Commercial Manager
Sponsorship & Partnerships.
London · Permanent · £62,000 – £74,000 + benefits · Reports to the Head of Partnerships
What you’ll do.
You will own GQC’s commercial partnership pipeline end-to-end: from prospecting and pitching to renewing and account-managing the foundation’s sponsors and prize underwriters. You will work most closely with the Head of Partnerships and the three regional Heads of Edition.
Year-one priorities
- Renew the four existing Founding Sponsor relationships ahead of the 2027 cycle.
- Bring in two new Edition Host candidates for the European edition.
- Build a commercial CRM and a clean partner-tier deck the team is happy to send out.
- Sit on the partner-vetting committee and protect the rubric from inappropriate sponsor influence.
Who you might be
- Five-plus years in commercial partnerships, sponsorship sales or business development in education, culture or media.
- Comfortable closing six-figure deals in writing without theatre.
- Sharp, honest, allergic to overselling. Happy to say no to the wrong partner.
- Right to work in the United Kingdom; willing to travel to Hong Kong and New York twice a year.
How to apply.
Email careers@gqc.org with a one-page covering note (no longer) and a CV. Tell us about one partnership you closed that you’re proud of and one you walked away from. We will reply to every application.
The process is three rounds: a written exercise (capped at two hours), an interview with the Head of Partnerships, and a final panel with two members of the academic council. We pay candidates for the written exercise.
Closing date: 30 May 2026. We may close earlier if the right candidate comes forward.