Senior Manager, Business Affairs Lead

We’re looking for a Business Affairs Lead to join Visa Creative Studio as we continue building a best-in-class global creative team for Visa and the clients we serve. 

This candidate will support and oversee business affairs needs across creative, marketing, production, content, campaign, experiential, and studio initiatives for the Visa brand and clients that we serve. This role helps ensure creative work is properly contracted, cleared, licensed, documented, approved, and ready for use across intended channels, markets, and timeframes. 

The Business Affairs Lead will partner closely with Creative, Production, Marketing, Legal, Procurement, Finance, Brand and external agencies. This person will help teams understand business requirements related to talent, music, photography, video, third-party materials, usage rights, licensing, renewals, vendor agreements, statements of work, and asset reuse. 

This person is expected to operate with a high degree of independence, apply sound judgment, manage complex rights and vendor-related matters, and help protect the business while enabling creative work to move forward efficiently. 

Key Responsibilities:

Business Affairs & Rights Management:

• Manage business affairs support across creative campaigns, video, photography, content production, activations, experiential programs, events, sponsorship extensions, social content, and marketing assets. 

• Support contract, SOW, licensing, usage rights, releases, clearances, renewals, and vendor documentation processes. 

• Review creative concepts, scripts, storyboards, production plans, and asset requests to identify business affairs considerations. 

• Manage Legal reviews of WIP and final materials to ensure clearances are in place. 

• Track usage rights, expiration dates, territories, media channels, exclusivity, talent restrictions, music rights, and asset limitations. 

• Help determine whether assets can be reused, adapted, localized, extended, or redistributed. 

• Maintain accurate documentation for contracts, rights, licenses, releases, invoices, approvals, and usage terms. 

• Provide guidance to creative and marketing teams on rights, restrictions, approvals, and business affairs requirements. 

Cross-Functional Coordination:

• Partner with Legal, Procurement, Finance, Production, Marketing, Creative, Brand, and external partners to ensure business requirements are understood and addressed. 

• Coordinate with agencies and other external partners as needed. 

• Help teams understand the cost, timing, and risk implications of rights, licenses, renewals, and production decisions. 

• Escalate high-risk issues to Legal, Procurement, Finance, Creative leadership, or Marketing leadership as appropriate. 

• Support budget visibility by vetting usage, licensing, talent, renewal, or vendor-related costs. 

Process, Governance & Documentation:

• Help develop and maintain business affairs processes, trackers, templates, rights libraries, and playbooks. 

• Improve documentation practices and visibility into asset usage rights. 

• Support post-project reviews to identify rights management learnings or process improvements. 

• Help ensure business affairs workflows are clear, repeatable, and aligned with studio needs. 

• Maintain confidentiality when handling sensitive business, legal, financial, or talent-related information. 

AI Adoption:

• Maintain an active understanding of emerging AI platforms and automation tools and apply that knowledge responsibly to optimize workflows and drive operational efficiencies at scale. 

• Maintain an active understanding of implications around usage rights when AI is used. 

Basic Qualifications:

Preferred Qualifications: 

Technical & Design Skills: 

Soft Skills: 

• Strong judgment and risk awareness. 

• Excellent attention to detail. 

• Clear and confident communication. 

• Ability to work effectively with legal and non-legal stakeholders. 

• Strong organization and follow-through. 

• Calm, solutions-oriented approach under pressure. 

• Ability to influence without direct authority. 

• Discretion when handling sensitive information. 

• Practical mindset that balances business protection with creative progress. 

Successful Profile:

The ideal candidate is a highly organized, detail-driven business affairs professional who understands creative production and can protect the business while enabling great work. They bring sound judgment, strong documentation habits, and the confidence to guide teams through rights, licensing, contracting, clearance, and usage decisions.