Business Affairs Manager

Publicis Groupe; London, Newcastle-under-Lyme; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the media sector seeks a Contracts Manager for their Partnerships team. This role involves reviewing and negotiating media contracts, ensuring compliance with advertising regulations, and managing relationships with key stakeholders. The ideal candidate will have strong negotiation and communication skills, and experience in the media landscape. Join a vibrant team and enjoy a hybrid working model with excellent benefits.

Benefits

Work Your World

Reflection Days

Help@Hand Benefits

Family-Friendly Policies

Flexible Working & Birthday Day Off

Great Local Discounts

Qualifications

• Experience in reviewing and negotiating contracts, preferably media contracts.
• Knowledge of the media landscape and advertising regulations.

Responsibilities

• Review commercial and usage terms with the partnerships team.
• Manage a high volume of correspondence and contracts.

Skills

Negotiation

Communication

Relationship Building

Job description

Company Description

Who We Are in the UK?

Spark Foundry, the Acceleration Agency.

We help brands identify, learn, and respond to opportunities faster than the competition.

Every client has an area of their business they need to accelerate, from short-term goals to long-term transformation.

We’ve proven our approach during the most difficult year on record. Now, we’re using it to provide a launchpad for their future.

Come be an accelerator with us.

How we accelerate

• Planning: an approach that works in practice rather than theory, arming planners with the ability to create cutting-edge campaigns.
• Intelligence: a suite of tools that give definitive answers to big questions and uncover actionable insights about real people.
• Trading: a model built on flexibility and trusted relationships, underpinned with bold guarantees.
• Relationships: a culture of asking challenging questions to better understand the brief – we are not a ‘yes’ agency.
• People: a strong history of recruiting talent from diverse backgrounds and accelerating their careers.

Our Commitment

We are diverse through our experience, people, and the clients we serve – and we celebrate that diversity. Our people hold us accountable to our beliefs through regular surveys, our grassroots D&I team, The Collective, and our internal next-generation board, Firestarters. We hold regular events and work continually towards generating ideas, initiatives, and educating our team to ensure we are a diverse and inclusive agency.

As part of our dedication to creating an inclusive and diverse workforce, Spark Foundry is committed to equal access to opportunities regardless of race, age, sex, disability, neurodiversity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion.

Job Description

About Publicis Media Content (PMC) and the Partnerships team

PMC is the content service for Publicis Media, working across Publicis agencies—including Spark Foundry, Starcom, and Zenith—to provide content strategy & planning, creative, production, social, influencers, and partnerships. The Partnerships team, consisting of around 32 members, produces media partnerships and sponsorship deals across various sectors and channels. They work with global brands such as Spotify, Nando's, and Adobe.

This pivotal role involves working with a friendly, vibrant team to support media partnership and sponsorship contracts, assisting the Legal and Business Affairs Director and the wider legal team.

You will play a key role in the team’s contract review process and negotiations, liaising with your manager and the Publicis legal team to ensure smooth operations within tight deadlines.

We seek someone with experience in contract review, management, and negotiation, ideally within a media environment.

Responsibilities

What you'll do:

• Review commercial and usage terms with the partnerships team, ensuring necessary content usage rights are secured.
• Review and revise commercial and usage provisions in contracts, collaborating with the Publicis Legal team as needed.
• Manage and mitigate risks associated with media partnerships and sponsorships, working with the legal team as needed.

• Identify issues and risks for the media agency or the client, depending on the agency’s role.
• Liaise with the legal team to understand and mitigate risks for clients and agencies.

• Manage a high volume of correspondence and contracts, prioritizing based on deadlines, client needs, and complexity.
• Draft statements of work and agency authorization letters for client approval.
• Build trusted relationships with the Partnerships team, media owners, and the legal team.
• Escalate contractual risks for review and approval.

Qualifications

What you'll need:

• Experience in reviewing and negotiating contracts, preferably media contracts, with a good understanding of principal/agent relationships.
• Knowledge of the media landscape (channels or production).
• Understanding of contracting as principal or agent.
• Awareness of advertising regulations, especially regarding content creation.
• Excellent communication skills for clear contract issue presentation.
• Ability to build relationships with key stakeholders.
• Strong negotiation skills and the ability to represent clients and media agencies professionally.

Additional Information

PMC offers fantastic benefits, including pension, life assurance, private medical, income protection, and more. Additional perks include:

• WORK YOUR WORLD: Work anywhere in the world with a Publicis office for up to 6 weeks annually.
• REFLECTION DAYS: Two paid days off to focus on well-being and self-care.
• HELP@HAND BENEFITS: 24/7 helpline, remote GPs, mental health support, and lifestyle coaching.
• FAMILY-FRIENDLY POLICIES: 26 weeks of full pay for maternity, adoption, surrogacy, and shared parental leave.
• FLEXIBLE WORKING & BIRTHDAY DAY OFF: Additional day off for your birthday from day one.
• GREAT LOCAL DISCOUNTS: Discounts with Soho Friends, local restaurants, and retailers.

Details of benefits will be shared upon joining. Publicis Groupe operates a hybrid working model with employees in the office three days a week.

We support all candidates and are committed to fair assessment. If you have circumstances affecting your assessment, please inform your Talent Acquisition Partner. Disclosing this will not impact your process.

Check out the Publicis Career Page for our inclusive benefits and Employee Action Groups.

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