Senior Creative Manager - Brand Partnerships (12-Month)

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

Universal Music Group For Brands (UMGB) is currently seeking a 12‑month Fixed Term Contract Creative Manager (Brand Partnerships) who knows how to tell stories, on any platform, that drives engagement. They have their finger on the pulse of creative trends in digital marketing. A conceptual thinker that has pitched, developed, and launched award‑winning integrated 360 campaigns for a variety of well‑known brands. Also, they excel at building strong cross‑functional relationships in a fast‑paced and innovative organization like ours.

The B Side: Skills & Experience

• Be Creative: As a Senior Creative, you’ll lead the development of engaging concept decks to sell through ideas to clients that translate brand objectives into culturally relevant creative concepts that fit brand tone and ensure alignment with client KPIs. Lead campaign creative from idea to pitch and through delivery, ensuring the creative is in line with the vision for the campaign, the client’s brand guidelines, and cultural strategy. Manage multiple client briefs and deliverables simultaneously to meet tight deadlines in a fast‑paced environment. Successfully managing and guiding both internal and external resources (teams, freelancers, agencies, vendors, etc.). Lead and actively contribute to brainstorms across clients and new business opportunities. Oversee and lead production vendor briefing sessions that serve as detailed creative guidelines, then provide creative, actionable feedback on treatments or asset delivery.
• Be Commercial: Stay up to date with creative trends and the competitive landscape to inspire and motivate the wider team. Exceptional design aesthetic, ensuring all creative output adheres to brand and artist standards. Lead concepts with visually compelling pitch decks and verbally communicate how the creative vision will help achieve business goals both internally and to clients.
• Be Collaborative: Must have a team‑player attitude and be a culture ambassador, both internally and externally. Lead with curiosity. Ask questions, demonstrate a constant desire to learn, and remain open to new ways of thinking and unpopular opinions. Mentor and manage junior employees through close collaboration, ensuring they elevate creative work while meeting client expectations and deadlines.

Person Specification Necessary:

• 5+ years of agency or similar brand partnership experience.
• Able to demonstrate originality, innovation, and feature a wide range of creative work for a variety of well‑known brands or agencies.
• Excellent copywriting and design skills used to communicate concepts effectively, delivering exceptional pitch proposals that get results.
• A positive and collaborative member of the team who works well with others and within short timeframes.
• Proven track record collaborating with motion designers, technologists, live production teams, product designers, and vendors to seamlessly execute projects – with a clear understanding of budgeting and scheduling.
• Able to take the initiative and proactively come to the table with new ideas to push forward the creative work for clients and strengthen market relationships.
• Solid organisational skills, able to hit deadlines, and can manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Proactively contribute to the culture of the UMG FOR BRANDS team and participate in activities that foster team spirit.
• Strong knowledge and experience with key ‘presentation’ programs. PowerPoint (occasionally Keynote) and design tools such as Photoshop/InDesign, or similar.
• An evident love 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.