Manager of Commercial Planning

Join The Athletic as a Manager of Commercial Planning, where you will be the primary architect and steward of our most complex and high-value commercial initiatives and partnerships. This high-visibility role combines business development, strategy, deal-making, and operational rigor. You will be responsible for translating financial data into impactful narratives, building financial models, analyzing deal mechanics, tracking post-close performance, and integrating live deal performance into broader forecasts.

• Commercial planning and analysis: Translate financial data into high-impact visual narratives for discussions with leadership.
• Modeling and evaluation: Build clean, flexible financial models to value complex deals and commercial initiatives.
• Post-close performance tracking: Own the "full-lifecycle" of the deal, tracking actuals vs. benchmarks and managing P&L impact.

• Deep understanding of the leverage points in a negotiation; can anticipate how a legal clause might impact a financial outcome
• 5+ years of experience in corporate development, strategic finance, consulting or investment banking
• Strong executive presentation development skills
• BS in Finance/Economics, MBA a plus
• Someone who understands the value of accuracy; whether it's a pre-deal valuation or a post-deal performance report, you own the numbers from start to finish
• Genuinely motivated by The Athletic’s mission; you understand the value of premium sports journalism and the gravity of the shifting media landscape
• Expert-level financial modeling
• Experience with key FP&A processes (budgeting, forecasting, and variance analysis)
• Deep understanding of commercial deal terms, negotiations, and deal processes
• Analytically rigorous individual with experience performing high stakes evaluation of potential deals, ideally including content licensing