Senior Manager, Business Affairs Lead

Visa•San Francisco, CA

7d•$153,700 - $246,200•Hybrid

About The Position

We’re looking for a Business Affairs Lead to join Visa Creative Studio as we continue building a best-in-class global creative team for Visa and the clients we serve. This candidate will support and oversee business affairs needs across creative, marketing, production, content, campaign, experiential, and studio initiatives for the Visa brand and clients that we serve. This role helps ensure creative work is properly contracted, cleared, licensed, documented, approved, and ready for use across intended channels, markets, and timeframes. The Business Affairs Lead will partner closely with Creative, Production, Marketing, Legal, Procurement, Finance, Brand and external agencies. This person will help teams understand business requirements related to talent, music, photography, video, third-party materials, usage rights, licensing, renewals, vendor agreements, statements of work, and asset reuse. This person is expected to operate with a high degree of independence, apply sound judgment, manage complex rights and vendor-related matters, and help protect the business while enabling creative work to move forward efficiently.

Requirements

8 or more years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor Degree or at least 5 years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 2 years of work experience with a PhD.
7+ years of experience in business affairs, production, agency operations, rights management, marketing operations, or related creative business functions.
Experience in business affairs, creative operations, marketing operations, production operations, rights management, agency operations, or related fields.
Experience working with contracts, statements of work, licensing, usage rights, releases, vendor documentation, or clearance processes.
Strong understanding of creative production workflows and marketing asset distribution.
Ability to manage multiple complex projects with accuracy, discretion, and strong follow-through.
Experience in an advertising agency, in-house creative studio, media company, entertainment company, production company, or large global brand.
Experience with talent, music, photography, video, influencer, experiential, event, sponsorship, and content licensing.
Familiarity with legal, procurement, finance, compliance, and brand review processes.
Experience supporting global, regional, or multi-market campaigns
Understanding of regulated industries, financial services, technology, or enterprise brand governance.
Experience building process improvements, trackers, rights libraries, or business affairs playbooks.
Strong working knowledge of rights management, licensing terms, usage windows, territories, media types, exclusivity, renewals, and restrictions.
Familiarity with contract management systems, project management tools, procurement systems, and digital asset management platforms
Ability to review creative assets and identify potential clearance or usage concerns.
Strong documentation, tracking, reporting, and records management skills.
Proficiency with Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and collaborative workflow tools.
Understanding of production timelines, creative approvals, and asset delivery workflows.
Strong judgment and risk awareness.
Excellent attention to detail.
Clear and confident communication.
Ability to work effectively with legal and non-legal stakeholders.
Strong organization and follow-through.
Calm, solutions-oriented approach under pressure.
Ability to influence without direct authority.
Discretion when handling sensitive information.
Practical mindset that balances business protection with creative progress.

Nice To Haves

9 or more years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor Degree or 7 or more relevant years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 3 or more years of experience with a PhD.

Responsibilities

Manage business affairs support across creative campaigns, video, photography, content production, activations, experiential programs, events, sponsorship extensions, social content, and marketing assets.
Support contract, SOW, licensing, usage rights, releases, clearances, renewals, and vendor documentation processes.
Review creative concepts, scripts, storyboards, production plans, and asset requests to identify business affairs considerations.
Manage Legal reviews of WIP and final materials to ensure clearances are in place.
Track usage rights, expiration dates, territories, media channels, exclusivity, talent restrictions, music rights, and asset limitations.
Help determine whether assets can be reused, adapted, localized, extended, or redistributed.
Maintain accurate documentation for contracts, rights, licenses, releases, invoices, approvals, and usage terms.
Provide guidance to creative and marketing teams on rights, restrictions, approvals, and business affairs requirements.
Partner with Legal, Procurement, Finance, Production, Marketing, Creative, Brand, and external partners to ensure business requirements are understood and addressed.
Coordinate with agencies and other external partners as needed.
Help teams understand the cost, timing, and risk implications of rights, licenses, renewals, and production decisions.
Escalate high-risk issues to Legal, Procurement, Finance, Creative leadership, or Marketing leadership as appropriate.
Support budget visibility by vetting usage, licensing, talent, renewal, or vendor-related costs.
Help develop and maintain business affairs processes, trackers, templates, rights libraries, and playbooks.
Improve documentation practices and visibility into asset usage rights.
Support post-project reviews to identify rights management learnings or process improvements.
Help ensure business affairs workflows are clear, repeatable, and aligned with studio needs.
Maintain confidentiality when handling sensitive business, legal, financial, or talent-related information.
Maintain an active understanding of emerging AI platforms and automation tools and apply that knowledge responsibly to optimize workflows and drive operational efficiencies at scale.
Maintain an active understanding of implications around usage rights when AI is used.