Senior Director, Talent & Partnerships

About FlyteVu

FlyteVu is an award-winning creative agency that connects brands to culture in bold, unexpected ways. With deep roots in entertainment and brand strategy, they bring talent, ideas, and experiences together to create breakthrough campaigns and celebrity partnerships. Learn more at www.FlyteVu.com.

About the role

Reporting to the Chief Culture & Integrated Marketing (CCIM), the Senior Director, Talent & Partnerships leads talent, influencer, entertainment, and platform partnership strategy and delivery across FlyteVu’s client portfolio. This role connects culturally relevant opportunities to integrated marketing strategies that drive conversation, engagement, and measurable impact. The Senior Director serves as a senior client advisor, develops the Talent & Partnerships team and practice, and collaborates across disciplines to deliver creatively ambitious, commercially sound work.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Integrated Leadership

• Partner with the CCIM to translate FlyteVu’s Culture & Integrated Marketing vision into a clear talent, influencer, entertainment, and partnerships strategy aligned with the company’s growth priorities.
• Provide senior leadership across key accounts, ensuring recommendations strengthen the creative idea and are integrated into scopes, campaign plans, and major deliverables.
• Bring forward audience, entertainment, creator, platform, and cultural insights that help teams anticipate emerging opportunities.
• Establish and uphold best practices, quality standards, decision frameworks, and responsible risk management for the practice.

Relationships & Partnerships

• Build senior relationships with talent, creators, representatives, studios, production companies, sports and entertainment properties, media and technology platforms, agencies, and other partners.
• Represent FlyteVu at relevant industry events and in priority markets, including Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, and Atlanta, while maintaining current knowledge across music, sports, gaming, TV/film, creators, and emerging culture.
• Develop partnerships that strengthen client campaigns, FlyteVu’s capabilities, trust, and long-term value.
• Share timely, actionable intelligence with the CCIM and client teams while safeguarding confidential information.

Talent & Influencer Strategy/Vetting

• Lead talent and influencer discovery, research, vetting, recommendations, and measurement across assigned accounts and new business opportunities.
• Support recommendations with cultural and creative rationale, audience data, brand-safety considerations, competitive context, availability, conflicts, and anticipated impact.
• Guide early outreach to assess interest, availability, conflicts, commercial parameters, and partnership fit without overcommitting the agency or client.
• Provide informed perspectives on talent, creators, entertainment, platforms, and partnerships during briefs, brainstorms, campaign planning, and RFP pitches.
• Maintain current talent and creator pipelines for priority clients and categories, balancing proven partners with emerging voices.
• Oversee the accuracy and effective use of talent intelligence tools and databases, including Julius and future platforms.

Negotiations & Contracts

• Lead commercial strategy and negotiations for talent, influencer, entertainment property, platform, and related partnership agreements within approved scope and budget.
• Draft and review deal memos and template agreements; accurately translate approved terms into long-form agreements and manage redlines with the COO and outside counsel, as appropriate.
• Protect client and agency interests by addressing usage, exclusivity, approvals, deliverables, timing, compensation, cancellation, brand safety, intellectual property, disclosure, and other material terms.
• Promptly escalate material legal, financial, reputational, or delivery risks to the CCIM and appropriate stakeholders.

Program Execution & Client Leadership

• Cultivate senior client relationships and serve as a trusted advisor on talent, influencer, entertainment, and partnership opportunities.
• Provide oversight from signed deal through completion, ensuring work meets objectives, scope, budget, timeline, creative standards, and contractual commitments.
• Establish clear handoffs and accountability with Account and Production once deliverables and creative direction are finalized, remaining engaged where senior leadership is needed.
• Partner with Account leads to resolve issues, manage expectations, and navigate changes to creative direction, talent availability, deliverables, or contract terms.
• Contribute to campaign recaps and effectiveness reviews, capturing insights that improve future strategies, relationships, and outcomes.

Team & Resource Management

• Lead, coach, develop, and recognize Talent & Partnerships team members while setting clear expectations for performance, growth, collaboration, accountability, and quality.
• Partner with the CCIM on team structure, hiring priorities, succession planning, and capabilities needed to support practice growth.
• Manage staffing across accounts and new business, balancing workload, senior coverage, development, utilization, and profitability.
• Select, onboard, and oversee approved contractors and interns, ensuring accurate, timely, on-brief work.
• Foster an inclusive, high-performing culture grounded in sound judgment, direct communication, knowledge sharing, and cross-functional collaboration.

Additional Responsibilities & Requirements

• Maintain a strong understanding of assigned clients’ businesses, audiences, objectives, competitors, and industry dynamics, along with an active pulse on culture, entertainment, creators, media, technology, and platforms.
• Maintain accurate, organized records in agency systems; follow approval, contracting, finance, and information-security processes; and safeguard sensitive information.
• Proactively manage internal and client expectations and provide responsive, solutions-oriented service.
• Work outside standard business hours and travel, sometimes with limited notice, when required for client programs, live activations, pitches, relationships, or time-sensitive negotiations.
• Support on-site activation and fulfillment as needed, including loading/unloading, set-up, and tear-down. Must be able to lift up to 50 pounds with or without reasonable accommodation and successfully complete a background check where permitted by law.

Location Requirements

• Candidates must be based in Los Angeles, New York, or Nashville.
• Los Angeles- and New York-based employees may work fully remotely.
• Nashville-based employees will follow a hybrid schedule with three days in the office and two remote days per week.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive experience in talent, influencer, entertainment, partnerships, or integrated marketing, including significant agency, talent management, or brand partnership experience.
• Demonstrated ability to develop culturally relevant talent and partnership strategies connected to broader brand, creative, and integrated marketing objectives.
• Proven experience leading complex negotiations, contracts, senior client relationships, and cross-functional campaign delivery, with strong commercial judgment across scopes, budgets, forecasting, resourcing, vendor management, and profitability.
• Proven people leadership with the ability to coach, develop, motivate, and hold teams accountable.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and relationship-building skills, with the executive presence to influence clients, talent representatives, partners, and internal leaders.
• Strong analytical judgment and the ability to turn cultural insight, audience data, performance information, and business context into clear recommendations.
• Ability to prioritize multiple complex workstreams, make sound decisions under pressure, and perform effectively in fast-paced, deadline-driven environments.
• Entrepreneurial, collaborative self-starter who is comfortable with ambiguity and consistently follows through.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, Apple Keynote, and relevant talent, influencer, research, AI, and project-management platforms.
• Willingness and ability to travel as required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Established relationships across entertainment, talent, creators, sports, media, technology platforms, or culture-led partnerships.
• Experience leading talent and influencer strategy for integrated, 360-degree campaigns spanning creative, earned media, content, social, paid media, experiential, and partnerships.
• Experience with Julius, Muck Rack, or comparable talent, influencer, media, and audience intelligence platforms.
• Experience with Basecamp or comparable project-management software and Harvest or comparable time-tracking software.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, or a related field, or equivalent relevant professional experience.