Manager, Sponsorship and Advertising

Cityside Journalism Initiative, a nonprofit organization devoted to building community and strengthening democracy through local news, is looking for a results-driven, entrepreneurial and creative manager of sponsorship and advertising to join our growing sales team.

Launched in 2020, Cityside is home to two widely read, award-winning local news sites in the San Francisco Bay Area, Berkeleyside and The Oaklandside, both of which publish very popular East Bay food/drink reporting under the Nosh brand. We have plans to expand to more communities in the near future.

As a pioneer in new forms of civic journalism, Cityside is a national leader in the nonprofit local news movement, helping people engage with, and enjoy their communities through vibrant, high-quality local journalism. Sponsorship and advertising is critical to Cityside’s success: it represents 20% of our overall budget and offers local businesses and corporate clients the opportunity to partner with us on our mission.

The manager of sponsorship and advertising will be an experienced sales professional who will bring fresh ideas to our sponsorship offering through compelling partnerships, events and content packages that will ultimately cultivate a new roster of sponsorship clients across our organization.

The manager of sponsorship and advertising will report to Cityside’s vice president of client partnerships, Colleen Leary.

To apply for this role, please fill out our application

What you’ll do

Develop a portfolio of new clients and craft and sell sponsorship packages for them to help them meet their marketing and community relations goals
Work with a portfolio of existing Cityside clients
Maintain robust and sustainable relationships with those clients
Meet monthly revenue goals
Build and manage comprehensive database of potential targets
Manage the sales process from introduction to RFP to proposal to contract to successful campaign outcomes and renewals.
Work closely with the rest of Cityside’s sponsorship team to create and deliver a range of sponsorship opportunities for our clients

What you’ll need to succeed

3-5+ years experience in a sales or business development role in a media, technology or marketing company
Demonstrated ability to close business
Creative, strategic thinker who listens well to clients’ needs and develops initiatives to meet their needs
Consultative, solution-focused selling style
Ability to cultivate long-term client relationships
Experienced presenter with excellent verbal and written skills
Organized and process-driven
Passionate about our mission to foster civic engagement, enrich people’s lives, and contribute to a healthy democracy through trustworthy nonprofit local journalism.
A motivated team player who consistently strives to exceed goals and push revenue expectations

Some great candidates may not check all the boxes above, and may have valuable skills not included here. If that’s you, please don’t hesitate to apply and tell us why you would thrive in this role. If you have questions in advance of applying for this position, we encourage you to reach out to Cityside VP, Client Partnerships Colleen Leary at colleen@citysidejournalism.org.

This is a full-time role. The salary range is $85,000-$95,000 depending on experience, plus sales commission. You’ll have access to Cityside’s comprehensive healthcare plan, four weeks of paid leave, a family leave plan and a 401(k) match. You’ll also have a $1,000 annual stipend towards professional development.

Cityside’s hybrid workplace culture welcomes employees to collaborate in person in our offices in Oakland and Berkeley.

We’re committed to building an inclusive organization that represents the people and communities we serve. That’s key to ensuring our work is as valuable and impactful as possible. We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply for this position, including women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities.