Hiring a Talent Manager for Your Agency: Role, Pay, and Onboarding

Hiring a talent manager is usually the first big step from founder-run agency to real team. The right hire takes over a group of creators, pitches brands, negotiates deals, and keeps every deliverable on track, so the founder can focus on growth. The wrong hire, or the right hire with no onboarding, costs you months of revenue and sometimes a creator relationship.

This guide covers the full process for a talent agency: when to hire, which role to hire first, how to structure pay, how to interview, and a 90-day onboarding plan. It also covers the agreements that protect the agency when a manager leaves.

When hiring a talent manager makes sense

Hire when your own time is the limit on growth. These are the common signs:

• Brand inquiries wait more than a day for a reply.
• You turn down creators you want to sign because you cannot manage more.
• Deals close, but the reports, invoices, and follow-ups run late.
• You spend more time on admin than on pitching and negotiating.
• Your best creators ask why they hear from you less than before.

Look at which of these hurt most. If brands are waiting and pitches are not going out, you need a manager. If deals close but the admin after them slips, a coordinator may be the better first hire.

Talent manager, coordinator, or assistant: which role first?

Agencies use these titles in different ways, so define the role by the work, not the title.

Role	Main work	Best first hire when
Talent manager	Owns creators, pitches brands, negotiates and closes deals	Growth is limited by pitching and deal capacity
Coordinator	Runs deliverables, dates, contracts, reports, and invoices	Deals close but admin falls behind
Assistant	Supports the founder with scheduling, inbox, and research	The founder’s day is lost to small tasks

Some agencies hire a talent manager first and add a coordinator once the manager’s book fills up. Others hire a coordinator first so the founder can keep all brand relationships. Both work, as long as you pick based on your actual bottleneck.

Write the job description

A clear job description saves you from interviewing people who want a different job. Use this structure:

• Role summary. One paragraph on what the manager owns, for example “You will manage a roster of lifestyle and beauty creators and own their brand partnerships from pitch to payment.”
• What you will do. Pitch creators to brands and agencies. Negotiate rates, usage, and exclusivity. Manage deliverables and go-live dates. Send campaign reports. Track invoices and payments. Grow each creator’s business over time.
• Who you will work with. The founder, other managers, coordinators, and the creators on your roster.
• What you bring. Experience in brand partnerships, influencer marketing, or talent representation. Strong writing for pitches and negotiation emails. Comfort with numbers, rates, and contracts. Organized follow-through on many deals at once.
• How you are paid. The structure, for example base salary plus commission, and how commission is calculated.
• How you will be measured. Booked revenue, creator retention, brand repeat rate, and on-time delivery.

Be specific about pay structure in the posting. Strong candidates will compare your commission terms with other offers.

How to pay a talent manager

There are three common pay structures. Each one shifts risk between the agency and the manager.

Salary only. Predictable for both sides, and suited to a manager who will take over existing creators the agency already brought in. The manager has less direct incentive to grow revenue.

Salary plus commission. A common middle ground. The base covers the manager while they ramp up, and the commission rewards the deals they close. Decide clearly what the commission is calculated on.

Commission only. Low fixed cost for the agency, but harder to hire for, and managers on commission only may bring their own creators and expect to keep them if they leave.

Before hiring a talent manager on any of these structures, answer these questions in writing:

1. Is commission paid on the agency’s share of the deal, or on the gross deal value?
2. Does the rate differ for creators the manager brings in versus creators the agency assigns?
3. Is commission paid when the deal is booked, or when the brand pays?
4. What happens to commission on deals in progress if the manager leaves?

Here is a worked example. Say a brand pays $10,000 for a deal, and your agency’s commission from the talent is 20 percent, or $2,000. If the manager earns 25 percent of the agency’s share, they earn $500 on that deal, and the agency keeps $1,500. These rates are only an example. For more on splits, read influencer manager commission.

Make the math automatic from day one. In July’s financial reporting, you set a default commission rate for the agency and for team members, then override it for any team member, talent, or deal, and July applies the split to every deal.

Where to find candidates and how to interview them

Good candidates often come from adjacent roles: brand-side influencer marketing, an influencer marketing agency, a PR firm, or a coordinator role at another talent agency. Brand-side experience is especially useful, because the candidate knows how brands budget and approve deals.

Ask questions that show how the candidate actually works:

• Walk me through a brand deal you managed from first email to final payment.
• How would you price a TikTok, two Stories, and 30 days of paid usage for a creator with steady views?
• A brand wants 12 months of category exclusivity for a small fee. How do you respond?
• A creator misses a go-live date. What do you tell the brand, and what do you tell the creator?
• How do you keep track of 20 open deals at once?

Then give a short practical exercise. Send the candidate a sample brief and a creator’s media kit, and ask for a pitch email and a proposed rate with a one-paragraph rationale. The exercise shows writing, pricing judgment, and attention to the brief in under an hour.

Onboarding: the first 90 days

A new manager needs to learn your process, your creators, and your brand relationships. Plan each stage before their first day.

Days 1 to 30: learn the system

• Give access to your CRM, calendar, contacts, and shared drive, with the right permissions.
• Walk through your deal stages, rate sheet, contract templates, and commission rules.
• Have the manager shadow live deals and sit in on negotiation calls.
• Introduce them to each creator they will manage, one by one.

Days 31 to 60: run deals with support

• Hand over a first group of creators, starting with the ones who have steady, repeat brands.
• Let the manager run deals end to end, with the founder reviewing pricing before quotes go out.
• Introduce the manager to the brand contacts on their creators’ active deals.

Days 61 to 90: own the book

• The manager pitches new brands and closes deals without review below an agreed size.
• Review their pipeline, booked revenue, and on-time delivery together.
• Set goals for the next quarter.

Default tasks make this much easier. With July’s tasks, you choose the tasks every deal needs, and July adds them to each new deal with the right person and due date. A new manager sees exactly what to do on every deal from the first week. In July’s CRM, the manager also sees each brand’s full deal history, so they never pitch a brand cold that the agency already knows.

Protect the agency and your creators

When a manager leaves, creators and brand relationships can leave with them. When hiring a talent manager, put these points in writing at the start:

• Who owns the relationship with each creator and each brand.
• Non-solicitation terms for creators, brands, and staff, where they are allowed.
• Confidentiality for rates, contracts, and creator information.
• What happens to commission on open deals after the manager leaves.
• That all deals, contacts, and notes live in the agency’s shared systems, not personal inboxes or spreadsheets.

Employment rules differ by state and country, so this is not legal advice. Have a lawyer draft or review your employment agreements.

How July helps you onboard a new talent manager

July gives a new manager one place to see their creators, deals, contacts, dates, and tasks, with default tasks added to every new deal. You control what they can see with permissions, and commission rules apply to every deal automatically. When your team grows further, read how to scale a talent agency for the next stage.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to hire a talent manager?

It depends on the pay structure, the market, and the manager’s experience. Agencies pay a salary, a salary plus commission, or commission only. Decide what commission is calculated on and when it is paid before you make an offer.

What does a talent manager do day to day?

A talent manager pitches creators to brands, answers inbound requests, negotiates rates and terms, and manages deliverables and go-live dates. They also send campaign reports, follow up on invoices, and talk with their creators about deals and growth.

Should a new talent manager bring their own roster?

It can help, but it raises questions about ownership and commission. If a manager brings creators, agree in writing on the commission rate for those creators and what happens if the manager leaves. Have a lawyer review the agreement.

What should a talent manager job description include?

Include a role summary, the main responsibilities, who they will work with, the experience you want, the pay structure, and how you will measure success. Be specific about commission, because candidates compare offers on it.

How do you split commission with a talent manager?

A common approach is to pay the manager a share of the agency’s commission on each deal, sometimes with a higher rate for creators the manager brought in. Agree whether it is paid at booking or when the brand pays. Set the rules once and apply them to every deal so the math stays consistent.