Senior Talent Manager

Be you, be here, be part of the story!

At The Walt Disney Company, magic is more than just a word; it's a way of life. For a century, we've been inspiring imaginations, celebrating diversity, and bringing families together through our beloved stories, characters, and experiences. From our iconic theme parks and resorts to our groundbreaking films, television shows, interactive media and products, we're dedicated to creating magic that knows no bounds.

This is an office-based role. 4 days working in the Hammersmith, London office with 1 day working from home.

We are looking for a dynamic and experienced Senior Talent and Events Manager, who is passionate about television and our world-class entertainment brands. to lead and elevate our talent efforts across the EMEA region. This pivotal role will spearhead European talent tours and events, working in close collaboration with our US counterparts to bring show talent to key markets across EMEA, whilst also working cross-functionally across the Disney+ business to identify other opportunities (both internal and external) where we can leverage the star power of our talent.  

The successful candidate will be responsible for overseeing all regional talent activity, ensuring alignment with PR, social, influencer and marketing teams to maximise impact, relevance, and ROI. We want a driven and ambitious candidate who will push the boundaries regarding the talent access we can negotiate and who will champion creativity to ensure we are creating the very best output from the access we secure across PR, social and marketing requirements.  

Along with the wider team, the chosen candidate will work across our incredible portfolio of shows including the award-winning Shogun, the return of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the iconic All’s Fair, the National Geographic brand with its leading titles and documentaries including Limitless with Chris Hemsworth and Tucci in Italy, along with fan favourite such as Only Murders in the Building and FX’s The Bear.  

The large-scale talent tours and events will form a core part of our priority campaigns across the year, working alongside the campaign teams to deliver best-in-class multi-market activity in the UK and across EMEA. Together with the campaign leads, collectively you will deliver innovative and showstopping talent-fronted publicity campaigns to ensure we are reaching our audiences in impressive and impactful ways, while maintaining our corporate reputation within the industry. 

We are a team that’s passionate about what we do. We approach our work with a positive mindset with creative approaches to problem-solving, no matter the task. We support each other to do the same. We’re respectful of each other, fostering a team that is trusting, transparent and inclusive. We are committed to excellence at all levels and are always looking to improve. We know that our roles can require resilience, and we support each other to flourish. 

The Opportunity & Responsibilities:

• You will own logistics and execution for talent tours and talent-fronted events for a range of shows and movies on Disney+ / National Geographic across EMEA 
• Drive outstanding creative concepts for talent appearances in their many guises – across premieres, junkets, press screenings, activations, and photocalls. 
• Develop and manage a regional talent calendar aligned with global priorities ensuring we have a consistently strong pipeline of opportunities  
• Work in close alignment with markets leads to understand their talent requirements and identify the opportunities that make the most sense and impact in market. Work with teams on the ground to also identify the biggest profile-raising opportunities at local festivals or speaker opportunities for both on and off-screen talent.
• Develop a process for helping markets to identify any BTS talent with links to local markets they can leverage in their comms.
• Foster relationships across the business, as well as with production companies, filmmakers and talent representatives. 
• Act as a trusted point of contact for talent during engagements, ensuring a seamless experience. Oversee a roster of important contacts to help support talent engagements in markets with hotel, leisure and entertainment providers.
• Support internal talent requirements for high-profile company events such as the EMEA Employee Forum, annual advertising showcases, stakeholder events and internal Q&A profiling.  
• Act as a centre of excellence for talent engagement and event activation, building new processes to streamline our efforts and taking learnings from each campaign to improve our approach and output.  
• Work in very close partnership with Senior Influencer Manager, Senior Social Manager and all Senior PR Managers to ensure deep integration across all talent activity and maximising of every opportunity whilst access to talent is available.  
• Work alongside marketing and partnerships teams to build further integration, as well as other parts of the business including Studios and Media Networks.
• Oversee budgets for talent activity, ensuring cost-effective execution and measurable ROI.  

The Experience We Require From You:

• You excel at talent relations, communications and event activation, with a clear understanding of what’s needed to deliver impactful outcomes. Whilst not essential, you will ideally have experience within a global entertainment or streaming environment.  
• You are confident owning and implementing logistics end to end, in a way that’s action and solutions-orientated, and can be agile and adaptable to change.  
• You are highly self-motivated with the ability to manage multiple projects to tight deadlines and have a desire to deliver only the very best work.  
• You will possess excellent communication skills and be confident in handling stakeholders at all levels. 
• You are passionate about great TV and knowledgeable about the TV industry – across genres, and can channel this into your work being consistently curious and looking for ways to innovate. 
• You have demonstrable experience running junkets / managing talent and are confident working with international colleagues across time zones. 
• You have considerable experience in running events (premieres / screenings / themed activations) and are confident running all elements and working with leading agencies as well as other key business partners to collaborate and update on plans.  
• You must be a self-starter but a true team player with a genuine enthusiasm for communications events management and public relations as well as team development. 
• You have experience handling stakeholders and have experience of crisis communications. You will be comfortable operating in the centre of a crisis – big or small - and have been involved in reactive planning or crisis handling. 
• You are passionate about great TV – across genres, and can channel this into your work by being consistently curious and looking for ways to innovate. 

The Perks: 

• 25 days annual leave 
• Private medical insurance & dental care 
• Free Park Entry: You will have the opportunity to enter any of our parks with your family and friends for free 
• Disney Discounts: you are entitled to discounts on designated Disney products, resort F&B and ticketing 
• Disney+ Subscription 
• Excellent parental and guardian leave  
• Employee Resource Groups – WOMEN @ Disney, Disney DIVERSITY, Disney PRIDE, our new disability & neurodiversity focused group ENABLED, and our Mental Health & Wellbeing Group, T.R.U.S.T. 

The Walt Disney Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We strive to be a diverse workforce that is representative of our audiences, and where all can thrive and belong. We are committed to building a team that includes and respects a variety of voices, identities, backgrounds, experiences and perspectives.