of differing backgrounds, it is expected that someone with the relevant commercial sales expertise will have experience from either a global tier one Sports and/or entertainment property, or the sponsorship / marketing arm of a major corporate in the region. 

Applications must be submitted via the Apply Now button below.

Applications must include:

For a confidential discussion about the role, please contact Helen Soulsby in Singapore on +65 9061 1411, or Jonathan Harris in Australia on +61 2 9006 1160.