Junior Brand Manager

Music is Universal. It’s the passionate and dedicated team at Universal Music who help make us the world’s leading music company. From A&R to finance, legal to digital, sales to marketing, Universal Music is the place to grow and develop your career within a truly commercial and innovative business that leads in everything it does.

Everyone is welcome to apply for our roles, and we are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment because of gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion, belief, age, marital status, background, pregnancy, or caring responsibilities. We also recognise the importance of diversity of thought within our teams and are fully committed to embracing the talents of people with autism, dyslexia, ADHD, and other forms of neurocognitive variation. We will always seek to make appropriate adjustments to recruitment, workplaces, and work processes to be fully inclusive to people with different needs and working styles.

The A Side: A Day in The Life

UMUK Merchandise is a fast-growing music merchandise department and a key, foundational part of the business, connecting artists and fans through innovative products and experiences. The team works closely with both new and established clients to acquire and actively promote merchandise rights for UMUK-signed music acts, while creating tailored products and marketing plans for each. The business unit oversees the design and ideation of merchandise and manages a portfolio of artists, providing a broad scope of services across eCommerce, tour, VIP, Fan Clubs, licensing, and retail.

This is a fast-paced role supporting the development and execution of merchandise and brand strategies across UMUK's label roster. The successful candidate will play a key role in delivering best-in-class merchandise and marketing initiatives, working closely with artists, management teams and internal departments to bring creative campaigns to life. This role offers the opportunity to develop hands-on experience across strategic planning, brand development, consumer marketing, product development and campaign execution.

The B Side: Skills & Experience

• Be Supportive & Commercial: Support Senior Brand Managers in the development and execution of artist merchandise and brand strategies. Assist in building and implementing marketing and merchandise plans that align with artist and label objectives. Work closely with artists and management teams to identify merchandise opportunities and support revenue growth. Help coordinate integrated product and marketing campaigns with Label, Touring, Sales and Direct-to-Consumer teams. Monitor campaign performance and business metrics, providing insights and recommendations to optimise results. Support the preparation of artist presentations, campaign updates and performance reports. Develop a strong understanding of artist brand positioning, audience engagement and commercial opportunities. Manage a roster of assigned artists, taking ownership of day-to-day campaign planning and execution with support from Senior Brand Managers.
• Be Organised: Coordinate the delivery of merchandise campaigns across multiple departments and territories. Assist with the management of product development timelines, approvals and launch schedules. Ensure artist approvals are obtained efficiently across all project milestones. Maintain product information, creative assets and campaign documentation. Ensure campaigns are delivered accurately, on time and in line with agreed brand standards.
• Be Creative: Contribute ideas for merchandise collections, product concepts and marketing initiatives. Brief and collaborate with creative teams to develop artwork, packaging and campaign assets. Research consumer trends, fashion, culture and competitor activity to identify new opportunities. Support the development of creative materials that are on-brand, commercially effective and legally compliant. Assist with testing and evaluating new product concepts and merchandising opportunities.

Person Specification

• Essential: Experience in brand marketing, product marketing, merchandising, licensing, consumer products or a related field. Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously. Demonstrated ability to support campaigns from planning through to execution. Understanding of consumer marketing principles and audience engagement strategies. Strong communication and relationship-building skills with both internal and external stakeholders. Commercial awareness and an interest in how marketing activity drives business performance. Passion for music, artist brands and popular culture. Awareness of current fashion, retail and consumer trends. Confident working cross-functionally within a fast-paced environment. Strong analytical skills and ability to interpret performance data. Self-motivated, proactive and eager to learn. Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Collaborative team player with strong attention to detail. Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Desirable: Experience working with merchandise, consumer products, e-commerce or direct-to-consumer businesses. Experience supporting product development or creative projects. Knowledge of music industry marketing, touring or artist management. Experience tracking budgets and understanding basic P&L principles. Experience working with social media, digital marketing or fan engagement campaigns.

About UMG UK

We are Universal Music Group UK – the UK’s leading music-based entertainment company. We exist to shape culture through the power of artistry. We help UK artists produce, distribute and promote the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful music to inspire and entertain fans at home and around the world.

Bonus Tracks: Your Benefits

• Group Personal Pension Scheme (between 3% and 9%)
• Private Medical Insurance
• 25 paid days of annual leave
• Interest Free Season Ticket Loan
• Holiday Purchase scheme
• Dental and Travel Insurance options
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Salary Sacrifice Cars
• Subsidised Gym Membership
• Employee Discounts (Reward Gateway)

Just So You Know… The company presents this job description as a guide to the major areas and duties for which the jobholder is accountable. However, the business operates in an environment that demands change and the jobholder’s specific responsibilities and activities will vary and develop. Therefore, the job description should be seen as indicative and not as a permanent, definitive, and exhaustive statement.