Team Liquid’s talent portfolio includes a wide range of professional esports athletes, content creators, brand ambassadors, and industry-related influencers. The VP of Talent will drive the commercial and brand/fan engagement growth strategy around Talent within TL and be the evangelical voice for Talent within the org. The Talent’s brand includes (where appropriate) the multi-platform strategy around content, commercial opportunities, collaboration opportunities, apparel & commerce opportunities, supporting brand integration, partnerships, and sales opportunities. This VP Talent is also charged with sourcing, recommending, signing, and managing non-competitive athletic roster talent and our media rights deals (currently with Twitch and Huya).

Reports to: President & COO

Location: Los Angeles, CA, Utrecht, NL, or Remote

Responsible For:

Develop, manage and execute talent strategies for Athletic and non-athletic Talent signed to Team Liquid.
Work closely with Sales & Partnerships Identify new opportunities leveraging the existing network of Talent and brands.
Source and vet new campaigns and opportunities to sign talents; lead the outreach and negotiation process with an overall strategy to grow and scale the business.
Oversee all influencer content, ensuring usage rights and contracts are up to date and easily accessible to our internal team members.
Oversee a growing team responsible for managing an internal portfolio of athletes, content creators, and influencers under Team Liquid’s brand.; Train and mentor staff on best practices of talent/influencer integration, media strategies, social campaigns, and overall work approach.
Develop an internal infrastructure to support content creation and acquisition across a wide range of internal staff, creators, brand ambassadors, and external Talent.
Negotiate creator, influencer & brand ambassador contracts (i.e., non-Athletic talent signings).
Mentor and develop junior members of the team.
Create and manage relationships across a vast network of esports athletes, influencers, partners, and agencies.
Partner with cross-departmental teams such as Athletics, Social Media, and 1UP Studios to ensure on-time execution of campaign deliverables.
Work closely with the CBDO when leading negotiations with platforms such as Huya and Twitch for Team Liquid’s Media Rights.

Qualifications:

10+ years of experience managing Talent within an agency or brand environment, emphasizing digital.
Ability to take over TL’s existing Rolodex of partners and bring a new Rolodex of relationships to tap into.
Strong knowledge or understanding of the sports, esports, and/or gaming space surrounding influencer and social media trends, social and meme culture, and how a clearly defined brand can cut through new audiences and regions.
Solid understanding of the nuances of influencer deals among major established and emerging social media platforms.
A commercial mindset balanced with an understanding of the importance of brand to sports and esports teams and fandom.
An understanding of audience and fandom within the sports/esports/influencer space.
Excellent written and verbal communications skills with a proven record of consistently making sound judgments while effectively motivating and managing teams.
Not afraid to travel in order to continue to build and grow relationships on a global level.
Strong collaborator and mentor with the ability to bring out the best in agency talent to produce great work for clients.
Passion for new and emerging platforms and content.
- +1’s for gaming/ esports insights and trends.
Have a passion for video games, live streaming, esports, media, and entertainment, and/or gaming influencers.

Department

Talent Management