Octagon is looking for someone with a good grasp of contracts and risk management to offer business affairs support and leadership in the agency, particularly as regards vetting, negotiating and contracting its and its sister agency FRUKT’s preferred and project specific suppliers. The agency is fast-growing and requires a considered Business Affair Manager to lead and educate in driving correct commercial practice across the Experiential and Client Service teams. You will be supervised by our Business Operations Lead and guided by our very experienced Finance and Group Business & Legal Affairs team. This is a challenging but interesting and diverse role. It will be great experience for anyone with a keen interest in people, contracts and risk management as applied to experiential marketing in the world of sport and entertainment. Applications from contract managers and/or production business affairs executives keen to work and develop in this exciting sector are welcome, however others with similar roles or experiences may also apply.

Nb this is not a Legal role for qualified/part-qualified lawyers looking to pursue a career in law.

The Work You'll Do

• Reviewing client confidentiality agreements / NDA;
• Summarising client terms as they apply to suppliers;
• Helping to operationalise creative ideas – highlighting what they’ll require in order to deliver them and scoping out the related supply chain work;
• Concluding confidentiality agreements with prospective suppliers;
• Vetting suppliers against client and group insurance and other requirements;
• Leading on maintaining and expanding the agency’s preferred supplier roster;
• Reviewing supplier terms;
• Inputting on the agency’s project scopes of work, particularly by reference to the terms on which the supply chain can deliver;
• Populating/checking standard form contracts;
• Negotiating and concluding contracts and project scopes with experiential and content suppliers including DMC, prod.co and talent;
• Liaising with the agency’s brokers and suppliers on insurance;
• Demonstrating best practice in supplier selection and contracting and assisting others to adopt a similar approach; and
• Implementing and responding to instructions and advice from Group Legal throughout.

Who We're Looking For

• Friendly, patient and outgoing;
• Commercially aware;
• Attention to detail;
• Prior experience in contract/supply chain/risk management;
• Good negotiation skills including in particular the ability to assert a position downstream and ensure understanding and movement upstream;
• Ability to identify risks in the supply chain and address those risks;
• Excellent communication skills (verbal and written) including willingness and ability to train
  others;
• Listen and engage well with instructions and ensuring correct understanding: to ensure
  efficient and accurate delivery;
• Comfortable under pressure to include persuading senior staff as to the merits of your
  proposed approach;
• Be able to correctly prioritise;
• An adaptable attitude and ability to think laterally; and
• A willingness to assume and take responsibility.

BENEFITS

• We’re pleased to offer wide range of benefits, including but not limited to the following:

• Core benefits (available from start date) – flexible holiday allowance, AXA private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, pension scheme with 4.5% employer contribution, Employee Assistance Programme.

• Flexible benefits (available after probation) – Gymflex, dental insurance, travel insurance, health cash plan, Cyclescheme, interest-free season ticket loans

• A Flexible Workplace – we have several initiatives in place to ensure that our team have the flexibility to balance work with their lives, this includes flexible holiday allowance and flexible working options

• We also run a number of internal programmes to support physical and mental wellbeing, alongside learning and development opportunities to support career development and progression.

ABOUT US
We’re the global sports, entertainment, and lifestyle-marketing arm of IPG. A collection of 800 fans bound by a single mission: To create work that earns attention. 

HOW WE SEE THE WORLD
We live in a world where time is our most precious commodity, and our audiences’ patience has never been shorter. As an industry, we’ve never had to work harder to gain the attention of the people we’re trying to reach. The way we see it, there’s two ways to go about it. Attention is either bought or it’s earned. Paid attention ensures your brand will be heard – and that's a good start. But attention that’s earned ensures your audience listens to what you're saying. At Octagon, our purpose is to create work that earns attention. Through smart partnerships and generous ideas, we compete for, capture, and ultimately earn the attention of those who matter most.

Have we got yours?