Senior Manager of Business Development & Brand Partnerships, Whalar
$120-130k
Office located in Brooklyn, NY
Creator talent & brand partnerships agency
Be an early applicant
Creator talent & brand partnerships agency
201-500 employees
Be an early applicant
$120-130k
Office located in Brooklyn, NY
201-500 employees
Company mission
To harness the power of the creator community by encouraging positive social change through strategic partnerships with world-class creators, brands, and leading social platforms.
Role
Who you are
- 2–3 years in agency media buying, publishing, account management or integrated marketing, or at a Creator network or influencer platform, and a clear drive to move into sales
- Experience building media plans or presenting them to clients, including working with rate cards, guaranteed impressions and eCPMs
- A deep, practical understanding of social media and Creator economics; you're active on Instagram or TikTok yourself and know what Creators want from a brand deal
- Confidence pitching in client meetings, writing your own pitch materials, and running a focus group and presenting findings
- Proficiency with AI tools for building decks, media plans and client materials quickly
- Strong project management skills, so you can hold scope, timelines and handovers across several teams and keep deals on track after they're sold
- Excitement about building a career in sales, a collaborative approach to working shared deals with your manager, and a desire for hands-on coaching as you grow
What the job involves
- Reports to: Vice President, Brand Partnerships and Business Development at The Lighthouse
- The Lighthouse is looking for an Associate Director, Brand Partnerships to help turn our Creator campuses in Brooklyn and Venice into a marketing platform brands want to buy, not just a venue they rent
- You'll own sales of our turnkey brand activations in the $50,000 to $100,000 range against your own revenue target, and spend around 40% of your time as right hand to our VP, Business Development & Brand Partnerships on larger deals, pitch materials, client communication and post-sale kickoff
- This role is built for someone from media buying, publishing or account management who's ready to move into sales, with hands-on mentorship and a clear path to a full, independent sales role
- Sell and close The Lighthouse's turnkey, off-the-shelf brand activations, mostly one-off events at our Brooklyn and Venice campuses in the $50,000 to $100,000 range, protecting speed and margin
- Join inbound client calls with the VP, help grow opportunities into larger partnerships, and take ownership of the deals that land below that threshold, keeping your pipeline accurate and up to date
- Act as the VP's right hand on larger deals, polishing pitch decks, gathering information and getting back to clients quickly when the VP is in back-to-back meetings
- Share real market feedback to shape our program tiers: what lands, what's priced wrong, and what brands keep asking for
- Support the VP in running and scaling our Creator engine, including Creator casting, briefing, contracting, and payment, and applying our impression and eCPM (effective cost per thousand impressions) methodology to new deals
- Partner with our Creator Intelligence team to run occasional focus groups with Lighthouse members and present what you learn back to brands
- Build pitch decks and media plans quickly with AI tools, pulling rates from our rate card to produce clear plans by placement, format and channel
- Lead post-sale kickoff on the deals you and the VP close, making sure everything sold is properly scoped, briefed and handed over to the teams activating it
- Serve as the point of contact for clients on the deals you own, and support the VP on larger deals, from pre-production and on-site execution through the post-campaign wrap report
- Work with our programming, content, activation and campus teams, including our location GMs, to source themes, concepts and resources for client pitches so every client experiences one Lighthouse
Our take
The creator economy is worth billions, but in many ways it is still in its infancy. There are few clear paths to connect brands, content creators, and social platforms in a holistic way. Whalar, however, is challenging this notion by directly managing creator talent and brand partnerships.
Whalar delivers complimentary services encompassing talent management and brand partnerships, as well as proprietary technology platforms to power campaigns at scale. Though founded as a simple influencer marketing agency, the company has been astute in its hiring to build up its expertise, bringing on board executives with experience across the social media, consumer goods and advertising industries.
The company’s client list tells its own story – with notable names including Google, TikTok, McDonalds and Spotify. Operating in such lucrative circles has allowed Whalar to expand internationally. The company has also begun bolstering its standing through the acquisitions of C Talent (a consultancy that represents high-profile Deaf and Disabled talent) and creator management company Sixteenth. 2025 funding raised Whalar's valuation to $400 million and will be used to accelerate its already comfortable growth trajectory.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
15% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (2 rounds)
Sep 2017
$3m
SEED
Mar 2016
$0.6m
SEED
Total funding: $3.6m
Company benefits
- Remote/flexible work with offices in NY, London, LA and Malaga
- 25 working days of paid vacation each year, with office closure between Christmas and New Year's Day
- Up to four months of fully paid parental leave
- Charity volunteer days
- Home office stipend
- Professional development stipend
- Company-wide yearly bonus
- Private medical insurance
- Health cash plan
- Private pension scheme
- Monthly phone/internet reimbursement
- Calm App subscription (Add up to 4 dependents)
- Fwrd personal development App subscription
Company HQ
Fulton Ferry District, NY
Leadership
James Street
(Co-Founder)Co-CEO at Whalar Group and Member of the Advisory Board at Cerqular. Co-founded and is still active at clothing brand Old Harry, and wristwatch brand Shore Projects.
Neil Waller
(Co-Founder)AAF Hall of Achievement Inductee. Also co-founded Shore Projects and Old Harry. Is a founding investor in a number of startups including EnviroBuild, Project Blu and Gratsy.
Salary benchmarks
We don't have enough data yet to provide salary benchmarks for this role.
Submit your salary to help other candidates with crowdsourced salary estimates.
Share this job
View 11 more jobs at Whalar