Culture & Partnerships Manager

Responsibilities

• Cultural Point of View
• Keep a constant, firsthand read across sports, music, fashion, art, food, nightlife, and creator culture — what’s breaking, what’s peaking, what’s over.
• Know the platforms and formats Gen Z and millennial consumers are actually using, not the ones in last year’s trend deck.
• Bring that perspective into internal and client conversations with conviction — a recommendation, not a roundup.
• Contribute original perspective to Cogent’s monthly culture and experiential reports.
• Flag where competitors are winning, missing, or leaving white space.
• Partner Sourcing & Development
• Identify and vet partners across sports, music, fashion, art, food, and creator culture — including emerging brands and talent before they peak.
• Find the partners nobody at the agency has on their radar yet, and make the case for why they fit.
• Build and maintain a working partner pipeline — relevance, availability, cost, brand fit.

Requirements

• 4–7 years in brand partnerships, cultural or brand strategy, talent, music or entertainment marketing, experiential, or a related field. Non-traditional paths welcome — we care more about your network and your taste than your title history.
• An active personal network across sports, music, fashion, art, or creator culture, plus a track record of turning those relationships into brand work.
• Strong convictions and the sources to back them. You can say what’s next, why it matters, whether it fits a brand, and explain the reasoning without hedging.
• A habit of being out — at the shows, games, openings, and rooms where this actually happens.
• Experience negotiating partner, talent, or collaboration deals. Familiarity with co-branded product, licensing, or promotional partnerships preferred.
• Strong storytelling and deck-building skills; fluent in Keynote or Figma.
• Demonstrated use of AI tools in day-to-day work, and a point of view on where they help and where they don’t.
• Comfort in a client room is a plus — if you can carry the relationship as well as the idea, that is upside.
• Fluency in multicultural consumer culture and the communities that matter to brands.
• Experience with alcohol, CPG, or lifestyle brands preferred, plus an understanding of responsible marketing considerations in the alcohol category.