Circa - IPG DXTRA is hiring: Freelance Vice President, Influencer Strategy in Ch

Overview

Freelance Vice President, Influencer Strategy

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 you’ll 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 you’ll 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 be part of the community (music, gaming, fashion, food, internet culture, etc). This role sits at the intersection of creative, strategy, marketing, technology, content creation and production; energy should be driven by your lifestyle. You will influence creative ideation from ideas to influencers to content and language used in post copy.

Have high cultural competencies: Understand DE&I and be culturally vigilant with the ability to communicate across cultures.

Have Gravitas in the influencer space: Deep understanding of the influencer landscape and ability to build and grow relationships with change agents and cultural makers. Open to a public-facing role and speaking publicly about influencer trends when opportunities arise.

Know how to identify and manage diverse vendors and partners: Experience with RFPs and engaging with tech companies to understand services and keep up with changes in the influencer database.

Be ready to lead: Able to step up and lead in the client’s and agency’s best interests while mentoring junior staff.

Hustle: Identify influencer opportunities to keep influencer marketing a strong discipline and revenue driver.

Think like a lawyer: Ensure compliance with FTC updates and platform requirements; collaborate with legal and finance to minimize risk on campaigns.

Have experience building engaged audiences on Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Clubhouse, and other platforms.

Know how to build a story: Create client presentations that tell smart, compelling stories and avoid repetitive approaches.

Be curious, always: Willing to learn and take on new tasks.

Salary

Salary range: $85.00

Where an employee or prospective employee is paid within this range will depend on actual ranges for current/former employees, market considerations, budgetary considerations, tenure, and qualifications.

Equal Employment Opportunity

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.