Group Director of Influence

Department: Influence/Creator Partnerships

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Open to Remote

Compensation: $140,000 - $150,000 / year

Description

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the strategy, development, and delivery of high-impact influencer marketing programs across a portfolio of clients, ensuring work is innovative, culturally relevant, and delivers measurable results.
• Provide senior strategic counsel and hands-on leadership across the full spectrum of influencer marketing, including paid creator partnerships, earned influence, gifting and seeding, ambassador programs, and always-on creator ecosystems.
• Lead the development of compelling creator strategies and big ideas grounded in audience insights, cultural trends, platform behaviors, and client business objectives.
• Guide the end-to-end influencer marketing process, from strategic planning and creator identification through negotiations, contracting, activation, measurement, and optimization.
• Maintain a high bar for creative and strategic excellence, knowing when to lead our clients and creators, challenge the thinking, and help teams turn good work into exceptional work.
• Bring deep knowledge of creators, talent, platforms, and industry dynamics to help clients navigate opportunities, solve challenges, and make informed investment decisions.
• Partner closely with Strategy, Content, Social Media Management, Social Intelligence, Paid Social, and other agency disciplines to integrate influencer marketing into broader social-first and marketing programs.
• Establish clear measurement frameworks and use performance insights to continually improve programs, demonstrate value, and inform future recommendations.

• Serve as a trusted senior advisor to key clients, building strong relationships and demonstrating how influencer marketing can solve business challenges and contribute to broader brand and marketing objectives.
• Oversee the health and performance of a portfolio of influencer marketing engagements, ensuring exceptional delivery, strong client satisfaction, and sound financial management.
• Lead high-stakes client presentations, strategic discussions, and program recommendations with confidence, clarity, and compelling storytelling.
• Anticipate client needs, proactively identify opportunities, and bring forward fresh thinking that strengthens our partnerships and expands the impact of our work.
• Partner with account management, project management and agency leadership to ensure programs are appropriately scoped, staffed, and delivered against agreed-upon commitments and financial expectations.
• Navigate complex client, creator, and campaign challenges with sound judgment, professionalism, and a solutions-oriented mindset.
• Build confidence in The Social Lights as an essential influence partner through deep expertise, strong relationships, and consistently exceptional work.

• Shape and scale The Social Lights' Influence discipline, establishing the standards, capabilities, and ways of working needed to support a growing portfolio of clients.
• Partner with executive leadership and Growth on organic growth and new business development, including pitches, proposals and the communication of our influence offering.
• Establish and continually refine best practices, processes, tools, and playbooks that improve the effectiveness, consistency, and scalability of our influencer marketing work.
• Champion the use of influencer marketing technology, data, and emerging tools to improve creator discovery, campaign management, reporting, and operational efficiency.
• Build strong partnerships across agency disciplines, helping teams understand where and how influence can create meaningful value for clients.
• Bring a forward-looking perspective to the discipline, identifying new services, capabilities, partnerships, and ways to create value as the creator economy evolves.

• Lead, mentor, and develop a growing influencer team, creating an environment that encourages collaboration, curiosity, ownership, and exceptional work.
• Set clear expectations for performance, accountability, and quality while empowering team members to confidently own their work and grow their expertise.
• Provide ongoing coaching, actionable feedback, and professional development opportunities to strengthen individual performance and build future leaders.
• Partner with agency leadership to anticipate staffing needs, define roles, recruit exceptional talent, and build a team structure that supports sustainable discipline growth.
• Oversee team capacity, workload, and resource planning in partnership with project management and agency operations.
• Create opportunities for knowledge sharing, training, and skill development that raise the collective expertise of the Influence team and the broader agency.
• Foster a positive, high-performing team culture where people feel challenged, supported, and motivated to do the best work of their careers.

• Serve as a leading voice and subject matter expert in influencer marketing, bringing a strong point of view on the evolving creator economy and its implications for brands.
• Stay ahead of emerging creators, platforms, cultural shifts, industry innovations, regulations, and best practices to keep our thinking and capabilities relevant.
• Cultivate meaningful relationships across the creator economy, including talent, managers, agents, platforms, technology partners, and industry organizations.
• Contribute to agency thought leadership, industry conversations, and initiatives that strengthen The Social Lights' reputation as a leader in social-first marketing.
• Champion a culture of curiosity, creativity, and continuous improvement, encouraging teams to challenge convention and find better ways to deliver value for our clients.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• 15+ years of relevant marketing and agency experience, including significant experience in influencer and creator marketing, with a proven track record of leading complex programs and developing high-performing teams.
• Deep expertise across paid and earned influencer marketing, including creator partnerships, ambassador programs, seeding, large-scale activations, and ongoing creator relationships.
• Experience leading high-profile, multi-faceted influencer programs for major brands, with the ability to translate business challenges into creative, strategic, and measurable solutions.
• Demonstrated success managing and mentoring teams, building capabilities, and establishing processes that enable a growing practice to scale effectively.
• Strong business acumen, including experience in client portfolio management, program budgeting, scoping, financial stewardship, and identifying opportunities for organic growth.
• Exceptional client leadership and presentation skills, with the confidence and credibility to advise senior-level marketing executives and navigate complex stakeholder relationships.
• Proven ability to develop compelling influence strategies and creative ideas, connecting cultural and audience insights to brand objectives and business outcomes.
• Deep understanding of the creator economy, including platform dynamics, talent relationships, industry trends, creator compensation, content usage rights, contracting, and FTC disclosure requirements.
• Strong knowledge of influencer marketing measurement, reporting, performance optimization, and the role of paid media in amplifying creator content.
• Advanced experience with CreatorIQ and influencer marketing platforms, ideally including Sprout Social Influencer Marketing (formerly Tagger), with familiarity across other relevant creator discovery, campaign management, and social intelligence technologies.
• Ability to confidently lead cross-functional teams and collaborate with internal disciplines and external agency partners to deliver integrated marketing solutions.
• Highly proactive, resourceful, and adaptable, with strong judgment and the ability to balance big-picture strategic thinking with hands-on problem-solving.
• Strong organizational, communication, and prioritization skills, with the ability to successfully lead multiple clients, programs, and team priorities in a fast-paced agency environment.
• A genuine passion for social media, creators, culture, and building meaningful connections between brands and people.

Benefits

• Health Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• HSA + Company Contribution
• 401(k) + Company Match
• New MacBook Pro + AI Tools 
• Cell Phone Stipend
• Summer Hours + Flexible Work Options
• Paid Employee Parking (MN)
• Dog-Friendly Office (MN)