Hiring a Brand Partnerships Manager? Get the brief right before you advertise

Not every Brand Partnerships Manager can win new business, and a CV won't always tell you which ones can. Here's what I'd ask before you start the search.

You need someone to bring in new revenue. 

You advertise for a Brand Partnerships Manager. Then you find yourself interviewing people whose experience is mainly in managing established accounts. They might be excellent at what they do, with impressive brands on their CV. But if they've never had to build a pipeline, open doors and convert opportunities, are they the person you need?

It's an issue that keeps coming up in our conversations with businesses: the title covers very different jobs. 

When the brief isn't clear, a direct advert can attract plenty of applicants without bringing you any closer to the right hire. Sorting through those CVs takes longer than you'd expect, and the skills you need often aren't obvious on paper.

What does a Brand Partnerships Manager do?

Brand Partnerships is an umbrella title. Depending on the business, it can cover new business development, managing existing partnerships, marketing campaigns or building longer-term strategic collaborations.

A sales-led hire is expected to prospect, pitch, negotiate and bring new partners into the business. An account management-led hire focuses on retaining partners, managing stakeholders and growing the value of existing relationships. A strategic partnerships hire develops propositions that bring brands together around shared commercial objectives.

Marketing Campaigns 

They lead the creative process to develop co-branded products, content, events and promotional activities that benefit both brands. They are responsible for creating marketing and communications plans, coordinating campaign assets, managing timelines and ensuring content is distributed effectively across channels such as social media, email, affiliate platforms and events. They also act as the main point of contact between internal teams, external agencies and partner brands, ensuring everyone is aligned and that campaigns are delivered smoothly, on time and in line with both brands' objectives. 

There’s crossover, of course. But asking one person to win business, manage every relationship and build a partnerships strategy can leave you looking for three different skill sets in one candidate.

The distinction I always come back to is whether you need someone to create opportunities or develop the ones already there. Both need commercial judgement and strong relationships. They don’t necessarily need the same experience, approach or motivation.

Four questions to ask before hiring a Brand Partnerships Manager

Before you write the job description or book interviews, get specific about these four things.

1. What is the primary objective of the hire?

Is the priority winning new brands and revenue, growing existing partnerships, or building a function from scratch? You may want elements of all three, but which comes first? That decision should shape the brief, the experience you look for and the interview process.

2. What should they have achieved after six and twelve months?

Is success a qualified pipeline, signed partnerships, stronger retention, higher account value or a new commercial proposition? A candidate can only judge whether they’re right for the role if you can explain what success means.

3. Is the role target-led, and who owns the pipeline?

If the role is target-led, say so. Will this person generate their own leads, inherit an existing pipeline or work with a sales team? Who closes deals, and who manages the relationship afterwards? The answers can change the type of candidate you need, even when the job title stays the same.

4. How will you test their new business ability?

A CV might list major brands without showing who originated the relationship or negotiated the deal. Ask candidates to talk you through a partnership they won themselves: how they identified the opportunity, approached the brand, handled objections and secured agreement. Then ask what happened after the deal was signed. You’ll learn far more than you will from a list of logos.

Why a clear brief makes recruitment easier

I’ve seen how easily a Brand Partnerships job description can become a wish list: sales, account management, strategy, creative thinking and commercial negotiation, all given equal weight.

This matters because a brief that tries to cover everything attracts candidates who can’t deliver the thing you actually need. A strong account manager may apply for a role that needs a new business developer. A talented salesperson may skip it because it reads as relationship management.

Getting clear on what the hire is meant to achieve helps you assess applicants against the work they’ll be doing. It also makes interviews more useful, because you’re testing the right skills rather than relying on job titles and brand names.

Speak to Andrea before you advertise

If you’re planning a Brand Partnerships hire, I’m happy to talk through the brief before it goes live. We can look at the market, the level of experience available and whether the role you’ve described matches what you need someone to deliver.

We help by getting clear on what the hire is meant to achieve, then finding candidates whose experience matches it, including the things a CV won’t show.

Andrea Pell is a Director at Handle, where she has recruited for more than 15 years. She leads sales, marketing and event operations hiring across events, business information, creative brands, tech and agencies. If you're planning a Brand Partnerships hire, get in touch with Andrea, or follow her on LinkedIn.