New Release Manager, International Commercial Affairs – Kings Cross, London

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. If you need us to make any reasonable adjustments for you from application onwards, including alternatives to the online form or to disclose a neurocognitive condition, please email UniversalMusicCareers@umusic.com.

The Role

We are looking for an exceptional candidate for the role of New Release Manager, within International Commercial Affairs. This department is responsible for all commercial activity around the globe, spanning all forms of physical and digital commercial opportunities, via both traditional retail and direct to consumer activities. The role is to provide best in class international commercial management, supporting both repertoire owning labels and releasing territories globally in the release and following lifecycle of all UMG artist projects.

The role requires a natural born communicator with a keen commercial acumen, able to understand basic P&L information and use excel to a good standard, alongside excellent administration and a can-do proactive approach to label support and problem solving. Interaction is required with many other teams such as supply chain, release management, finance, international markets and external labels, so will require excellent relationship management and the ability to keep calm under pressure.

Key Responsibilities

• The primary role is to support the ownership business, ensuring that the right products, both music and merchandise are created and sold around the world at the right prices through the right channels.
• You will manage your label roster by building strong relationships with the repertoire owning labels, providing best practice advice with supporting data and international commercial knowledge to enable best in class, key artist release plans with regards to formats, timing and required assets to maximise every release.
• You will be responsible for the physical product P&L on behalf of the territories, controlling stock costs and setting pricing for both physical and digital products.
• Regular reporting back to rep owners on performance of their repertoire will be required to evaluate and further advise on future commercial opportunities.
• This role will be responsible for the communication and co-ordination of all new release plans between Commercial Affairs departments internally and internationally with the markets, requiring a high level of confidentiality.
• Liaison with supply chain on high security protocol and all high security releases to ensure the balance between stock availability, required levels of security and cost effectiveness.
• Monday.com: maintaining all releases in our project management tool, to enable clear communications with international territories.
• Reporting: Compiling accurate sales figures for reporting / forecasting.
• Cost Approvals: responsible for approving all physical product costs and setting and communicating product pricing with markets.
• Digital Download Pricing: Using the digital pricing system to price UMG product for download.

Person Specification

• Previous experience within a marketing/commercial role in music is essential.
• Experience of supply chain, D2C, release management, stock management or physical distribution is an advantage.
• Numerate with a clear focus on high quality, attention to detail.
• A born communicator who enjoys interaction with all levels in business and able to manage these relationships, confident chairing meetings, both in-person and remotely.
• Excellent ability to develop relationships.
• Proactive and a keen problem solver.
• Sales orientated and able to achieve sales targets.
• Excellent IT skills, with experience to include Excel, Presentation Tools (Keynote, PowerPoint) and Monday.com.
• Well organised with the ability to plan and deliver to tight deadlines.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Positive approach to work.
• Diligent and reliable, capable of managing and delivering on multiple projects simultaneously and to a high standard, both autonomously and as part of a team.
• Experience of working on own as well as part of a team, and with colleagues at all levels.
• Must be proficient in Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
• A passion for music.

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.