International Operations Manager in London

Can you translate agreed priorities into clear operational plans, develop a small team and coordinate day-to-day delivery across International and its partner teams? If you enjoy managing and developing people, keeping delivery on track, anticipating risks and improving processes, controls and systems, this is an opportunity to help maximise international revenue for PPL’s members.

About the Team

PPL’s International team helps maximise international revenue for our members by working with collective management organisations around the world. Working closely with Repertoire, Distribution, Finance, Technology, Member Services and other partner teams, we coordinate the operational activity needed to support accurate, timely and reliable delivery. Clear plans, accurate information and strong working relationships are central to our success.

What you’ll be doing

Reporting to the Head of International, you’ll turn agreed priorities into detailed operational plans and coordinate day-to-day delivery across the team and its partner departments. You’ll manage and develop two International Operations Specialists, balancing workloads and ensuring agreed service levels are met. Combining hands-on coordination with sound judgement, you’ll keep commitments on track, provide clear reporting and implement approved improvements to processes, controls and systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and maintain the International operations plan, turning recurring activity, agreed initiatives and ad hoc requests into realistic schedules with clear milestones, owners and dependencies, in line with priorities and resources agreed with the Head of International.
• Coordinate delivery across International and partner teams, agreeing responsibilities, handovers, service expectations and delivery dates so everyone knows what needs to happen and when.
• Lead, coach and develop two International Operations Specialists, setting clear objectives, allocating work and supporting performance, quality and effective coverage across priorities.
• Manage workflow queues so enquiries and work requests are allocated, progressed, resolved or escalated within agreed service levels, with complete and accurate Salesforce records.
• Track operational risks, issues and dependencies, follow through on agreed mitigation and remediation actions, and escalate material concerns and decisions requiring the Head of International’s approval.
• Lead regular scheduling meetings with International and aligned departments, track actions and commitments, and escalate unresolved priority, capacity or timing conflicts to the Head of International.
• Create accurate dashboards, schedules and operational reports that give the Head of International a clear view of progress, capacity, quality, deadlines, risks and decisions needed.
• Manage agreed operational workstreams and implement approved process, control and system changes, supporting adoption and tracking whether they deliver their intended benefits.
• Identify and recommend practical improvements that strengthen efficiency, data quality, transparency and service delivery.

About You

You’re an organised, accountable and collaborative operations professional who brings clarity to complex work. You plan ahead, build trusted relationships and stay focused when priorities compete. With a practical approach to improvement and the confidence to offer constructive challenge, you use evidence and consistent follow-through to remove barriers and deliver accurate, timely work. You know when to resolve an issue and when to escalate it with clear options.

Essential skills and experience

• Experience creating, maintaining and reporting on detailed work schedules, operational plans or multi-team projects, with clear milestones and realistic deadlines.
• Experience managing and developing people, including setting objectives, balancing workloads, coaching team members and monitoring performance and quality.
• A track record of coordinating delivery across teams, clarifying ownership, tracking dependencies and appropriately escalating competing priorities or resource constraints.
• Experience analysing and documenting operational processes and implementing approved process, control or continuous-improvement changes with measurable benefits.
• Strong analytical skills, including working with complex datasets and applying business rules to identify trends, risks and actions that support operational decisions.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to build effective relationships at all levels, secure timely input and produce useful plans, dashboards, status reports and concise escalation summaries.
• Confident use of Microsoft Office, including advanced Excel skills and proficiency in PowerPoint, alongside practical experience of CRM, workflow or reporting systems such as Salesforce.

Desirable experience

• Experience in music rights, collective management, repertoire, royalty collection or distribution operations.

Why work at PPL?

When you join us at PPL, you’ll become part of a community united by a love for music and a mission to make a difference by championing music rights. Some key perks include:

• Hybrid working and flexible working hours
• Work from anywhere in the world for up to two weeks per year
• Early finishes on Fridays during the summer months
• Private medical insurance, life assurance and a health cash plan
• An annual allowance towards your favourite music activity
• Free healthy breakfasts and fresh fruit every day
• Exclusive retail and gym discounts to support your wellbeing
• Season ticket loans
• Regular socials and music industry events
• Annual non-contractual bonus

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at PPL

At PPL, we believe in fairness and in creating a working environment that respects all lived experiences. We are proud to represent musicians and performers from every section of society and are committed to cultivating a workplace where everyone feels welcome, valued and able to thrive in a safe and trusted space.

About Us

Established in 1934, PPL exists to help ensure that those who invest their time, talent and money to make recorded music are fairly paid for their work. By licensing businesses and broadcasters all across the UK, and collecting royalties arising from the use of recorded music overseas, we do the heavy lifting for our members. Doing that heavy lifting are over 200 employees with a shared passion for music, who work hard behind the lights and sounds of the music industry on behalf of the many thousands of performers and record companies PPL represents.