Manager of Client Payments, UTA
Talent & entertainment agency
Be an early applicant
Talent & entertainment agency
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
1001+ employees
Company mission
To shape talent, build careers, and tell stories.
Role
Who you are
- Proven experience in a client accounting, payments, or finance operations role within a fast- paced environment
- Strong understanding of payment processes, banking platforms, and financial controls
- Experience managing or supervising a team, with the ability to drive performance and accountability
- Highly organised with strong attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple priorities
- Confident communicator with the ability to build relationships across departments and seniority levels
- Proactive, solutions-focused mindset with a continuous improvement approach
- Experience with NetSuite or similar ERP systems preferred
What the job involves
- United Talent Agency (UTA) is seeking an experienced Manager, Client Payments to join our growing Finance & Accounting team in London
- This role will play a key part in leading the end-to-end client payments function across the UK business, ensuring timely, accurate, and controlled disbursement of funds to clients and third parties
- Reporting into the Director, UK Client Accounting, and working closely alongside another Manager, the successful candidate will lead a team responsible for managing client inflows and outflows, reconciling accounts, processing artist statements, and ensuring compliance with tax and regulatory requirements
- The successful candidate will combine technical accounting expertise with strong leadership and communication skills, driving excellence in service delivery to agents, clients, and stakeholders
- Manage, mentor, and develop the Client Payments team, ensuring accuracy, efficiency, and adherence to company standards
- Act as escalation point for complex payment and client account matters, providing timely and practical resolution
- Establish and monitor performance metrics, driving accountability, continuous improvement, and operational excellence Client Payments
- Review and approve artist statements and payments, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and compliance
- Monitor client account balances against show settlements in NetSuite, partnering with agent teams to resolve discrepancies
- Oversee FEU compliance, ensuring correct treatment, documentation, and readiness for quarterly submissions
- Build and maintain trusted relationships with Agents, Managers, Buyers, and external Accountants to facilitate efficient settlement processes
- Act as the primary point of ownership for the end-to-end client payments process, ensuring consistency, control, and clarity across all UK-serviced departments
- Partner closely with Agents, Assistants, Buyers, and internal teams to ensure smooth flow of funds, clear communication, and timely resolution of queries
- Collaborate with global Finance teams to align processes, share best practice, and manage cross-territory payment matters effectively
- Lead the payments workstream across system migrations and operational changes, ensuring accurate recording, clear audit trails, and no loss of control over funds held on account
- Support the onboarding of new departments into the UK servicing model, embedding standardised processes and ensuring a seamless transition
- Own and monitor key operational metrics (e.g. payment turnaround times, outstanding items, unreconciled balances), taking action where required
- Provide clear and regular reporting to senior management on performance, risks, and areas requiring escalation
- Ensure all payment activity is fully documented, compliant, and audit-ready at all times
- Drive continuous improvement across systems and workflows, identifying opportunities to increase efficiency, reduce risk, and enhance service delivery
- Deliver a high standard of service to both internal and external stakeholders, maintaining UTA’s standards of professionalism, confidentiality, and trust
Salary benchmarks
Our take
Founded in 1991, UTA represents some of the world’s most acclaimed and recognised figures - from actors and athletes to writers and digital influencers. These include Lizzo, The Coen Brothers, Bad Bunny and Timothee Chalamet.
The entertainment landscape is in a permanent state of flux, but the boom of digital and social media has brought rise to new kinds of talent. To remain on the cultural pulse, UTA has expanded its business into gaming, digital media and influencers, as younger consumers spend more time playing games or watching social content over traditional media.
With the acquisitions of Fletcher & Company and Curtis Brown, UTA took on the estates of esteemed literary figures like John le Carré and Ian Fleming. This reflects a larger competition between agencies to acquire intellectual property to develop into content. In doing so, UTA hopes to find competitive edge over other dominant agencies, WME and CAA.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
10% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Company HQ
Beverly Hills, CA
Leadership
Jeremy Zimmer
(Co-Founder & CEO)Has served as CEO for UTA since 1991.
Jim Berkus
(Co-Founder & Chair)Served as a partner at Leading Artists Agency, which merged with Bauer-Benedek Agency to form UTA.
Peter Benedek
(Co-Founder & Owner)Also served as a partner at Bauer-Benedek Agency.
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