Talent Manager Jobs in Illinois
Talent Manager jobs in Illinois are active and competitive, concentrated in entertainment management, sports representation, corporate talent acquisition, and performing arts development, with openings at every level from entry-level coordinator to senior director. Chicago anchors the market by far, with additional activity in Evanston and Naperville, and well-established employers like United Center management, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, and Publicis Groupe regularly seek talent managers for their Illinois operations. The most in-demand specialties are corporate talent strategy, artist and athlete representation, and HR-integrated talent development. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
Find Talent Manager JobsOverview
Showing 5 of 26+ Talent Manager jobs









Excel Sports Management is an industry-leading sports agency representing top-tier talent, blue-chip brands and marquee properties. Our success is rooted in our people, our high character reputation and our commitment to creating a diverse and welcoming workplace. We focus on team chemistry, collaboration, strong relationships, valuable networks, and ambitious ideas to deliver innovative solutions that keep our clients and agency ahead of the curve.
Excel Sports Management is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE).
Position Summary: We are looking for a Senior Manager, Talent Marketing Analytics to serve as the dedicated analytics partner for our Talent Sales and Marketing teams. This role can be based in our West Hollywood, New York or Chicago offices. While this role is an internal client-facing, insight-delivery position, there is a parallel mandate related to how this work is conceived, developed and deployed: you will own the measurement frameworks, benchmarking methodologies, and analytical standards that make your work credible and scalable. The ideal candidate is a sharp analytical storyteller who understands the creator economy from a data perspective: how performance is measured, what benchmarks mean, where data comes from, and how to package it into a story that moves a deal forward. You are equally comfortable in a pitch room and a spreadsheet, and you bring the rigor to back up every narrative you build.
Role and Responsibilities:
Client-Facing Insight & Pitch Support
- Serve as the primary analytics partner for Talent Sales and Marketing, collaborating with Analytics and Talent Sales colleagues to define and evolve our mix of standard and customized analytics services
- Embed into pitch development, client commercial strategy initiatives, and client renewal conversations to provide data-driven narratives and measurement insights that demonstrate client value and marketability.
- Surface trends, benchmarks, and audience insights that help talent teams identify new business opportunities, position clients competitively, and articulate unique value in the marketplace.
- Collaborate with Sales Operations to evolve and manage the intake and prioritization process for new deliverables
- Partner with internal Analytics peers along with Talent Sales & Marketing colleagues to define measurement approaches for endorsement deals, more tactical paid media campaigns and emerging formats, ensuring the agency can report effectively on the work it sells.
Measurement Frameworks & Capability Development
- Design and own the measurement frameworks that define how talent performance is evaluated across the agency — including KPI architecture, benchmark development, data standardization, and methodology documentation.
- Develop and maintain standardized, scalable Analytics solutions that give account and talent teams consistent, reliable sources of client insights across key use cases such as audience profiling, brand fit analysis, commercial opportunity landscapes and others as appropriate
- Build methodologies for sentiment analysis, brand conversation tracking, earned media valuation, and audience quality assessment — ensuring all approaches are documented, repeatable, and defensible in client-facing contexts.
- Lead the evaluation and selection of third-party analytics vendors and platforms (e.g., CreatorIQ, Brandwatch, ListenFirst and audience insights solutions); serve as the internal owner and day-to-day expert for the agency's talent/creator analytics tool stack.
- Work closely with Analytics team partners to communicate analytical requirements, inform what data gets captured and surfaced, and ensure infrastructure decisions reflect the needs of the measurement function.
- Stay current on developments in talent/creator analytics, platform data capabilities, and measurement industry standards, continuously identifying opportunities to close gaps and strengthen the agency's analytical capabilities.
Team & Cross-Functional Leadership
- Develop and nurture relationships with a diverse set of key stakeholders across talent sales, talent marketing, client management, brand marketing and Analytics
- Collaborate closely with relevant internal Talent and Analytics stakeholders to align analytical priorities with business needs and client commitments.
- Serve as the internal subject matter expert on talent, creator and influencer measurement, educating partners across the agency on best practices, platform KPIs, and evolving industry standards.
Education and Experince:
- 5–7 years of experience in analytics, measurement, or insights roles with a strong focus on talent, creator or influencer marketing, ideally in a sports or entertainment environment
- Demonstrated track record in client-facing analytics work — building pitch materials, presenting performance narratives, and advising on measurement strategy for talent or creator clients
- Proven experience designing measurement frameworks and benchmarking systems from scratch, not just executing against existing ones.
- Agency or talent industry background strongly preferred; comfort working in a fast-paced, client-service environment with multiple concurrent priorities is essential.
- Experience working alongside data engineering or technology teams to translate analytical needs into system requirements without directly owning the technical build.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
Technical & Analytical Skills
- Deep fluency with creator and influencer analytics platforms, including hands-on experience with a range of tools such as creator discovery/analytics, organic/paid content performance, social listening, audience insight and other relevant platforms.
- Strong proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint, along with a demonstrated capability to effectively leverage advance AI tools to accelerate and elevate your work
- Working knowledge of social platform native analytics across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, and emerging platforms.
- Familiarity with data pipeline concepts, API-based data sourcing, and platform data infrastructure sufficient to inform analytical design and communicate requirements to technical partners.
- Experience with social listening, sentiment analysis, earned media value (EMV) frameworks, and audience quality assessment methodologies.
- Comfort aggregating data across multiple vendor sources; SQL or Python proficiency is a plus, not a requirement.
Storytelling & Communication
- Exceptional ability to translate complex, multi-source data into clear, visually compelling narratives tailored to both creative and business audiences.
- Proven experience building pitch materials and performance decks that drive decisions — not just decks that report on them.
- Strong verbal communication and stakeholder management skills; comfortable presenting to C-suite and senior client audiences.
Creator Economy Fluency
- Genuine understanding of the creator economy: how creators build audiences, what drives engagement, how brand partnerships are valued, and what metrics actually matter to brands versus what gets over-reported.
- Awareness of the evolving platform landscape and its implications for measurement, including the shift away from vanity metrics toward business outcome attribution.
The pay range for this position is: $110,000 per year - $120,000 per year. This position is also eligible for benefits and discretionary bonus.
Ultimately, the salary may vary based upon, but not limited to, relevant experience, time in role, business sector, and geographic location, among other criteria.
This position is not eligible for sponsorship.
Excel Sports Management provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, leaves of absence, compensation and training.
See All 26 Talent Manager Jobs in Illinois
Find roles in Illinois that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Talent Manager JobsTalent Manager Jobs by City in Illinois
Where Illinois roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Talent Manager Job Market in Illinois
A snapshot from current Illinois openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring



Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software
- Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals
What Illinois Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in talent manager jobs across Illinois.
- Bachelor's degree in human resources, business administration, or a related field required
- Three or more years of experience in talent management, recruitment, or HR business partnering
- Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with candidates, agents, or internal stakeholders
- Proficiency with applicant tracking systems such as Workday, Greenhouse, or iCIMS
- Strong negotiation and contract review skills relevant to talent agreements or offer processes
- Experience collaborating with cross-functional teams including legal, finance, and department heads
Talent Manager Jobs in Illinois: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a talent manager in Illinois?
Becoming a talent manager in Illinois typically starts with a bachelor's degree in human resources, communications, business, or performing arts management. Illinois does not require a state-issued license for most talent management roles, but those working as talent agents representing artists or athletes must register with the Illinois Department of Labor under the Illinois Employment Agency Act. Building experience through HR coordinator, recruiter, or artist liaison roles at Chicago-based agencies, entertainment companies, or large corporate employers is the most direct path.
How much do talent managers make in Illinois?
Talent managers in Illinois earn a median of about $56,560 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $31,200 for the lowest 10% to over $124,720 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire talent managers in Illinois?
Employers hiring talent managers in Illinois right now include CDW, OFI, and AXIOM, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of August 2026. Chicago's concentration of Fortune 500 headquarters, entertainment agencies, and hospitality groups makes it one of the more consistently active markets for this role in the Midwest.
Which Illinois cities have the most talent manager jobs?
Chicago, Rosemont, and Elgin have the most talent manager openings in Illinois. Chicago's size and its mix of corporate headquarters, advertising agencies, sports organizations, and performing arts institutions drives the bulk of demand, while suburban areas like Naperville and Evanston generate openings tied to large regional employers and university-affiliated organizations headquartered there.
Are there remote talent manager jobs in Illinois?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 58% of talent manager openings tied to Illinois are remote or hybrid as of August 2026, reflecting the role's reliance on digital communication, video interviews, and cloud-based HR platforms. The functions most likely to be fully remote are corporate talent acquisition and HR business partnering, while artist representation and on-site HR roles tend to require more in-person presence.
How can I get hired as a talent manager in Illinois with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is landing an HR coordinator or recruiting coordinator role at a Chicago-area employer that has a clear internal promotion track into talent management. Large Illinois employers like Northwestern Medicine, United Airlines, and Kraft Heinz run structured early-career HR programs and rotational associate opportunities that place candidates without deep experience into talent functions. Lateral moves from adjacent roles in entertainment coordination, talent agency assistance, or campus recruiting are also common entry points, and completing a Professional in Human Resources credential strengthens any application.
Where can I find and apply to talent manager jobs in Illinois?
You can find and apply to talent manager jobs in Illinois on Migrate Mate, which lists current Illinois openings across corporate, entertainment, and nonprofit employers. Find the roles that fit your background and apply directly through the listings.
See All 26 Talent Manager Jobs in Illinois
Find roles in Illinois that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Talent Manager Jobs