Senior Business Affairs​/Talent Manager

The Senior Business Affairs/Talent Manager is a critical link between the creative, production, media, legal, and client teams. This role ensures that all advertising content adheres to legal, regulatory, and contractual standards while facilitating seamless collaboration across departments. The ideal candidate will have strong organizational, negotiation, and communication skills, with a solid understanding of advertising compliance, licensing, and production processes.

As the agency’s first dedicated Business Affairs leader, this person will build the foundation of the department – developing workflows, standards, and documentation that support all production and creative teams. The role has the potential to grow into team leadership and supervision as agency needs evolve.

Legal & Compliance Oversight:

• Ensure advertising content complies with legal, regulatory, and industry standards (e.g., FTC, SAG-AFTRA, copyright laws).
• Review and approve scripts, storyboards, and final deliverables for compliance.
• Monitor and assess emerging advertising technologies (AI-generated creative, virtual production, synthetic voice, and deepfake-style content) to ensure legal and ethical compliance.
• Partner with agency AI Navigation Team to establish guidelines for the responsible use of AI in creative development and production.
• Stay current on FTC, SAG-AFTRA, and IAB updates regarding disclosure, transparency, and the labeling of AI-assisted or synthetic content.
• Advise on rights management for machine-learning or generative-AI training data used in content creation.

Strategic & Leadership Expectations:

• Develop and maintain agency-wide policies and templates for production and talent agreements.
• Mentor project managers and producers on business-affairs best practices.
• Lead periodic audits of licensing and usage tracking systems to ensure compliance and efficiency.
• Represent the agency in external business-affairs discussions with clients, talent agencies, and legal counsel.

Contract Management:

• Draft, negotiate, and manage contracts and renewals for talent, music, vendors, and production services.
• Ensure all industry policies and standardized legal documents are up to date and distributed accordingly.
• Ensure timely execution of agreements and adherence to contract terms.

Media & Influencer Agreements:

• Draft, review, and negotiate contracts with influencers, creators, and talent management agencies across social platforms (Instagram, Tik Tok, You Tube, etc.).
• Ensure compliance with FTC endorsement and disclosure requirements (e.g., #ad, #sponsored).
• Confirm content usage rights, duration, exclusivity, and whitelisting permissions for paid social amplification.
• Review media-buying and paid partnership agreements to ensure proper licensing of influencer-produced content for cross-channel use.
• Collaborate with social and media teams on campaign terms related to content boosting, resharing, and derivative use.

Budget & Licensing Management:

• Oversee talent payments, music licensing, and third-party usage fees.
• Oversee management of stock file licensing.
• Manage budgets related to legal clearances and production-related agreements.

Talent and Union Relations:

• Handle union requirements, including session reports, residuals, and performer compliance with SAG-AFTRA rules.
• Act as the point of contact for union-related inquiries and audits.
• Negotiate with Production vendors on terms and conditions.
• Serve as a liaison between creative, production, legal, and client teams to resolve issues and align on goals.
• Provide guidance on business affairs matters throughout the project lifecycle.
• Work closely with Producers to advise on script, compliance and legal issues, production insurance and the production itself, sometimes on-set during shoots.

Business Management & Accounting:

• Review and approve production estimates for legal and rights accuracy before submission.
• Oversee vendor POs and invoice approvals for compliance with executed contracts.
• Partner with Finance and producers to reconcile project closeouts and verify all rights costs are captured and documented.
• Identify and mitigate potential legal and financial risks associated with…