Talent Experiences & Gifting Manager

Job Title: Talent Experiences & Gifting Manager

Client Location: Central London - Hybrid

Starting: ASAP

Pay Comments: PAYE (40hrs/week) - RATE TO BE CONFIRMED

Duration: 6 months

Job Description:

This is a 6-month, hybrid contract; the PAYE rate is to be confirmed.

Aquent is partnering with a globally recognized leader in the entertainment industry, a company celebrated for its innovative content and its commitment to delivering unparalleled experiences to audiences worldwide. This organization is at the forefront of shaping how people engage with stories, fostering creativity, and building deep connections through its diverse offerings. Joining this team means contributing to a culture that values originality, impact, and a forward-thinking approach to talent engagement.

About the Opportunity

Step into a pivotal role where your creativity, strategic vision, and operational excellence will directly shape the experiences of top talent and collaborators across the entertainment landscape. As a key player on a global Talent Experiences & Gifting team, you will be instrumental in designing and executing programs that not only delight but also strengthen vital relationships, ensuring every interaction reflects the unique brand and values of our client. This is your chance to make a tangible impact, fostering connections that drive success and elevate the company's reputation as a premier partner in the industry.

What You'll Do

• Translate overarching regional strategies into actionable plans, innovative programs, and flawless operational execution within your assigned areas.
• Identify and champion opportunities to evolve and enhance talent programs, ensuring they remain relevant, impactful, and aligned with business priorities and cultural trends.
• Lead projects from inception to completion, encompassing strategy development, creative conceptualization, approvals, production, fulfillment, and post-project evaluation.
• Craft compelling gifting concepts that cultivate strong relationships with talent, collaborators, and business partners, all while upholding the highest creative standards.
• Provide expert creative direction across all facets of gifting, including concept development, product selection, packaging, personalization, storytelling, and presentation.
• Develop bespoke and experiential gifting ideas tailored to specific talent, titles, occasions, or relationships for high-profile special projects.
• Proactively research and integrate emerging trends across fashion, design, food and beverage, wellness, technology, travel, hospitality, and culture, bringing fresh brands and creative ideas to the team.
• Cultivate robust relationships with cross-functional partners, serving as a trusted advisor and thought leader within your areas of responsibility.
• Collaborate closely with senior leadership to identify high-priority talent, navigate complex relationships, address sensitivities, and align on broader regional strategies.
• Engage with regional counterparts globally to share successful concepts, vendor insights, learnings, and scalable opportunities across various markets.
• Mentor junior team members, contractors, and temporary staff, offering clear guidance, constructive feedback, coaching, and avenues for professional growth.
• Foster a collaborative, creative, and high-performing team environment, maintaining clear visibility into workload, priorities, and potential risks.
• Manage relationships with agencies, vendors, warehouses, and brands, ensuring partners consistently meet our client's standards for quality, creativity, discretion, responsiveness, and execution.
• Identify and evaluate new brands, vendors, makers, agencies, and partners to continually enhance the team’s creative and operational capabilities.
• Oversee project budgets, forecasts, invoices, purchase orders, timelines, and vendor costs, ensuring all work adheres to agreed-upon financial parameters.
• Anticipate operational challenges and proactively devise solutions to prevent any negative impact on talent or internal partners.
• Refine and document workflows for owned programs, seeking opportunities to streamline processes, enhance scalability, and ensure greater consistency.
• Leverage modern collaboration tools and emerging technology to improve research, organization, reporting, data quality, and project management.
• Maintain meticulous records of gifting history, vendor information, creative documentation, project details, and talent preferences within team systems.
• Partner with internal teams such as Legal, Finance, and Tax to navigate compliance, contracts, insurance, tax considerations, and vendor requirements.
• Conduct thorough post-project reviews for key programs, capturing feedback and learnings to inform and improve future initiatives.
• Escalate significant risks, resource constraints, talent sensitivities, and strategic decisions to senior leadership in a timely manner, accompanied by clear recommendations.

What You'll Bring

We are seeking a seasoned professional with a deep understanding of talent relations and a proven ability to leverage thoughtful gifting and experiences to build and nurture long-term connections. You are a strategic thinker with a keen creative eye, capable of translating insights and trends into impactful programs.

Must-Have Qualifications:

• 10+ years of relevant experience, preferably within a studio, network, agency, brand, talent-facing organisation, experiential marketing, hospitality, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience independently owning significant workstreams or programs from strategy through execution within a broader team framework.
• Strong creative instincts and a distinct point of view on what constitutes elevated, relevant, culturally current, and appropriate experiences for diverse audiences.
• Exceptional ability to translate talent insights, content context, cultural trends, and business objectives into compelling creative recommendations.
• Proven strategic thinking capabilities, with the ability to move beyond execution and make thoughtful recommendations on program evolution.
• Excellent project management skills, capable of simultaneously managing multiple complex projects, stakeholders, timelines, and priorities.
• Strong judgment and the capacity to make independent decisions while recognizing when broader alignment or escalation is necessary.
• Outstanding communication skills, with a track record of building trusted relationships with senior stakeholders, cross-functional partners, agencies, vendors, and team members.
• Adeptness at working effectively in a fast-paced environment characterized by changing priorities, tight timelines, and high-profile talent.
• Strong operational instincts, with the ability to skillfully balance creative ambition with budget constraints, scalability, timing, and executional realities.
• Meticulous attention to detail across all aspects, including talent information, creative materials, packaging, logistics, fulfillment, and vendor execution.
• Comfort and discretion in handling highly confidential talent information and sensitive business relationships.
• A proactive mindset, capable of identifying opportunities, anticipating needs, and connecting disparate areas of the business.
• A collaborative global mindset, eager to share ideas, learnings, and resources across different regions.
• Ability to adapt strategies and creative approaches to accommodate regional and cultural nuances.
• Experience managing or mentoring team members, agencies, vendors, or significant external partners.
• Proven track record of developing creative concepts and successfully bringing them to life.
• Strong understanding of premium brands, cultural trends, talent engagement, hospitality, and experiential opportunities.
• Experience managing budgets, vendors, contracts, production timelines, and complex logistics.
• Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally across multiple teams and stakeholder groups.
• Proficiency with modern collaboration tools.
• A creative problem solver with a strong point of view who can think strategically, operate independently, and identify opportunities others may not immediately see.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications:

• Experience within entertainment or a talent-facing environment is strongly preferred.
• Experience leveraging automation or emerging technology to improve workflows is a plus.

Client Description:

Our Client is the world’s leading streaming entertainment service. Headquartered in California, they’re proud of their unique company culture. This organisation has offices all over the world, and has continued to grow for almost 25 years. They now play an active role in production and distribution of original and award-winning content.

Aquent is dedicated to improving inclusivity & is proudly an equal opportunities employer. We encourage applications from under-represented groups & are committed to providing support to applicants with disabilities. We aim to provide reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, to those with a medical condition, disability or neurodivergence.