Director, Business Affairs

VaynerMedia LLC•New York, NY

5h•$135,000 - $155,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Business Affairs will lead a team within the BA department and oversee the business, financial, and legal aspects of content production across broadcast, social, digital, and experiential projects. This person is a strategic leader with an entrepreneurial spirit, capable of working in a fast-paced creative environment. Moving beyond day-to-day administration, this role focuses on high-level production support, complex deal structuring, agency-wide process implementation, and the active mentorship and development of Business Affairs team members. The Director is expected to be a hands-on practitioner, actively involved in the daily work of productions alongside the team.

Requirements

10-15 years of experience in Business Affairs, preferably at a creative advertising agency.
Proven experience managing, mentoring, and developing a team.
Extensive knowledge of SAG/AFTRA and non-union talent contracts.
Deep knowledge of music licensing, stock footage licensing, and intellectual property licensing for media.
Solid understanding of TV production and post-production processes, with deep familiarity of AICP and AICE bid forms.
Experience with experiential production.
Exceptional written, negotiation, and verbal communication skills.
A positive, hands-on, "roll up your sleeves" attitude. A true team player that enjoys working collaboratively, as well as independently.
Big picture thinker who is proactive, anticipates potential issues, and deals with them effectively.

Responsibilities

Manage, lead, and build a team with empathy, directness, and humility.
Cultivate an inclusive and equitable environment and always apply a solutions-oriented approach to leadership.
Guide team members on how to communicate legal issues, timeline hurdles, and potential challenges in a way the creative and business teams will understand.
Balance high-level strategy with hands-on, daily execution. Ensure the team is operating with an understanding of modern social media practices and trends.
Actively join calls with clients and vendors to support complex productions.
Collaborate directly with producers to build and manage comprehensive budgets and timelines for productions.
Review ideas, scripts and content with a network Standards & Practices lens, ensuring content will comply with network rules, claim substantiation requirements, and regulatory standards (FTC, CARU, etc.) before produced.
Advise creative and production teams on evolving legal and business risks surrounding artificial intelligence (AI), likeness rights, voice cloning, and digital platform terms of service.
Oversee production insurance coverage (including general liability, equipment, and Errors & Omissions), reviewing shoot-specific risks and securing necessary certificates of insurance (COIs).
Develop and align on complex production processes that fit within client requirements (marketing, legal, and procurement), agency capabilities, and agreed-upon deliverables.
Build production-specific templates and actively educate the production teams on how and when to use them. Continuously identify areas for improvement in forms and draft updates.
Review client Master Services Agreements (MSAs) with the legal department, advising specifically on the talent, music, and general production provisions.
Review and negotiate production company, director, photographer, and post-production vendor agreements utilizing AICP, AICE, and agency-standard templates.
Oversee talent payment operations via third-party paymasters (e.g., Extreme Reach), managing union residuals, session reporting, and SAG-AFTRA claims or audits.
Leverage an understanding of platform capabilities, functionality, usage, and content types to creatively structure deals that maximize client goals.
Take meetings with vendors and social platforms, identifying potential partners that will enhance business operations or be an asset to our clients.
Identify gaps in agency procedures and help implement improvements to company resources, systems, processes, and tools.
Practice a growth mindset, embracing challenges and sharing ideas to open doors for cross-departmental collaboration.