Director, Licensing – Business Development

About the role

Earthbound Brands is a brand licensing agency that builds and manages licensing programs on behalf of a diverse portfolio of clients spanning all industries including Food & Beverage, Home, Fashion, Celebrity, Lifestyle, Automotive, and Character. Our Licensing team is organized into two groups: Sales (licensee business development) and Brand/Product (program and product management). This role leads on the Sales side and reports to the VP of Licensing Sales.

The Director, Licensing – Business Development owns the licensee deal-making engine for a portfolio of clients: driving prospecting and pipeline, negotiating and closing licensee agreements, and leading a team of Sales Managers and Sales Associates. This is not a retail or wholesale sales role, and it is not client acquisition (our New Business team secures licensor clients) — it's about building best-in-class licensing programs by bringing the right licensee partners to our clients' brands.

What you'll do

Licensing strategy & deal-making

• Co-develop the licensing strategy for each client — phase 1 category priorities, stretch categories, deal parameters — in partnership with your Brand & Product counterpart, leading on the commercial and licensee-market dimensions, and present jointly to the VPs for approval
• Drive prospecting: review and approve target lists, leverage your licensee network, and identify white-space and cross-client opportunities
• Lead complex deal negotiations and proposal development for new licensee partnerships, working closely with our legal team on contract terms and deal flow
• Contribute the trade show strategy (Licensing Expo and others) and attend key meetings
• Identify program challenges and bring solutions to the VP of Licensing Sales

Client & licensee relationships

• Serve as the senior face of the sales team to clients: the main point of contact, owning individualized client strategies and state-of-the-business reporting
• Build and maintain senior-level relationships across the licensee community to strengthen programs and surface new opportunities
• Expedite resolution of client and licensee issues

Team leadership

• Manage, mentor, and develop a team of Sales Managers and Sales Associates
• Coach managers through deal negotiation and closing
• Partner with the VP of Licensing Sales on team culture, structure, and growth
• Model cross-functional collaboration with legal, brand/product, and finance

Operations

• Create and manage client-level budgets and resource allocation
• Deliver high-level business reporting to the VP of Licensing Sales and clients

What you'll bring

• 10+ years of experience in brand licensing, with a track record of sourcing, negotiating, and closing licensee deals (agency, licensor, or licensee side)
• 3+ years managing teams, ideally including managers
• An existing network of licensee relationships across relevant categories
• A consultative, relationship-first approach to deal-making
• Strong negotiation, presentation, and communication skills
• Strong command of licensing deal structures — royalties, minimum guarantees, term, territory, category rights
• Analytical mindset: comfortable using data to shape strategy and drive action
• Bachelor's degree

Location, schedule & travel

Our office is in the Flatiron District of NYC; the team is in office Mondays–Wednesdays. The role includes domestic travel to clients and key industry events, including Licensing Expo.

Compensation: $125,000–$150,000 base salary, plus eligibility for a performance-based bonus tied to portfolio results.