Freelance Brand Partnership Manager – Advertising & Commercial Partnerships

Penpee.com is an interactive content and community platform bringing together creators, readers and audiences across a broad range of interests. Unlike conventional social media platforms that primarily focus on short-form updates and visual content, Penpee combines content publishing, discovery and interactive community participation in one platform. Our ecosystem covers multiple categories, including: - Stories, fiction and creative writing - Business, entrepreneurship and wealth - Health and lifestyle - Technology and artificial intelligence - Creative arts and culture - Entertainment and gaming - Learning and education - Podcasts, finance and much more. Penpee enables users to discover content, participate in communities, follow creators and engage in conversations, creating multiple opportunities for brands to connect with audiences through relevant advertising placements. We are now introducing advertising to Penpee for the first time and seeking to establish long-term commercial relationships with brands that want to reach a growing, diverse and internationally accessible online audience.

The Opportunity

We are looking for a proactive and commercially driven Freelance Brand Partnership Manager who can step in immediately and take responsibility for developing Penpee's advertising partnerships. Your primary objective will be to identify, approach, negotiate with and secure advertising agreements with established brands and businesses that would benefit from exposure on Penpee. We are particularly interested in companies with international or global reach across consumer products and retail, technology and online services, gaming, entertainment, media, education and lifestyle. Our preferred commercial model is straightforward: brands pay an agreed fixed fee for prominent advertising placements on Penpee for a specified period. Our initial advertising inventory includes four placements: Feed – Between Posts: Advertising integrated into the content discovery feed. Feed – Sticky Bar: A persistent advertising placement within the feed experience. Conversation – In-page: Advertising displayed within community conversation pages. Conversation – Sticky Bar: A persistent advertising placement within community conversations. There may also be opportunities to develop additional sponsored promotions and brand activations as our advertising programme grows. This is an opportunity to help establish Penpee's commercial advertising programme from the ground up and build partnerships that can develop into recurring advertising revenue. Your Responsibilities You will be responsible for: - Identifying and building a qualified prospect database of global and international brands across our target categories. - Researching and identifying relevant marketing directors, media buyers, advertising managers and partnership decision-makers. - Developing tailored outreach strategies using email, LinkedIn, telephone and other appropriate channels. - Presenting Penpee's business proposition and advertising opportunities to prospective advertisers. - Negotiating fixed-price advertising agreements, including placement, duration and commercial terms. - Managing prospects from initial contact through negotiation and signed agreement. - Working with our internal team to finalise contracts and coordinate the handover of successful partnerships. - Maintaining an organised CRM pipeline and providing transparent weekly progress reports. - Identifying opportunities for repeat bookings, longer-term advertising commitments and account expansion. What We Are Looking For The ideal candidate will have: - Demonstrable experience in brand partnerships, advertising sales, media sales or business development. - An established network of contacts within marketing, advertising, media buying or brand management. - Experience securing direct advertising agreements with companies and established brands. - Strong prospecting, communication, presentation and negotiation skills. - The ability to approach international companies and communicate commercial opportunities convincingly. - A self-motivated approach, with the ability to work independently and deliver measurable commercial results. Experience selling digital advertising inventory, website placements, sponsored content or media sponsorships would be particularly valuable. Remuneration and Performance We will agree on a basic monthly freelance fee, supplemented by performance-based bonuses linked to successfully secured advertising agreements. The precise bonus structure will be agreed with the successful candidate. We are particularly interested in someone who can combine strategic thinking, strong commercial relationships and consistent deal-closing ability. Please outline your relevant experience, examples of advertising or brand partnership deals you have secured, the types of companies you have worked with and how you would approach generating new advertising revenue for Penpee. We are ready to get started immediately.