Commercial Strategy & Ventures Lead – CFCW Full Time

JOB TITLE: Commercial Strategy & Ventures Lead – CFCW

DEPARTMENT: Commercial

LOCATION: Stamford Bridge

CONTRACT: Permanent, Full Time

DIRECT REPORTS: None initially, with expectation of team growth over time

The Role

This is a pivotal role at the heart of Chelsea FC Women’s commercial ambition. As Commercial Strategy & Ventures Lead, you will serve as the strategic engine of the commercial department, working directly alongside the Commercial Director to shape the direction, identify the opportunities, and build the frameworks that will drive sustainable revenue growth over the next five years and beyond.

This is not a conventional commercial role. While the Commercial Director leads on sponsorship, matchday, and P&L, this role exists to look around corners, identifying and developing non-traditional revenue opportunities that sit outside the existing commercial infrastructure, from ventures and equity partnerships to content monetisation and consumer products.

We are looking for someone who thinks beyond traditional football revenue streams, who can build a compelling business case from scratch, and who brings the credibility and gravitas to represent the Club in a room with senior clients, investors, and partners. You will ensure the commercial department is not only delivering today but is structurally set up to win over the next five years.

Closing date: 15th May

We encourage you to apply as soon as possible. In the event that we receive a large number of applications, the position may be filled before the listed closing date. To avoid missing out, please submit your application at your earliest convenience.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Growth

• Work in close partnership with the Commercial Director to develop and maintain a five-year commercial strategy for CFCW
• Leading on creation of materials for board packs, ownership documents, reporting and tracking progress
• Identify whitespace opportunities, particularly those outside the core sponsorship and matchday infrastructure, and develop them into credible commercial propositions
• Build robust business cases for new initiatives, balancing ambition with commercial rigour, for sign-off by CFCW leadership
• Provide regular strategic analysis and market intelligence to inform the commercial decision-making and ELT reporting

Ventures & Non-Traditional Revenue

• Lead the identification, evaluation, and development of non-traditional revenue opportunities, including but not limited to:
• Ventures & non traditional partnerships — identifying strategic co-creation, co-investment or non-traditional partnership opportunities that extend the Club’s commercial footprint
• Retail & consumer products — developing propositions that deepen fan engagement and grow direct revenue
• Content & media monetisation — working with relevant teams to unlock commercial value from the Club’s content and media assets

Revenue Optimisation

• Work with commercial departments (sponsorship, licensing, matchday) to ensure pricing strategies are data-led, competitive, and growth-oriented
• Identify cross-sell and upsell opportunities across the commercial portfolio
• Support forecasting and target-setting with the Finance and Strategy & Insights teams

Client & Partner Engagement

• Represent CFCW externally with prospective partners, stakeholders, and ventures; able to lead or support commercial conversations at a senior level
• Support the development of compelling commercial propositions and terms for new and existing partners
• Maintain awareness of the Club’s key commercial relationships and contractual landscape

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Foster a culture of strategic alignment and collaborative working across commercial functions
• Champion the use of data and insight in commercial decision-making
• Contribute to the development of a high-performing commercial team, with an expectation to build and lead a small team over time

Measures of Success

• Development and delivery of a credible, ambitious five-year commercial strategy for CFCW
• Identification and progression of a pipeline of non-traditional revenue opportunities
• Achievement of commercial revenue KPIs across relevant departments
• Quality and impact of strategic input provided to the Commercial Director and senior leadership
• Regular market assessments benchmarking CFCW against leading women’s clubs, leagues, and sports properties globally

Skills, Experience & Behaviours

Essential

• Proven experience in commercial strategy, business development, or ventures, ideally across more than one of: management consulting, sports/entertainment, or startup/venture/private equity
• Strong analytical and commercial acumen, able to build a business case, stress-test an assumption, and translate insight into action
• Credible and confident in senior external stakeholder environments, comfortable in a client-facing room
• Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to identify and develop opportunities from scratch
• Excellent communicator, written, verbal, and in presentation
• Highly collaborative, with the ability to influence without authority across a matrixed organisation

Desirable

• Experience in women’s sport or a high-growth sports/entertainment property
• Familiarity with licensing, content commercialisation, or consumer product development
• Experience building or scaling a commercial function

Our Expectations:

• To embody the club’s BLUE behaviours (Brave, Lead, Unity, Edge) in the approach to work and interaction with others
• To adhere to the club’s policies and procedures, including Health & Safety, Financial Authorisation, Confidentiality and GDPR.
• To act as an ambassador for diversity, equality, and inclusion, and demonstrate a positive commitment by treating others fairly in line with our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Policy and reporting any acts of discrimination through appropriate channels
• To create a safe environment and act to protect all young people and vulnerable adults that are either in your care or attending club premises, and report any concerns to the Safeguarding Lead
• To report any misconduct or suspected misconduct to the HR Department

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

At Chelsea we recognise that the diversity of our people is one of our greatest strengths and we are taking positive action to ensure our existing colleagues and job applicants can fully be themselves and bring their own unique experiences and perspectives to Chelsea FC. This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity.

If you need reasonable adjustments made to the recruitment process, please reach out to your recruiter, who will be able to advise and support you.

Chelsea FC is fully committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all children, young people and adults at risk (vulnerable groups). We therefore require all successful applicants to complete a DBS Check prior to starting employment. Depending on the role, successful applicants may also be required to undergo other child protection screening where appropriate.

This Job Description is not intended to be exhaustive; the duties and responsibilities may therefore vary over time according to the changing needs of the Club.