VP Legal Employment & Compliance Counsel

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.

About Our Legal Team: At Universal Music Group, we shape culture through the power of artistry. Our artists move the world. Our people make that possible. Our Legal team enables our artist-first business to operate with confidence and integrity. Working in a relationship business, we partner across labels and corporate teams, on a UK and international basis, to provide clear, commercially focused employment advice and robust compliance frameworks that support creativity, performance and long-term growth.

As Vice President, Employment Legal and Compliance, you will be a senior leader at the heart of the business, shaping employment legal strategy and strengthening compliance frameworks across a dynamic creative organisation. Balancing pace and ambition with rigour and care, you will help enable confident decision-making while protecting our people, our values and our reputation.

Legal & Compliance – Universal Music Group UK and International: We are Universal Music Group – the world’s leading music-based entertainment company. We exist to shape culture through the power of artistry, helping UK and international artists produce, distribute, publish and promote the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful music to inspire and entertain fans at home and around the world. Our Legal & Compliance team is central to that mission, acting as strategic partners to our labels, artists and corporate teams, protecting creativity, enabling commercial ambition and ensuring we operate with integrity in a fast-moving global industry.

The function provides end-to-end legal expertise across the full music ecosystem, including artist and recording agreements, digital and brand partnerships, copyright and IP protection, corporate transactions, employment law, compliance and dispute resolution. Combining deep legal knowledge with commercial acumen, the team safeguards rights, manages risk and structures opportunity so that creativity can thrive responsibly and successfully at scale.

A day in the life: This is a visible, high-impact role operating across a dynamic creative organisation.

You Will:

• Advise executive and senior leaders, people business partners and Legal colleagues on complex and high-profile employment matters including day-to-day advisory work, restructures, investigations, senior exits, policy issues and organisational change.
• Lead on the most sensitive and high-risk employment law issues, bringing sound judgement, strategic perspective and commercial pragmatism.
• Oversee employment tribunal claims and other contentious matters, managing external counsel where required.
• Guide disciplinary, grievance, redundancy and TUPE processes with clarity and fairness.
• Review and shape employment policies in line with UK legislation, business priorities and inclusive best practice.
• Monitor regulatory developments and strengthen employment compliance and governance frameworks.
• Provide oversight and direction on day-to-day conflict of interest compliance processes.
• Work across UK and international teams to deliver a seamless employment law and compliance service.
• Translate legal complexity into practical, balanced advice that enables confident decision-making while protecting our people and our reputation.

Your impact:

• Provide strategic, risk-based employment law advice to senior stakeholders and people business partners.
• Lead on high-risk and sensitive matters with sound judgement, credibility and integrity.
• Strengthen employment compliance and governance across the UK business.
• Support the development of fair, transparent and inclusive people practices.
• Contribute to the wider Legal function and cross-functional initiatives.

Your expertise will help create a workplace that is legally robust, commercially confident and aligned to our values.

Who Will Thrive Here: We welcome applications from qualified solicitors or barristers in England and Wales with strong employment law experience, gained in private practice and/or in-house.

You Will Bring:

• Deep knowledge of UK employment law and some experience of international jurisdictions.
• Experience advising senior stakeholders and people business partners on complex matters.
• The ability to manage sensitive situations in a calm and professional manner.
• Strong analytical skills, strategic perspective and sound commercial judgement.
• The ability to communicate clearly and influence with credibility, driven by the development of strong relationships.
• A collaborative approach and commitment to inclusive practice.
• An understanding of working internationally across US, ME and Asia time zones.

You do not need prior music industry experience. If you are excited by the opportunity to apply your expertise in a creative, fast-moving environment, we encourage you to apply.

If you meet most of the criteria and believe you could add value in this role, we would love to hear from you.

Why Join Us: 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, publish and promote critically acclaimed and commercially successful music that inspires and entertains audiences at home and around the world. Rooted in the UK and connected globally, we are an artist-first business. Our people build varied, impactful careers that directly contribute to the future of music and culture.

Reward And Benefits At UMG UK: Our UReward Offering Includes:

• Financial: Group Income Protection, Life Assurance, Pension Scheme, Mortgage Advice Service.
• Health and Wellbeing: Private Medical Insurance, Annual Health Assessment, Calm App subscription, Digital Private GP scheme.
• Family Friendly: Equal Family Leave Policy, Elder Care Concierge Service, Family Leave Coaching Partner and Carer’s Network.
• Music, Tech and Perks: Apple Music annual subscription, Discounts and cashback rewards platform, Employee free products, Long Service Awards.

This is a snapshot of our industry-leading benefits. Your Talent Acquisition Partner can share further details.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging: The best way to flourish in our ever-changing industry is to build teams that reflect the diversity of our artists, audiences and communities. We are committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone can belong, express themselves authentically and bring something unique to our shared passion for music. We value different perspectives and experiences, and we actively work to ensure that all colleagues feel seen, supported, respected and heard.

If you require any adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know.

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.