Senior Creator & Studio Partnerships Manager

Senior Creator Partnerships Manager

Ellery for Creators — Ellery Studios, Inc.

About Ellery

Ellery is building a premium home for creator-led live entertainment: original, ticketed shows that give audiences a real reason to be there as they happen.

Through Ellery for Creators, we work with exceptional creators, production companies, and studios to develop, launch, and grow distinctive live formats. We are building a selective entertainment brand, not an open-volume marketplace. Every creator relationship and every audience experience should feel considered.

The Role

We are hiring a commercially sharp, relationship-driven Senior Creator Partnerships Manager to bring the right creators, studios, and production partners into Ellery.

You will identify partners with the audience, ambition, and creative potential to build meaningful ticketed formats. You will develop a clear partnership thesis for each opportunity, lead the relationship from first outreach through commercial agreement, and help define a credible first-show concept before handing the partnership into development and launch.

This is not a high-volume sales role. Success is not measured by filling a pipeline with names or signing partners who are unlikely to launch. The mandate is to build a focused slate of high-conviction relationships that can become part of Ellery’s Founding Season—and grow into lasting creative partnerships.

You will work closely with Programming, Creator & Studio Success, Product, Marketing, Operations, and the founder.

What You’ll Do

• Build and own a focused pipeline of creators, production companies, studios, and talent-led media businesses that fit Ellery’s positioning.
• Research and qualify potential partners based on audience fit, creative ambition, commercial potential, production readiness, and long-term opportunity.
• Develop a specific partnership thesis for each priority prospect: why this partner, why live, why now, and what an outstanding first format could become.
• Lead thoughtful outbound, referral-led, and inbound partnership conversations.
• Run discovery conversations that uncover a partner’s ambitions, audience dynamics, existing formats, commercial expectations, decision process, and operational requirements.
• Shape compelling partnership proposals in collaboration with Programming, Product, Marketing, and Operations.
• Lead commercial conversations and support agreement development, protecting both the quality of the Ellery experience and sustainable economics for all parties.
• Maintain a clear, disciplined view of the pipeline, including next steps, decision-makers, risks, expected launch windows, and probability of conversion.
• Create a clean handoff into Creator & Studio Success once the partnership, initial format direction, economics, and responsibilities are aligned.
• Stay involved at key moments where commercial context or senior relationship support matters.
• Bring structured market intelligence back into Ellery: what creators need, where existing platforms fall short, which formats are emerging, and what prevents promising partners from moving forward.
• Help define the creator-partnership strategy and operating model as Ellery grows.

What Success Looks Like

• Ellery develops a small, high-quality slate of creators and studios with genuine potential to build distinctive live formats.
• Priority partners understand Ellery’s value clearly and view the company as a creative and commercial partner, not simply another distribution platform.
• Signed partners enter development with an aligned show thesis, viable economics, clear responsibilities, and a realistic launch window.
• Partnerships move smoothly from commercial agreement into format development and launch preparation.
• Pipeline reporting is reliable enough to support programming, product, and operational planning.
• Ellery earns trusted referrals and a strong reputation across the creator, studio, and production ecosystem.
• Early partnerships create the foundation for repeat shows and long-term relationships.

What You Bring

• 5+ years of experience in creator partnerships, business development, talent partnerships, media, entertainment, strategic sales, or a closely related field.
• A track record of building and closing complex, high-trust partnerships involving multiple stakeholders.
• Experience working directly with creators, talent, studios, production companies, managers, agents, or media businesses.
• Strong commercial judgment and an understanding of how creators build audiences and businesses.
• The ability to assess both creative potential and operational reality.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, from a concise introduction to a senior-level partnership proposal.
• Confidence discussing positioning, format, audience value, economics, timing, and responsibilities without turning every relationship into a transactional sales process.
• Strong pipeline discipline and comfort using CRM systems to support judgment rather than replace it.
• High emotional intelligence, persistence, and an instinct for when to advance, reshape, or walk away from an opportunity.
• Comfort operating in an early-stage environment where the partnership model is still being built.

Especially Valuable

• Experience in ticketed entertainment, podcasts, comedy, music, sports, film and television, digital media, or live events.
• Experience helping develop or launch a new show, format, production, channel, or creator business.
• Existing relationships across the US or European creator and entertainment ecosystem.
• Familiarity with talent representation, rights, commercial structures, sponsorships, or production agreements.
• Experience building an early partnership function or introducing greater rigor to a founder-led pipeline.

How We Work

We want to build an enduring entertainment company without sacrificing judgment, trust, craft, or follow-through. We value people who communicate directly, stay curious, take ownership, and care deeply about the experience on both sides of the stage.

Ellery Studios, Inc. is an equal-opportunity employer. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to building an inclusive team, partner network, and audience experience.