Senior Brand Partnerships Manager

Job Description

We are looking for a Senior Brand Partnerships Manager to lead and grow our brand-direct commercial strategy. This is a senior, hands-on role for someone who thrives at the intersection of media, creativity, and consultative selling.

This person will be responsible for building and growing long-term brand relationships, selling complex media-led solutions (not commodities), and positioning our work as a strategic lever within a brand’s broader communications and marketing ecosystem. The focus is on retainers and repeatable revenue, not one-off transactions.

You’ll work closely with senior leadership to shape how we show up to brands, influence our go-to-market strategy, and convert ideas into commercially successful partnerships. This is a growth role for someone who wants real ownership, autonomy, and uncapped upside.

What You’ll Do (Day-to-Day Role)

Brand-Direct Growth & New Business

• Lead brand-direct sales conversations from first meeting through to close
• Pitch new business, respond to RFPs, and proactively open new brand relationship
• Secure long-term brand retainers (12–24 months) and repeat partnerships
• Turn ambiguous brand challenges into clear, compelling commercial solutions
  

Consultative & Strategic Selling

• Act as a strategic partner to brands, embedding yourself early in their planning process
• Ask smart, challenging questions and confidently push back when needed
• Translate brand objectives into media, content, and insight-led opportunities
• Sell intangible value — influence, storytelling, relevance, credibility

Creative & Media Thinking

• Bring a strong creative point of view to every pitch and conversation
• Connect cultural moments, media narratives, and brand messaging
• Stay ahead of trends across media, PR, content, and new platforms
• Help shape what brands should be talking about, not just what they ask for
  

Account Leadership

• Take ownership of a portfolio of key brand accounts
• Grow accounts commercially through upsell, cross-sell, and strategic expansion
• Ensure clients feel challenged, inspired, and well looked after
  

Internal Leadership & Collaboration

• Partner with leadership on commercial strategy and positioning
• Help elevate how the business talks about its value to brands
• Be commercially opinionated while collaborative and culturally aligned

About Talker

Talker works to amplify research-led campaigns for leading brands and PR agencies.

Talker leverages its market research team and strong media relationships to create and distribute quality, topical, research-led stories with real talk value and headline-grabbing news strength. We aim to put engaging content in front of digital editors to garner unbeatable coverage for our clients. Our stories receive daily coverage in national publications like Entrepreneur, the New York Post, Forbes and Newsweek, among others.

We also use our research to create trend reports, white papers and coordinate SMTs — among other projects — for clients who are looking to extend their campaigns beyond national news coverage.

You can find more information about Talker and Talker Research here.

Requirements

This role is ideal for someone who:

• Has sold media solutions, partnerships, or brand storytelling, not just products
• Is comfortable with complexity and ambiguity
• Enjoys shaping ideas and closing deals
• Wants autonomy, influence, and real growth opportunity

Key Experience & Skills

• Senior-level experience selling brand-direct solutions
• Background in media, publishing, platforms, PR-led environments, or content partnerships
• Proven success with consultative selling and long sales cycles
• Experience pitching, responding to RFPs, and closing retainers
• Strong creative instincts paired with commercial discipline
• Comfortable pushing back, reframing objections, and turning “no” into “yes”
• Deep understanding of the current and evolving media landscape

Benefits

• Medical and dental
• Vacation day accrual (which increases with your time at Talker)
• Day off for your birthday
• Fully remote, or if you’re in the tri-state area, an option for a hybrid-style work environment
• $300 WFH stipend + a company-issued MacBook

Salary & Compensation

• Base Salary: $95,000 – $130,000 (dependent on experience)
• OTE: ~$180,000 with uncapped earnings
• Clear justification tied to growth contribution and revenue impact