Manager, Talent Partnerships (Chicago)
Later is the world’s most intelligent influencer marketing company, built to give brands the confidence to create unforgettable campaigns. By combining real creator relationships, trusted intelligence, and expert guidance, Later removes fear and guesswork from one of marketing’s most visible investments. Built on a native, AI-powered platform and more than a decade of proprietary data—including billions of social interactions, impressions, and $2.4B in verified influencer-driven purchases—Later helps teams understand what will work before they launch. By combining trusted insight with expert guidance, Later removes guesswork from influencer marketing, enabling brands to choose the right creators, execute fully managed campaigns, and drive meaningful growth across awareness, engagement, and revenue. Trusted by leading enterprise brands including Nike, Wayfair, Unilever, and Southwest Airlines, Later bridges creativity and performance so campaigns don’t just look good—they deliver results. Learn more at later.com . About this position: As Manager, Talent Partnerships, you will own and evolve how Later identifies, engages, and activates top-tier creator talent across campaigns. You’ll be responsible for building a best-in-class talent ecosystem—one that gives our clients access to the right creators faster, unlocks premium partnerships, and differentiates Later. This is both a strategic and executional role. You’ll shape our point of view on talent—who matters, why they matter, and how brands should work with them—while also leading the day-to-day sourcing, negotiation, and relationship management that brings campaigns to life. You will bring to Later your vast and diverse relationships with agencies, ensuring our clients gain access to premium talent while driving efficiencies and impact across campaigns. You’ll partner closely with Strategy, Client Services, and Sales to ensure talent is not an afterthought, but a core lever in every program we build. At the same time, you’ll cultivate deep relationships across the creator and management landscape, positioning Later as a preferred partner for high-value talent and their representatives. What you'll be doing: Strategy Develop and continuously refine Later’s point of view on creator talent across categories, platforms, and cultural trends. Identify emerging and high-impact creators aligned to client objectives and brand positioning. Stay ahead of industry shifts, pricing trends, and platform dynamics to inform recommendations. Proactively surface agile talent and culture-driven strategic opportunities, pitching to the appropriate parties in alignment with customer business needs. Technical/ Execution Source and secure creator talent for campaigns, balancing quality, speed, and strategic fit. Build and maintain strong relationships with creators, agents, and managers to unlock priority access to talent. Lead sourcing, negotiations, and contracting for high-tier talent, ensuring talent and agreements meet client strategy, brand safety, and compliance standards. Continuously improve workflows and processes to increase scalability and efficiency in talent sourcing and trend identification. Organize recurring touch bases with talent representatives to unlock access for the Customer Team to major talent relationships and milestones. Team / Collaboration Partner with cross functional teams including SMM, Product, Strategy, Campaign Management, Research, and Creator teams, to embed a creator and culture-first approach is at the forefront of everything we are building across the org. Partner with cross functional teams to ensure a seamless campaign execution and service evolution. Contribute to pitches and client conversations with a strong, informed POV on talent recommendations. Leadership Act as the internal expert on creator talent, when working with internal teams. Advise on best practices when working with different tiers or types of talent. Build and strengthen Later’s reputation within the talent ecosystem through consistent, high-quality partnerships. Champion operational excellence and hold a high bar for performance across the Services team. Research/Best Practices Stay ahead of platform shifts, monetization models, and compliance regulations (FTC, platform-specific rules). Continuously benchmark industry best practices and apply insights to evolve Later’s talent partnership approach. Experiment with new systems, processes, and partnership models to test-and-learn at scale. What success looks like: Upholds high operational excellence, leading the organization of ongoing casting and trend-identification efforts. Builds and maintains a differentiated network of creators and representatives that provides a competitive advantage. Drives measurable impact on campaign success, client retention, and revenue growth. Consistently identifies and secures high-impact creator talent that elevates campaign performance and client outcomes. You excel at balancing campaign management, relationship management, and the creation and maintenance of operational workflows. The cross functional team and customers view you as a trusted advisor on talent, who serves as a go to across verticals of talent and different types of talent integrations. Establishes Later as a preferred partner for top-tier talent and their teams. What you bring: 4-5 years of experience in influencer marketing, creator partnerships, or talent management, with a proven track record of building and scaling high-impact creator programs; agency background preferred. Demonstrated success in sourcing, negotiating, and managing high-profile influencer, athlete and celebrity relationships across multiple partnership models. Strong network of creator, agent, and manager relationships across key verticals and platforms. Strong strategic and analytical skills with experience managing scalable systems that improve efficiency and outcomes. Deep understanding of social platforms, creator economics, and cultural trends. Experience implementing AI and workflow to increase operational efficiencies. Exceptional negotiation and relationship management skills, with the ability to cultivate trust and secure competitive agreements. Experience collaborating cross-functionally with cross-departmental teams. Strong understanding of FTC guidelines, brand safety standards, and compliance requirements. Familiarity with influencer marketing platforms, CRM systems, and campaign analytics tools. An entrepreneurial mindset—operationally excellent, solutions-oriented, and energized by scaling complex systems in a fast-paced environment. Clear communicator with strong judgment and attention to detail, with experience representing an organization externally. How you work: Driven by Impact: You deliver results that matter—prioritizing high-value work, meeting deadlines, and adapting quickly while keeping outcomes clear. Strategic & Customer-Centric: You anticipate risks and opportunities, connect decisions to long-term growth, and build trust through proactive insights. Curious & Growth-Oriented: You seek knowledge, ask sharp questions, and apply learnings fast—challenging the status quo with a mindset of improvement. Collaborative & Resilient: You thrive in change by staying resourceful, solution-focused, and positive—removing roadblocks, sharing insights, and keeping morale high. Accountable & Honest: You own your work, hold yourself and others to a high bar, and use transparent feedback to drive growth. Emotionally Intelligent: You build trust through empathy and collaboration, foster inclusion, and inspire others with grit, optimism, and integrity. Our approach to compensation: We take a market-based & data-driven approach to compensation. We leverage data from trusted third-party compensation sources to help us understand the market value of a role based on function, level, geographic location, and scope. We evaluate compensation bi-annually, including performance and market-related factors. Our salaries are benchmarked against market Total Cash Compensation for the geographic location of our job posting. Compensation for some roles is structured as On Target Earnings (OTE = base commission/variable) while for others it is structured as Salary only. To comply with local legislation and ensure transparency, we share salary ranges on all job postings. Skills, experience and other factors help determine the final salary we offer which may vary from the original range posted. Additionally, all permanent team members are eligible to participate in various benefits plans as part of their overall compensation package. Salary Range: $80,000 - $90,000 OTE Co-op team members, independent contractors, and freelancers are not eligible for company benefits. Where we work: We have offices in Boston, MA; Vancouver, BC; and Vancouver, WA. For select positions, we are open to hiring fully remote candidates. We post our positions in the location(s) where we are open to having th
