Career guide
Influencer Marketing Jobs: The Influencer Marketing Manager Role and How to Get It
An influencer marketing manager runs a brand's paid and unpaid work with creators, from choosing who to partner with to briefing them, getting content approved and disclosed, and measuring what it delivered. Other influencer marketing jobs include coordinator, creator partnerships manager, and agency and talent management roles.
Key takeaways
- {'Influencer marketing jobs sit on three sides': 'brands, influencer agencies and talent management firms that represent creators.'}
- An influencer marketing manager owns a brand's creator program, from choosing creators and writing briefs to approvals, FTC disclosure and measuring results.
- The usual first job in influencer marketing is an influencer marketing coordinator role at an agency or brand.
- Running one small creator program end to end, with a brief, tracking sheet and results write-up, is strong proof for an influencer marketing job.
- Many influencer marketing jobs are posted under social media, partnerships or community titles, so search beyond the word "influencer".
What does an influencer marketing manager do?
An influencer marketing manager decides which creators a brand works with, what they make together, and whether it worked. The job sits between social, brand, PR and paid media, and much of it is relationship and project management.
A typical week:
- Reviewing creator shortlists for an upcoming launch and checking audience fit and past brand work.
- Negotiating fees, deliverables and usage rights with creators or their managers.
- Writing and sending briefs, then reviewing drafts against the brief and brand guidelines.
- Checking that live posts carry a clear disclosure and fixing any that don’t.
- Passing the best creator content to the paid social team to run as ads.
- Tracking posts, codes and links in a spreadsheet or influencer platform and reporting results.
- Keeping the brand’s long-term creator relationships warm: gifting, events, early access.
What jobs are there in influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing jobs fall into three groups: brand-side, agency-side and talent-side. The work overlaps, but who you work for changes the job.
| Job | Where | What it involves |
|---|---|---|
| Influencer marketing coordinator or specialist | Brand or agency | Outreach, gifting, tracking posts, contracts admin |
| Influencer marketing manager | Brand or agency | Owns the program: strategy, budget, creators, reporting |
| Creator partnerships manager | Brand or platform | Long-term creator relationships, ambassador programs, co-created products |
| UGC or creator content manager | Brand | Commissions content for ads and social from a roster of UGC creators |
| Affiliate and creator commerce manager | Brand | Commission-based creator programs, codes, links, shop affiliates |
| Agency account or campaign manager | Influencer agency | Runs campaigns for several brand clients |
| Talent manager or talent agent | Talent management firm | Represents creators: finds deals, negotiates fees, protects their interests |
| Head or director of influencer | Brand or agency | Sets strategy across programs, manages the team and budget |
Influencer work also shows up inside other titles. Many social media manager and community manager postings include creator work.
Influencer marketing manager job description
Copy this and fill in the brackets. Cut what doesn’t apply.
Job title: Influencer Marketing Manager About [Company] [Two sentences: what the company sells, to whom, and what's happening now.] About the role We're hiring an Influencer Marketing Manager to own our creator program across [platforms: e.g. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube]. You'll report to [title] and work closely with social, brand, PR and paid media. In your first six months you'll [one concrete goal: e.g. build an always-on ambassador program for [product line]]. What you'll do - Build the influencer plan for [launches / always-on], including goals, creator mix, budget and measurement. - Find, vet and sign creators whose audiences match [target customer]. - Negotiate fees, deliverables, usage rights and exclusivity, and manage contracts with [legal]. - Write creator briefs and review content for brand fit, claims and clear disclosure. - Work with paid social to run top creator content as [Spark Ads / partnership ads / whitelisted ads]. - Track performance in [tool: e.g. CreatorIQ, Grin, a spreadsheet] and report results to [audience]. - Manage a budget of [range] and [a coordinator / an agency]. What you'll bring - [X]+ years in influencer, social or partnerships marketing, including running campaigns end to end. - Relationships with creators or talent managers in [category]. - Strong negotiation and contract basics: fees, rights, exclusivity. - Working knowledge of FTC endorsement and disclosure rules. - Comfort with spreadsheets and reporting results to leadership. How we'll measure success - [Metric 1: e.g. sales from creator codes and links] - [Metric 2: e.g. creator content used in paid ads and its results] - [Metric 3: e.g. on-time, compliant posts across campaigns] Pay and benefits [Salary range], [benefits], [location / hybrid / remote].
What are the FTC disclosure rules for influencer marketing?
Creators must clearly disclose any material connection to a brand, and the brand shares responsibility for making sure they do. Anyone working in influencer marketing in the US should know the FTC’s Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers and its Endorsement Guides Q&A.
What the FTC’s guidance says, in brief:
- A connection includes payment, free or discounted products, employment, and personal or family relationships.
- The disclosure goes with the endorsement, where people will see it: not only on a profile, buried among hashtags or behind “more”.
- In video, it should be in the video itself, ideally both said and shown; on live streams, repeated for people who join late.
- A platform’s built-in disclosure tool may not be enough on its own.
- Clear words like “ad”, “advertisement” and “sponsored” work; vague ones like “sp”, “collab” or “ambassador” alone don’t.
- Brands should train and monitor the creators they work with and act when posts aren’t compliant.
The Endorsement Guides were revised in 2023, so check briefs and contracts written before then. In an interview, being able to explain how you’d check compliance across fifty creators is a strong answer. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Skills and tools
Influencer marketing rewards taste, negotiation and organization in about equal measure.
| Skill or tool | What it’s used for | How to show it on a resume |
|---|---|---|
| Creator selection | Choosing creators by audience fit and content quality, not follower count | “Built a roster of [number] creators in [category], chosen on [criteria]” |
| Negotiation | Fees, deliverables, usage rights, exclusivity | “Negotiated [number] creator contracts within a [budget] budget” |
| Briefing | Getting on-brand content without scripting the creator | Link a brief you wrote in your portfolio |
| Compliance | FTC disclosure, claims review, contracts | “Set up a disclosure check across [number] campaigns” |
| Influencer platforms (CreatorIQ, Grin, Aspire or similar) | Discovery, outreach, tracking, payments | Name the ones you’ve used in a skills line |
| Paid amplification | Running creator posts as ads (Spark Ads, Meta partnership ads) | “Moved top creator posts into paid, [result]” |
| Measurement | Codes, links, reach, content usage, sales | “Reported creator-driven [sales / sign-ups] to [audience]” |
Where can you find influencer marketing jobs?
Search for several titles, not only “influencer marketing manager”. Postings use influencer, creator, partnerships, talent and social titles for overlapping work, so a narrow search misses many of them.
- Job boards: search “influencer”, “creator partnerships”, “talent manager” and “social media” together, and filter by remote if you need it. Many roles are hybrid or remote because creator work happens online, but agencies often want people near their offices.
- Brand careers pages: brands that run large creator programs often post coordinator roles directly. Pick ten brands in a category you know and check them regularly.
- Influencer agencies and talent firms: they hire more often than most brands and train coordinators quickly.
- Creators and talent managers: people in your category’s creator world hear about openings early. A short, specific message works better than a general ask; see how to message a recruiter on LinkedIn for templates you can adapt.
How to become an influencer marketing manager
Most people come from social media, PR, partnerships or agency account management, and the first step is usually a coordinator role. If you already follow creators closely in one category, you have more of a head start than you might think.
- Learn the work from the brand side. Read the FTC guidance above, study how brands in one category use creators, and note which content gets run as ads.
- Get experience without the title. Offer to run gifting or creator outreach for a small brand, a local business or a nonprofit. Social coordinators can often take on a brand’s creator work.
- Run one small program end to end. Five creators, one product, a brief, a tracking sheet and a results write-up. That’s a portfolio piece, and it’s within reach in a few weeks.
- Join an agency. Influencer agencies hire coordinators and teach the process quickly, across many brands.
- Build creator relationships. Know the creators and talent managers in your category by name. That network is part of what you’re hired for.
- Tailor your resume to the posting. Lead with programs you ran, creators you signed and results. Our social media manager resume examples translate well.
Career path
| Before | Influencer marketing | After |
|---|---|---|
| Social media or PR coordinator | Influencer marketing coordinator | Influencer marketing manager |
| Agency account executive | Influencer marketing manager | Senior manager, head of influencer |
| Talent assistant | Creator partnerships manager | Director of creator partnerships, social or brand |
| UGC creator, influencer | Talent manager | Head of talent, own management firm |
Senior people often move into broader social, brand or partnerships leadership.
How much does an influencer marketing manager make?
BLS doesn’t publish a figure for influencer marketing managers. Our marketing manager salary page has the nearest government data for manager-level roles, and the marketing specialist salary page covers coordinators and specialists. Pay varies with company size, category and whether you’re brand-side or at an agency.
Interview questions to expect
- How do you choose which creators to work with? Tests whether you look past follower counts to audience fit and content quality.
- Walk me through a campaign you ran. Tests process: goal, creators, brief, approvals, results.
- How do you measure influencer marketing? Tests whether you tie it to the goal: sales, sign-ups, content for ads, reach.
- How do you make sure creators disclose properly? Tests compliance knowledge.
- A creator posts something off-brand during our campaign. What do you do? Tests judgment and crisis handling.
- How would you split budget between a few big creators and many small ones? Tests commercial sense.
- Which creators would you work with for us? Tests research. Bring names and reasons.
Answer these in your own words, with your own taste showing. Influencer work runs on relationships, so they’re listening for what you’d be like to work with as much as what you know.
Our full list, with example answers, is in influencer marketing interview questions.
FAQ
Do you need to be an influencer to work in influencer marketing?
No. Most influencer marketing managers aren’t creators themselves. Understanding how creators work and what they need from a brand matters much more.
Is influencer marketing a good career?
It can be. The skills overlap with paid social, partnerships and brand, which gives you options later. The work is relationship-heavy and deadline-driven, so it suits people who like both creative and commercial work.
What’s the difference between influencer marketing and affiliate marketing?
Influencer deals are usually paid per post or campaign. Affiliate programs pay commission on sales from a creator’s code or link. Many programs mix the two.
What does an influencer marketing coordinator do?
An influencer marketing coordinator handles the day-to-day of a creator program: finding and contacting creators, sending products, tracking contracts and posts, checking disclosures and pulling results into reports. It’s the most common entry-level influencer job, and it leads to the manager role once you can run a campaign on your own.
Can I get an influencer marketing job with no experience?
Yes. Coordinator roles at agencies and brands are open to people without the title, especially if you can show a small program you ran or a strong grasp of one category’s creators. Start by listing ten creators in a category you know and why each one fits a brand you like.