Freelance Vice President, Influencer Strategy

Role summary

Lead athlete-driven partnerships across TWSC North America. Serve as the authority on how sports culture and brand objectives intersect. Build direct and scalable relationships with athletes leagues and properties.

The ideal candidate will bring a deep understanding of athlete servicing cross-functional collaboration and operational rigor with proven experience navigating complex organizational structures and driving results. This individual will thrive in a dynamic environment balancing business priorities athlete needs and innovation opportunities.

You bring strong expertise in sports and culture along with a track record of managing teams leading cross-functional initiatives and building scalable systems. A mindset with commitment to operational excellence and a deep passion for the sports industry are essential.

What youll do

• Own athlete partnership strategy that maps to brand marketing and business KPIs
• Translate briefs into athlete talent architectures deliverables and rights packages
• Source vet and negotiate pro collegiate and emerging sport talent including NIL
• Navigate league team event and marks usage guidelines with Legal and Issues leads
• Integrate athlete talent into PR social influencer experiential and retail moments
• Structure deals for paid earned and commerce outcomes including affiliate and live shopping
• Oversee contracting usage exclusivity whitelisting and content rights across channels
• Lead brand safety cultural fit and compliance reviews with clear go or no-go calls
• Partner with cross-functional teams to ensure athlete talent is seamlessly integrated into campaign strategy execution and measurement.
• Build a proactive pipeline around seasonal calendars and tentpoles including World Cup Olympics and league milestones
• Maintain senior relationships with agents unions player associations and properties

What youll bring

• 8-10 years in sports marketing talent partnerships or adjacent fields
• Proven record negotiating athlete deals that drive measurable outcomes
• Deep understanding of NIL sponsorship models usage of team and league IP and approval paths
• Fluency in deal mechanics from base fees to performance incentives and content rights
• Strength in risk assessment reputation management and crisis escalation
• Experience leading integrated teams and mentoring mid-level and junior talent

Is this you

Be a driver of culture: Must have true passion and understanding of pop culture and are part of the community (be it music gaming fashion food internet culture etc) This job is the intersection ofcreative strategy marketing technology content creation and production; your energy must be driven by your lifestyle. You must influence creative ideations: from the ideas presented to the influencers selected to the content created all the way down to the language used in post copy.

Have high cultural competencies: Understand the role and importance of diversity equity & inclusion (DE&I) You must be culturally vigilant with the ability to understand communicate with and effectively interact with people across cultures.

Have Gravitas in the influencer space and skin-in-the-game: Deep understanding of the influencer landscape is required. Proven ability to build speak and grow relationships with change agents and cultural makers (celebrities influencers artists thought leaders) directly or via their agents. You must be open to a public-facing role; willingness to speak publicly about influencer trends when opportunities present itself to the WS Influencer Team.

Know how to identify and manage diverse vendors and partners: in an industry where technologies (saas platforms AI managed services etc) are popping on the daily at high volume no less you must have experience working with RFPs and meeting with leading tech companies to understand their services and identify their uniqueness (and keep up with their ongoing changes in our WS influencer database)

Be ready to lead at any moment: working with your leads you will learn to step up to the plate and lead effectively in the clients and agencys best interests while also helping to cultivate mentor and coach mid to junior staff members on the influencer team.

Hustle: identify influencer opportunities (organic or new) to ensure influencer marketing continues to be a strong marketing discipline and revenue driver on your assigned account or at Weber Shandwick.

Think like a lawyer: you understand how important it is to be in compliance with best practices (FTC updates platform requirements) continuously build our excellence by partnering with DXTRA legal and finance to ensure risk and liabilities are reduced and tamed for every campaign you touch.

Have experience building engaged audiences: on Facebook Twitter Instagram Snapchat TikTok Clubhouse and other distribution platforms.

Know how to build a story: you will build client presentations that tell smart compelling stories never rinse and repeat which requires you to be highly motivated energetically-charged and inspired at all times.

Be curious always: You are willing to learn a little bit of everything and open to take on anything.

Salary range: $85.00

Where an employee or prospective employee is paid within this range will depend on among other factors actual ranges for current/former employees in the subject position; market considerations; budgetary considerations; tenure and standing with the company (applicable to current employees); as well as the employees/applicants background pertinent experience and qualifications.

Weber Shandwick is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Weber Shandwick recruits qualified applicants without regard to race color religion gender age ethnic or national origin protected veteran status physical or mental disability sexual orientation gender identity marital status or citizenship status.

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