Organizer Information
Art Basel operates the world's premier art shows for modern and contemporary art, connecting galleries, collectors, curators, and cultural institutions across four flagship locations: Basel, Miami Beach, Paris, and Hong Kong. The organization traces its roots to 1970, when Swiss gallerists Ernst Beyeler, Trudi Bruckner, and Balz Hilt launched what became Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland. Art Basel Hong Kong, the fair this role supports, launched in 2013, extending Art Basel's presence into Asia and creating a platform reflecting the region's artistic production, market dynamics, and institutional landscapes. The 2026 edition brought together 240 galleries from 41 countries and territories, with the majority representing Asia-Pacific artists and galleries. Beyond the annual fair itself, Art Basel has built a year-round ecosystem of reports, editorial content, and partnership programs, including the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report, an industry-standard annual publication on the state of the global art market.
Title & Description
Head of Partnership Development Asia — Asia (Art Basel Hong Kong)
This is a senior commercial leadership role responsible for Art Basel's brand partnership business across Asia, anchored by the Hong Kong show but extending into the organization's broader regional and global commercial strategy. The position sits at the intersection of high-level relationship management, sales strategy, and cross-functional collaboration, requiring someone who can operate as the senior face of Art Basel's partnerships function in the region.
The role holder will own a portfolio of partnership prospects across major Asian markets, focusing on brands in luxury, lifestyle, and technology sectors whose objectives align with Art Basel's cultural platform. Unlike a transactional sponsorship-sales function, this position emphasizes long-term, multi-market, and multi-year partnership structures over one-off deals, and requires the postholder to both close major agreements personally and oversee a broader team managing relationships across the region. The role also carries a leadership dimension: the successful candidate will manage and build out regional sales talent, in addition to representing Asia within Art Basel's global sales organization.
The Role Overview
- Contract Type: Not specified in the source
- Salary: Not specified in the source
- Department / Programme: Partnerships / Sales, Asia region (Art Basel Hong Kong)
- Team Scope: Oversees relationship ownership across the Asia sales team; leads and manages sales talent regionally
- Experience required: At least 10 years
Language: Fluency in English; additional Asian languages are an advantage
Position & Tasks
- Client Acquisition & Relationship Management
- Own and lead the regional portfolio of partnership prospects across key Asian markets, focused on brands aligned with Art Basel's global cultural platform and year-round ecosystem
- Personally manage and develop senior relationships with leading regional and global brands across luxury, lifestyle, technology, and other relevant sectors
- Oversee broader relationship ownership across the Asia sales team
- Lead complex, high-value sales processes, including senior-level outreach, relationship development, pitching, negotiation, and closing of multi-market and multi-year partnerships
- Act as the senior commercial representative for Asia, cultivating long-term relationships with C-suite and senior regional/global decision-makers managing significant partnership budgets
- Sales Strategy & Execution
- Define and execute annual sales strategies and quarterly sales plans for Art Basel Hong Kong, in alignment with Art Basel's global partnership strategy, prioritizing fewer, higher-impact, high-margin, and long-term partnerships
- Deliver towards the global acquisition target through partnerships sourced and closed via the Asia region, across shows and global initiatives
- Identify new commercial opportunities emerging from Asian markets and drive revenue growth relevant to the broader global business
- Prepare compelling high-impact pitch materials, partnership proposals, and senior-level sales presentations; oversee development of sales materials by the regional team
- Ensure accurate tracking of client activity, proposals, pipeline development, and forecasting in Salesforce, with clear ownership and reporting discipline across the region
- Proposal Development & Custom Solutions
- Lead close collaboration with internal stakeholders (Commercial Strategy, Show Management, Marketing, VIP, and others) to develop tailored partnership concepts aligning partner objectives with Art Basel's programming, audiences, and global ambitions
- Bring a strategic, client-first mindset to proposal development, ensuring partnerships deliver measurable cultural, brand, and business impact
- Contribute to the ongoing refinement of sales materials, partnership frameworks, and strategic decks, incorporating learnings from Asian markets
- Maintain strong awareness of developments across Asian and global industries, identifying emerging trends and opportunities for new partnership models and categories
- Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Take an active leadership role and work closely with the global sales team to ensure alignment across regions, categories, and shows, and to share market insights and best practices from Asia
- Partner with the Partnership Management team to ensure a seamless transition from sales to execution across all partnerships originating in the Asia region
- Collaborate with internal teams to position Asia as a strategic commercial engine contributing to global growth
Categories
- Brand Partnerships
- Sponsorship Sales
- Business Development
- Arts Administration
- Art Fair Management
- Commercial Strategy
- Client Relationship Management
Eligibility
- 10+ years of experience in brand partnerships, sponsorship sales, or business development
- Significant exposure to senior, multi-market partnership environments in the luxury market across Asia
- Proven track record of sourcing, negotiating, and closing large-scale, high-value partnership agreements with regional and global scope
- Demonstrated experience leading and managing sales talent and building a high-performing regional sales team
- Strong experience developing persuasive, senior-level proposals and presenting to C-suite and executive decision-makers
- Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, international, and highly matrixed organization
- Excellent communication, relationship-building, and commercial storytelling skills
- Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office (especially PowerPoint) and Salesforce or equivalent CRM platforms
- Genuine interest in contemporary culture, creativity, and global cultural platforms
- Fluency in English required
- Preferred but not mandatory: additional Asian languages
Application Fee
None
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: Ongoing
Location
Hong Kong
Additional Details
- The role is explicitly framed around building partnerships that extend beyond any single show, positioning Asia as a strategic commercial engine within Art Basel's global business, not solely a Hong Kong-specific function.
- The postholder is expected to combine an individual-contributor sales role (personally closing major deals) with people-management responsibility over a regional sales team, a dual mandate not always found in comparable senior sales titles.