Director, Strategic Content Partnerships

Shutterstock, at its heart, is about creatives serving creatives. We take pride in our collaborative, cross-functional work style where departments bring together their diverse experience and expertise to uniquely address customers' needs. This nuanced understanding drives our ability to develop innovative solutions to our clients' challenges. We're committed to data, experimentation and taking big swings to build products that delight our customers, and have a materially positive impact on our business!

The Director of Strategic Content Partnerships will play a critical role in executing innovative content acquisition strategies that drive growth across a range of business segments. Reporting to the Senior Director Content Acquisition, this role will focus on identifying, negotiating, and managing traditional and non-traditional content agreements-such as brokerage deals, buyouts, bespoke licenses, and specialized deals-to help meet emerging content needs across the organization, with a strong focus and close partnership with our data licensing team.

The ideal candidate is a proactive operator and strong negotiator with a deep understanding of licensing models, intellectual property, and the creative content industry. This position requires a blend of strategic thinking and operational excellence to deliver high-impact content deals and foster key industry relationships.

Key Responsibilities
Strategic Content Execution:

• Support the development and implementation of innovative content acquisition strategies, with a focus on non-traditional licensing models and new content types.

• Work with internal stakeholders to identify evolving content needs, align on licensing requirements, and deliver targeted partnership solutions.

• Maintain a flexible toolkit of licensing templates and partnership structures to meet various business needs.

Licensing & Deal Management:

• Lead negotiations for content agreements, including strategic sourcing deals, brokerage deals, buyouts and bespoke licensing arrangements.

• Partner with legal and operations teams to structure and operationalize content agreements in alignment with business goals and compliance standards.

• Act as a primary point of contact for select content partners, managing ongoing relationships and ensuring high value delivery.

Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Collaborate with product, legal, marketing, and divisional teams to evaluate content opportunities and execute partnership deals to support.

• Analyze content performance and usage to inform future partnership decisions and investment strategies.

Market Awareness & Innovation:

• Stay current on trends in content creation, usage, and rights management-particularly within digital media, stock content, and emerging technologies like AI.

• Conduct competitive analysis to identify gaps and areas for differentiated content acquisition in partnership with our business divisions.

Experience

• 8+ years of experience in content licensing, acquisition, or IP management-preferably within a media, tech, or creative environment.

• Demonstrated experience negotiating licensing agreements and managing external partnerships.

• Familiarity with rights management, copyright law, and digital content ecosystems.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong negotiation and communication skills, with a proven ability to manage complex partnerships.

• Analytical and strategic thinker with attention to operational detail.

• Collaborative mindset and ability to work cross-functionally across legal, product, and content teams.

• Proactive and solution-oriented, with a passion for the evolving content landscape.

• Experience managing multiple deals and priorities in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

Shutterstock connects diverse artists and creative professionals around the globe with the agencies, brands and people who need their work and services. It's a place where creators come to be inspired and discover new ways to produce their best work.

Shutterstock enables its employees to drive culture and tap into the world around them to develop the toolbox and solutions that help others share their world views. At Shutterstock, your ideas will be welcomed, your uniqueness will be celebrated, and you will be supported in presenting your view of the world as you experience it. We're champions of resiliency; quickly learning from our shortcomings in our pursuit of continuous growth.

Diverse teams are critical to our success. We encourage people from different backgrounds to apply and we commit to creating and maintaining a culture where employees know they belong and have equal opportunities to succeed.

At Shutterstock, we are committed to providing competitive pay and benefits that are in line with industry standards. The compensation package offered may vary depending on employment experience, skills, and knowledge. You may also be eligible for our generous benefits package including health, wellness and financial benefits. Compensation ranges for candidates in locations outside of the location(s) below may differ based on the cost of labor, market, and additional factors.

The pay range for this position is below:

Note: Commission-eligible roles are expressed as on-target earnings (base and commission). Non-commission roles are expressed as base salary only but are also eligible for annual incentives.

Shutterstock Values

We are one team collectively focused on creating an unrivaled experience for our Customers and Contributors. Our Values represent the mindset of the employee who will thrive at Shutterstock. If you are passionate about what you do, and want to become part of a cutting-edge technology company building industry leading products, please apply.

Shutterstock is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Suitably qualified and eligible candidates are encouraged to apply regardless of age, color, disability, national origin, ancestry, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable law.

Shutterstock ensures that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Persons with disabilities who anticipate needing accommodations for any part of the application process may contact, in confidence, accommodation_request@shutterstock.com.

The referenced salary range is based on the Company's good faith belief at the time of posting. Actual compensation may vary based on factors such as geographic location, work experience, market conditions, education/training and skill level.