A Hybrid working model

We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we've adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

What does a Group Director, Business Affairs do at WPP Production?

WPP Production is seeking a Group Director of Business Affairs to serve as a senior leadership partner within WPP Production. In this role, you will lead a large, multi-disciplinary group of business affairs, talent, and traffic managers in support of a key agency creative group within WPP. You will work in lockstep with the Head of Production and senior agency leadership, acting as a trusted commercial partner on all production-related matters.

As a strategic head of a Business Affairs group within WPP Production, you will lead all commercial, legal, and operational aspects of client engagements and production. This role ensures that all business dealings-contracts, negotiations, talent agreements, and compliance-are handled strategically, efficiently, and in alignment with the company's financial and creative goals.

The Group Director is the ultimate gatekeeper for outward-facing work, ensuring that production has all appropriate checks and balances in place prior to creative IP being distributed for public consumption. To be successful in this role, you must be a recognized industry expert on SAG-AFTRA Commercials contracts, anticipate union moves and industry trends, and provide swift, pragmatic commercial advice.

The ideal candidate has a proven track record of negotiating high-profile talent contracts, complex production agreements, and major music licensing deals. You have your finger on the pulse of emerging media and trends as they relate to content production, while understanding the risks and rights management associated with modern, multi-platform execution. Above all, you must strike a balance between risk mitigation and enabling great creative work, ensuring that our business runs as effectively and courageously as possible.

Responsibilities

Executive Leadership and Team Oversight

• Team Leadership: Direct, mentor, and inspire a highly-skilled Business Affairs team within the WPP Production North American network.
• Team Building and Culture: Foster an inclusive, growth-minded, and collaborative environment. Establish clear career pathing, training programs, and performance standards to elevate the group's capabilities.
• Staffing and Resource Allocation: Oversee group resourcing and staffing models. Partner with executive leadership to assess workload, optimize team bandwidth, and strategically assign Business Affairs resources to client accounts and production hubs.
• Scoping and Budget Planning: Lead scoping and staffing discussions for Business Affairs services, ensuring proper commercial coverage is budgeted across agency SOWs.
• Operational Standards: Define, implement, and continuously optimize standardized Business Affairs workflows, templates, and best practices.

Escalation and Expert Problem-Solving

• Ultimate Point of Escalation: Act as the final group authority and escalation point for complex commercial, legal, and operational challenges in production.
• Crisis and Risk Management: Lead dispute resolutions, including union claims, audits, vendor defaults, and challenging contract negotiations.
• Strategic Advisory: Provide decisive, executive-level counsel to production leadership, creative directors and account leaders when navigating high-risk, speculative, or highly unconventional creative concepts.

Core Business Affairs and Creative Enablement

• Creative Viability Collaboration: Partner with discipline leads and producers across the group to evaluate the feasibility of innovative, complex creative ideas prior to execution.
• IP Clearance and Protection: Oversee intellectual property rights management and clearances in tandem with agency legal counsel.
• High-Value Negotiations: Lead and negotiate celebrity, influencer, and over-scale talent agreements, as well as complex music and third-party licensing deals.
• Legal and Insurance Partnering: Partner closely with agency legal counsel on template updates, risk assessments, and indemnifications. Coordinate with the risk management team to evaluate high-risk production concerns.
• Production Estimating and Scoping: Participate in early-stage project discussions, providing accurate, experienced estimates for talent session fees, residuals, music licensing, and all other production-related business costs.
• Union and Industry Compliance: Advise agency teams and clients on union rules (SAG/AFTRA/AFM/ACTRA), regulations, and emerging industry trends.
• Financial and Post-Production Oversight: Partner with Producers to review AICP, AICE, animation, and music bids. Work alongside internal Finance from pre-bill and scoping through job closure and cost actualization.

Who You Are

• Strategic Leader and Mentor: Passionate about building high-performing teams, mentoring talent, and designing operational structures that scale.
• Detail-Oriented and Inquisitive: A natural, analytical problem solver who enjoys diving deep into complex union rules or contract details to find creative, business-friendly solutions.
• Versatile Executive: Able to wear many hats. Seamlessly transitions from high-level organizational and staffing strategy to hands-on support for high-profile productions.
• Collaborative Connector: An exceptional communicator who builds strong relationships across Creative, Production, Account, Legal, and Finance departments to bring the creative vision to life safely.
• Resilient and Solution-Oriented: Maintains an optimistic yes, and posture. Highly adept at navigating ambiguity and figuring out smart workarounds to complex legal or production roadblocks.
• Ego-less Champion: Ready to roll up your sleeves alongside the team, fostering a supportive environment where collective success is prioritized.

What You'll Need

• Experience: Minimum of 15 years of experience at an advertising agency, with a significant portion spent in an Associate Director Business Affairs, Director of Business Affairs, or equivalent executive-level Business Affairs role.
• Multi-Platform Expertise: Deep knowledge of all production disciplines, including live-action, stills, print, out-of-home, digital, experiential, user-generated content, speculative executions, podcasts, and emerging technology platforms.
• Negotiation and Licensing Mastery: Proven track record of navigating complex music licensing, stock footage, celebrity/influencer agreements, and intellectual property acquisitions.
• Legal Foundations: Comprehensive understanding of copyright, trademark, network clearance, and advertising standards/guidelines.
• Union Contract Command: Expert, up-to-date knowledge of SAG-AFTRA, AFM, and other relevant union commercial contracts.
• Executive Judgment: Outstanding ability to make independent, high-risk decisions under pressure, knowing exactly when to pull in agency legal counsel or executive stakeholders.

#li-kn1 #li-hybrid

The base salary for this position at the time of this posting may range as listed below. Individual compensation varies based on job-related factors, including location, business needs, level of responsibility, experience, and qualifications. We offer a competitive benefits package, click here for more details.

US Pay Range

$125,000-$295,000 USD