Strategic Partnerships Sr. Manager (Agency Management)

The Strategic Partnerships Sr. Manager serves as the financial lead for the team and the functional owner of agency financial strategy, governance, and best practices. This role acts as the team’s on/off retainer captain & forecast captain, setting clear direction, standards, and guardrails for how agency retainers, scopes of work, fees, and forecasts are structured, managed, and optimized across the marketing organization.

This role carries enterprise‑level accountability without direct people leadership. Success is defined by functional leadership, financial rigor, high‑quality decision‑making, and the ability to influence peers and internal/external partners, expertise, credibility, and ownership of outcomes. This role partners closely with Marketing, Finance, Legal, Procurement, and external agency leaders to ensure financial discipline, compliance, transparency, and strong partner performance across Brand and Category Marketing, Social, Experiential, Store Experience Marketing, and Packaging / Brand Development. Core responsibilities of this job are described within this job description. Job duties may change at any time due to business needs.

Financial Leadership, Forecasting & Governance (Primary Accountability)

• Serve as the financial authority for agency partnerships, ensuring financial best practices are consistently applied and adhered to across the team.

• Own and manage a multi‑million‑dollar annual agency fee and retainer budget, including forecasting, pacing, variance management, and financial risk mitigation throughout the year.

• Act as the forecast captain for the team, working closely with Finance to ensure forecasts are accurate, aligned to the correct financial inputs, and consistently maintained across all buyers and bodies of work.

• Act as the retainer captain, setting standards for retainer structures, usage, tracking, and optimization; provide clear direction to peers and other buyers on how retainers should be managed and evolved.

• Partner with Finance and Legal to ensure financial models, scopes of work, and contracts are compliant, scalable, and aligned to enterprise expectations.

Agency Scoping, Negotiation & Contracting

• Lead strategies for the scoping, pricing, and negotiation of agency fees and retainers, applying deep understanding of agency capabilities, staffing models, and fee structures.

• Write, review, and negotiate scopes of work and contractual agreements in close partnership with Legal.

• Proactively suggest and influence contract terms that protect Target’s interests, mitigate risk, and support long‑term partnership health.

• Ensure the team is Ariba‑compliant, serving as the captain for strategically sound SOW practices, including how scopes are written, what they include, where they are housed, and how they are maintained.

• Hold agency partners accountable to financial and scope commitments; proactively address scope creep, resourcing misalignment, and performance issues.

Team Enablement & Functional Leadership

• Work directly with buyers and cross‑functional partners to guide financial decision‑making, review scopes and budgets, and reinforce consistent best practices.

• Coach and enable peers and more junior team members on financial acumen, including evaluation of agency staffing plans, cost drivers, retainers, and negotiation tradeoffs.

• Train new team members on established financial, forecasting, and SOW best practices to ensure consistency and confidence from onboarding forward.

• Establish, document, and continuously improve shared financial routines, tools, and standards that enable clarity, discipline, and consistency across the team.

Strategic Influence & Operating Model Improvement

• Benchmark Target’s agency financial and working models against industry best practices; lead gap analysis, roadmap development, and business cases for improvement.

• Influence process and operating model changes that unlock agency efficiencies, improve transparency, and strengthen financial outcomes.

• Anticipate financial risks and downstream impacts across bodies of work; escalate early with clear recommendations and solutions.

Planning & Cross‑Functional Partnership

• Participate in the annual planning process, aligning agency partners, retainers, and budgets to prioritized bodies of work.

• Work cross‑functionally to monitor scope execution and proactively problem‑solve when plans shift or constraints emerge.

• Build strong, trusted relationships with internal and external partners to enable productive, positive, and accountable collaboration.

Qualifications

• 4‑year college degree in Business, Marketing, or equivalent experience

• Minimum -9 years of experience in business, media, advertising, or agency‑related roles

• Demonstrated marketing procurement or strategic sourcing experience, with expertise in agency commercial models, fee structures, retainers, scopes of work, contract negotiation, and supplier financial management.

• Strong financial acumen with experience managing complex, high‑dollar budgets and forecasts

• Proven ability to influence peers and partners without direct authority

• Highly developed written and verbal communication skills

• Strong analytical and critical‑thinking capabilities

• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word) or equivalent tools

This position will operate as a Hybrid/Flex for Your Day work arrangement based on Target’s needs. A Hybrid/Flex for Your Day work arrangement means the team member’s core role will need to be performed both onsite at the Target HQ MN location the role is assigned to and virtually, depending upon what your role, team and tasks require for that day. Work duties cannot be performed outside of the country of the primary work location, unless otherwise prescribed by Target. Click here if you are curious to learn more about Minnesota.