Sporting Kansas City

Background

Sporting Kansas City is a charter member of Major League Soccer and one of the league’s most established organizations. Founded in 1995 by American sports pioneer Lamar Hunt, the club began play in 1996 and has developed a proud record of competitive achievement, including two MLS Cup championships, a Supporters’ Shield and four Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup titles. At Sporting Kansas City, the organization strives to win championships, deliver a world-class product on and off the field, create exceptional fan experiences, build meaningful connections with the community and innovate in all that it does.

The organization operates a broad, integrated soccer and entertainment platform encompassing the first team, Sporting Kansas City II, a nationally recognized academy, high-performance training facilities, matchday and venue operations, commercial partnerships, premium hospitality, fan engagement and community programming. This scale creates a dynamic operating environment in which disciplined execution, cross-functional collaboration and an exceptional supporter experience are central to sustained performance.  

As Kansas City’s profile as a leading soccer market continues to rise, Sporting Kansas City has an opportunity to expand its reach, deepen its connection with supporters and build the next generation of fans. The Vice President, Marketing will play a central role in that effort, leading the club’s brand, marketing and fan development strategy while connecting creative excellence with measurable audience and revenue growth. Working closely with the President and CEO and senior leadership team, this executive will help strengthen Sporting Kansas City’s relevance across the region and build lasting relationships with both existing and new supporters.

Any interested candidates should contact ZRG directly.
Contacting Sporting Kansas City will only delay consideration of your qualifications.

Position Summary

The Vice President, Marketing will lead Sporting Kansas City’s overall marketing strategy, brand, and fan development to drive measurable growth in attendance, engagement, and revenue. This executive will oversee the club’s creative, marketing integration, social media, video, and digital marketing functions while strengthening the club’s presence throughout the Kansas City region and building lasting connections with both existing and new fans.

The role requires proven leadership, strong creative judgment, commercial understanding, and effective collaboration across the club. This leader will establish clear priorities, develop high-performing teams, and ensure marketing initiatives align with broader organizational and business objectives.

Essential Functions

Strategy, Brand, and Grassroots Fan Growth

• Develop annual and longer-term marketing plans aligned with club goals, audience needs, market opportunities, budgets, and measurable outcomes.
• Own Sporting Kansas City’s brand positioning, storytelling, voice, and standards across campaigns, content, merchandise, digital platforms, partner communications, and stadium experiences.
• Use research, fan feedback, and performance data to grow audiences and improve offers and experiences.
• Develop and lead a year-round grassroots and community-based fan development strategy designed to expand Sporting Kansas City's reach, attract new audiences, and build sustained engagement throughout the region.
• Build meaningful relationships with local bars and restaurants, schools, colleges, youth soccer organizations, local businesses, and community partners to reach prospective fans throughout the Kansas City market where they live, work, learn, and play.
• Oversee street-team and ambassador programs, watch parties, and community activations. Coordinate with Ticketing, Youth Soccer, Community Impact, and Corporate Partnerships to turn engagement into qualified leads, first-time attendance, repeat visits, and fan loyalty; measure results and refine the approach.
• Responsible for managing and evaluating any third-party partners utilized to support the marketing efforts.

People Leadership

• Lead and develop department leaders and associates through clear goals, coaching, regular feedback, and accountability for results and collaboration.
• Create a culture of trust, constructive debate, responsiveness, and shared ownership. Empower specialists and establish clear decision authority.
• Assess staffing, skills, succession, and workloads. Set priorities and production expectations that support sustainable delivery across matches, travel, launches, and events.

Integration and Business Management

• Create a shared marketing calendar and a consistent intake process with clear briefs, owners, priorities, deadlines, and escalation paths. Involve internal partners early and explain tradeoffs and alternatives.
• Engage Stadium Operations, Grounds, Facilities, Security, and Events before committing to giveaways, activations, field use, or installations. Coordinate marketing with the full matchday experience.
• Own budgets, forecasts, and vendor performance with Finance and appropriate procurement review. Partner with responsible teams on privacy, intellectual property, accessibility, and information security.
• Represent the club professionally and perform related responsibilities.

Commercial, Digital and Creative Responsibilities

Revenue and Fan Relationships

• Lead marketing strategy and demand generation efforts to drive single-match ticket sales, working closely with Ticketing and Sales leadership to support lead generation, season ticket acquisition and renewal, group sales, and premium hospitality to achieve shared revenue goals.  Establish shared handoffs, follow-up expectations, and reporting.
• Use fan insights and campaign results to inform pricing, packaging, promotions, and member value with the leaders responsible for commercial decisions.
• Partner with Corporate Partnerships on sponsor storytelling, proposals, activations, and integrated campaigns that meet contractual commitments and deliver fan value.
• Support retail, merchandise, and event revenue through coordinated campaigns. Connect Community Impact, The Victory Project, and Youth Soccer programs with fan development while respecting their purposes.

Digital Marketing and Measurement

• Oversee paid media, search, social advertising, email, text messaging, and website or app marketing. Allocate investment using audience insights and evidence of performance.
• Partner with IT, Ticketing, and analytics colleagues on CRM, consent-based fan data, segmentation, and lifecycle communications from first interest through purchase, renewal, and re-engagement.
• Improve digital purchase journeys through relevant content, landing pages, and testing. Measure lead quality, conversion, retention, and revenue alongside reach and engagement; recognize attribution limitations.

Creative, Video and Social Media

• Set creative direction for design, photography, video, advertising, and social media. Use clear briefs and a production calendar that balances soccer, supporter culture, commercial priorities, and community storytelling.
• Guide platform-specific content, short-form video, timely match coverage, and community engagement. Maintain standards for quality, accessibility, accuracy, and brand consistency.
• Manage agencies, creators, influencers, and production partners for audience fit, effectiveness, cost, deliverables, and usage rights.
• Coordinate with Soccer Operations and Communications on player access, appearances, announcements, permissions, and sensitive information.

Qualifications, Skills and Education Requirements

Experience and Capabilities

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, or a related field, or equivalent education and relevant experience.
• 10+ years of progressive marketing experience, including at least five years leading teams, budgets, and integrated programs.
• Demonstrated results in brand building, fan or customer growth, digital marketing, and demand generation in professional sports or another consumer business with live experiences and passionate audiences. Demonstrated success building grassroots programs and local relationships that produce measurable audience growth and attendance is essential.
• Proven ability to develop leaders, manage multidisciplinary creative teams, align departments, and communicate strategy and results to executives.
• Strong creative judgment and fluency in paid media, social media, video, CRM, lifecycle marketing, research, and analytics. Ability to evaluate specialist work without personally executing every discipline.
• Preferred: professional sports or live entertainment experience; soccer and MLS knowledge; Kansas City market familiarity; diverse or multilingual audience engagement; and sponsorship, ticketing, and league collaboration experience.

Work Environment

Availability for home matches, selected events, evenings, weekends, and holidays is required as business needs dictate. Travel may be required. Work occurs in office, stadium, and event settings, including outdoors. Essential responsibilities must be performed with or without reasonable accommodation.

ZRG’S Commitment

At ZRG, we do not just accept differences—we celebrate and support it. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, pregnancy, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, genetic information, marital or partnership status, military or veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. ZRG is an equal opportunity employer and workplace, and we encourage applicants of all backgrounds & communities to apply.