Senior Release Manager – 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.

Main Purpose of Role

Universal Music Group is the world’s leading music company. In everything we do, we are committed to artistry, innovation and entrepreneurship. We own and operate a broad array of businesses engaged in recorded music, music publishing, merchandising, and audiovisual content in more than 60 countries. The Senior New Release Manager will be responsible for managing an allocated label portfolio of all new release activities end-to-end for all physical and digital formats. From product inception through to the catalogue hand-over 4 weeks post release date, they will create, manage and maintain all master-data in our production and planning systems to aid the successful execution of the new release critical path. They will also take ownership and responsibility of master-data accuracy (project and BoM), asset collection and hand-off to our physical and digital partners, procurement (components, finished goods), and delivery tracking for a successful on-time delivery into our customers. They will participate in ad hoc projects outside of their day to day activities and will participate in supply chain meetings as well as regular meetings with the team’s key stakeholders including labels, suppliers and customer services.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage, support, mentor and lead a team of New Release Managers.
• Point of contact to the label, suppliers, digital accounts and wider Supply Chain Group for daily release planning and execution.
• To manage and own the end to end management of Universal releases & projects for both Physical and Digital formats.
• Manage all relevant masterdata in UMGI physical and digital systems including release dates, territorial rights, exclusivity periods, campaigns and terms of use.
• Liaise with key internal stakeholders including: marketing, sales, digital accounts, A&R, customer services and finance on a daily basis. Update all relevant parties as to the progress of the release schedules.

Detailed Responsibilities

• Personnel Management
  • Will be responsible for overseeing team of New Release Managers.
  • Will play an essential role towards leading and delivering change within supply chain.
  • Know when to escalate and troubleshoot issues guiding the team of new release managers.
• Project Initiation
  • Lead supplier and label scheduling meetings.
  • Collaborate with Labels, Commercial Affairs and Marketing to assist with gathering new release information in order to improve planning accuracy and product availability.
  • Scheduling releases with all relevant stakeholders and advise on lead-times in order to meet the intended pre order and or release dates.
• Project Creation
  • Set, manage & update campaigns for all digital releases. Set, manage & update and ensure delivery to all applicable partners & territories.
  • Create product, relating bill of materials, territory restrictions, product pricing, retail exclusivity and embargo requirements for all releases.
  • Source, process (QC, approval and ingestion) and upload all relevant audio & artwork images, working closely with A&R and marketing.
  • Advise on changes to product outfit to reduce package costs or escalating to senior management for approval.
  • Mfg. transfer and retail pricing set-up and compliance.
• Project Hand-Off and Execution
  • Managing the approval and signoff of completed artwork, audio and barcode validation.
  • Ensuring the delivery of audio, video and graphics to printers and manufacturers in a timely manner and communicating this information via systems and meetings.
  • Ensuring timely new release milestone management, monitoring planning accuracy (critical path forecast vs actual).
  • Canvass and forecasting Management: Canvass creation and management to ensure forecast and purchase order accuracy and purchase at optimal inventory levels. Collaboration with key internal stakeholders (label/commercial affairs) to reduce inventory risk on high value product.
  • Procurement: test pressing, components and finished goods. Ensure POs are placed at the correct suppliers considering supplier commitments, as well as optimal quantities considering inventory coverage and price breaks.
  • Monitor delivery of releases to applicable business partners, distribution & territories within Universal & business partner’s external systems.
  • Post initial order management: monitor sales and trends to ensure there’s always stock on-hand to service sales.
  • Catalogue hand-off (lifecycle mgt. and SKU status maintenance).
  • Manage and maintain catalogue digital releases across platforms and deliver updates, expand or takedown where required.
• Reporting
  • Produce and distribute daily reporting to assist team with planning tasks.
  • Produce and distribute regular stakeholder reports.
  • Performs special projects and ad hoc analysis as requested by management or their accounts.

Person Specification

• Leadership skills.
• Ability to influence key stakeholders.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate effectively, often regarding complex issues with people at all levels, persuasive skills.
• Excellent organisational skills and time/project management skills.
• The ability to work as part of a close-knit team in a high-pressure environment and provide support to colleagues where needed.
• Experience in a production and planning role with a particular emphasis on scheduling, masterdata management, project management, manufacture planning and inventory replenishment.
• Knowledge, interest and experience of the current digital music sector. Including an understanding of current streaming, mobile and subscription deals.
• Ability to take direction and follow processes efficiently while remaining proactive.
• Solutions and results driven, conscientious, with a desire to see a job through to conclusion whilst managing numerous projects simultaneously.
• End to end understanding of physical and digital supply chain.
• Analytical.
• Attention to detail.
• A good understanding of new technologies and general developments within the music industry and the ability to adapt and change accordingly.
• Flexibility to pick up colleague’s projects at short notice.
• To be innovative and offer creative input to design and marketing.
• Good all-round understanding of Reprographics and Pre-Press.
• To be aware of and contribute ideas towards new workflows, processes and products when called upon.
• To be pro-active and reactive in a constantly evolving environment.

Technical Skills

• Good all-round Mac experience and knowledge of MS Office packages.
• Good working knowledge of the following:
• Adobe Creative Cloud
• Microsoft Excel
• SAP
• Knowledge of digital transmission carriers WamNet, FTP, Aspera
• All round knowledge of chart rules and DVD certification guidelines for International markets
• Systems: DART, SAP, CPRS, SPW MS Business Objects, DiGS, RWS, iTC, DWS, R2, GRS, Scatman, ASPEN

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.