Vinai

What is your job with London 2012?
Commercial Manager. My team is responsible for the £2bn financing of the Games. In aid of this, I split my time between three roles.

Firstly, I work to secure commercial partners for the Games; secondly, I am working to devise our merchandising strategy; and finally I help our potential partners in valuing the opportunity we offer them.

How did you get your job?
Even though I was happy in my then job, as soon as I heard about this opportunity I knew I had to apply as it seemed perfect for me.

Once I was offered the job, the potential to work on such an exciting, fast-paced and varied job was too good to consider turning down! How could I read about the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the papers every day and miss out on the chance to help make it happen?

What did you do before joining London 2012?
I was a strategy consultant specialising in media and, before that, in oil trading.

What experience and qualifications do you need to do your job?
The ability to build relationships and negotiate with potential partners, strategic thinking to help set London 2012's plans, and modelling skills to help partners value the opportunity. Quite a wide variety!

What training and support are available to you?
On the informal side, colleagues are always willing to provide assistance and support when required, recognising that London 2012 has brought people with diverse skill sets and backgrounds together.

More formally, support is available as needed, whether that being studying for professional qualifications or brushing up foreign language skills.

Describe a typical day.
It’s the usual cliché, but every day is different and that is what makes the job so interesting. It could be a workshop to explain the partnership opportunity in detail to senior executives at a FTSE 100 company, negotiating the commercial terms of an agreement working side by side with our legal team, or even speaking with other sporting bodies to learn from their experiences of putting on big events.

What is the best thing about your job?
Firstly, working towards a project I feel passionately about, and secondly, the people and culture. It’s incredibly rare to work somewhere with one massive goal to focus the mind. The result is a team who work together and are hugely motivated to put on the best possible Games for the UK and world.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to work for London 2012?
Check the website regularly. As well as being the best way to keep up to date with progress and London 2012 news, all the available jobs go up on it complete with full job descriptions.