Head of Delegate Sales - Cannes Lions

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Informa Festivals seeks a Head of Delegate Sales to lead global delegate pass sales for Cannes Lions, owning revenue across LATAM, EMEA and APAC with a small team. You’ll partner with the Commercial Director and Head of Marketing to shape and execute a robust delegate sales strategy, streamline processes, and optimize lead conversion using Salesforce. The role blends strategic oversight with hands-on leadership, demanding strong relationship management, market intelligence, and cross‑functional collaboration with marketing and analytics. Ideal candidates have proven B2B events sales and leadership experience, plus travel flexibility. To apply, tailor your CV to revenue targets, pipeline, and Salesforce metrics, and provide concrete examples of impact.

Company Description

Informa Festivals marks an exciting new chapter in B2B events, bringing some of the world's most influential creative, technology and business festivals together. We’re combining prestigious events like Cannes Lions, Black Hat, Money20/20, GDC, and London Tech Week with cutting-edge marketing intelligence platforms and advisory services to deliver unmissable experiences and insights.

Our festival-led approach reimagines traditional B2B events, creating powerful, immersive experiences that drive innovation and industry advancement. Building on decades of expertise and powered by Informa's international reach, we're shaping the next generation of business festivals.

We’re part of Informa, a global business with a network of trusted brands in specialist markets across more than 30 countries, and a member of the FTSE 100 who are #3 in Glassdoor's Best Places to Work 2025 UK list. 

The LIONS brand is probably most synonymous with Cannes Lions, The International Festival of Creativity, the definitive meeting place for the global creative communications and advertising community. It’s five days of inspiration, aspiration, unlimited magic and potential. The Festival has been championing creative excellence since 1954 with the goal of providing a global destination and the definitive benchmark for creativity that drives progress.

LIONS is going through an exciting time as it’s recently repositioned as The Home of Creativity, supporting those in the business of creativity at every step of their journeys with an extended portfolio of new advisory, learning and intelligence services. Our purpose is to drive progress through creativity for an incredibly diverse and talented global creative community.

You will join a team of change makers. The team’s purpose is to champion change to create the most powerful global creative community and drive growth for the brand.

Job Description

This role is based in our  5 Howick Place office.

Role overview 

As the Head of Delegate Sales  you will work closely with the Commercial Director and Head of Marketing - Cannes Lions Festival to create and deliver a global sales strategy and roadmap that will allow the Festival to achieve its ambitious revenue targets and long term growth plans. 

You will be responsible for driving global delegate pass sales, which has a key focus on emerging markets across LATAM, EMEA and APAC. You will have full ownership of the sales and commercial arm of the delegate sales strategy - leading a small, but high performing team working across multiple revenue streams. Responsible for the management of a team of 2-3 account managers.

This role will be also responsible for streamlining and advancing the sales process, working closely with internal marketing, data analytics, and reporting teams to optimize lead conversion.

This position is ideal for a commercial sales professional looking to take the next step into a leadership role, combining strategic oversight with hands-on management responsibilities.

Key Accountabilities

• Revenue Ownership:
  • Deliver or exceed ambitious annual revenue targets across multiple pass types and regions.
  • Consistently achieve sales targets while driving growth in key geographies globally.
• Strategy Development & Execution:
  • Assist in the creation and execution of the Delegate Sales Strategy in collaboration with the Head of Marketing and Director of Commercial.
  • Ensure the delivery of a robust sales strategy that aligns with business objectives and market opportunities.
• Market Intelligence & Customer Feedback:
  • Gather and report market intelligence and customer insights to inform business decisions and strategy.
  • Stay ahead of market shifts, customer needs, and competitor activity.
• Stakeholder & Relationship Management:
  • Own and manage relationships with regional stakeholders and key customers.
  • Act as the primary point of contact and brand ambassador for Lions globally, representing the brand internally and externally.
• Team Leadership & Development:
  • Coach and develop junior sales executives, fostering a culture of collaboration, success, and high performance.
  • Manage overall team performance, ensuring consistent delivery against targets.
• Performance Reporting & Pipeline Management:
  • Provide board-level performance reporting with a focus on accurate forecasting and pipeline management.
  • Maintain optimal sales processes and systems, including the effective use of Salesforce and clear ways of working.
• Internal Collaboration:
  • Build and maintain exceptional relationships with internal stakeholders and business partners.
  • Ensure alignment across marketing, sales, and operational teams to drive success.
• Brand Representation:
  • Act as a credible leader and representative of the brand and Ascential in the market.

Qualifications

Qualifications, Skills & Experience

• Proven Sales Expertise:
  • Demonstrated success in delegate or ticket sales, with experience in a B2B events environment is a must
  • Consistent ability to excel across multiple revenue streams and business models.
• Leadership & Team Development:
  • Proven experience in maintaining a culture of collaboration, success, and high performance.
  • Strong coaching and development skills to nurture junior sales executives and drive team growth.
• Strategic & Analytical Skills:
  • Expertise in sales processes, pipeline management, and forecasting, with high proficiency in Salesforce.
  • Ability to gather and leverage market intelligence to inform strategy and decision-making.
• Relationship Building:
  • Strong ability to build and maintain stakeholder and customer relationships.
  • Credible and persuasive communicator with excellent interpersonal skills.
• Flexibility & Agility:
  • Willingness to travel globally throughout the year to support business objectives.
  • Adaptable to changing market conditions and business needs.

Additional Information

We believe that great things happen when people connect face-to-face. That's why we work in-person with each other, or with customers and partners, three days a week or more. When you’re not spending time together in one of our offices or other workplaces – like at an Informa event – you get the flexibility and support to work from home or remotely.

We work hard to make sure Life at Informa is rewarding, supportive and enjoyable for everyone. Here’s some of what you can expect when you join us. But don’t just take our word for it – see what our colleagues have to say LifeAt.Informa.com

Our benefits include:

• Great community: a welcoming culture with in-person and online social events, our fantastic Walk the World charity day and active diversity and inclusion networks
• Broader impact: take up to four days per year to volunteer, with charity match funding available too
• Career opportunity: the opportunity to develop your career with bespoke training and learning, mentoring platforms and on-demand access to thousands of courses on LinkedIn Learning. When it’s time for the next step, we encourage and support internal job moves
• Time out: 25 days annual leave, rising to 27 days after two years, plus a birthday leave day and the chance to work from (almost!) anywhere for up to four weeks a year
• A flexible range of personal benefits to choose from, plus company funded private medical cover
• A ShareMatch scheme that allows you to become an Informa shareholder with free matching shares
• Strong wellbeing support through EAP assistance, mental health first aiders, a healthy living subsidy, access to health apps and more
• Recognition for great work, with global awards and kudos programmes
• As an international company, the chance to collaborate with teams around the world

We’re not solely focused on a checklist of skills. We champion energy and ambition and look for colleagues who will roll their sleeves up, join in and help make things happen. If it sounds like a match and you have most – although not all – of the skills and experience listed, we welcome your application.

If you would like to request reasonable adjustments or accommodations to assist your participation in the hiring process and, or in the advertised position, please inform the appropriate Talent Acquisition Partner for the role once they have been in touch. Your request will be reviewed and considered in confidence. At Informa, you'll find inclusive experiences and environments where all perspectives and backgrounds are welcomed. As part of this approach and our diversity and inclusion commitments, we are also formally an Equal Opportunities Employer. This means we base decisions on relevant qualifications and merit and do not discriminate on the basis of key characteristics and statuses, including all of those protected by law. Ask us or see our website for full information.

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