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: A Day in The Life

As Director, Insight and Strategy at The Square–our dedicated in-house agency unit–you will play a crucial role in connecting our artists with their audiences, using information, insights, and creative ideas to propel careers forward.

Leading a specialist team of insight and strategy experts, you will work across the entire Universal Music UK roster, from emerging talent to global superstars.

Your work will inform and inspire every aspect of our artist support, including marketing, commercial strategy, brand partnerships, e-commerce, and release planning.

Working alongside The Square’s MD, you will be responsible for:

• Embedding audience-driven thinking into everything we do
• Interpreting data to extract meaningful insights that benefit labels and artists
• Leading valuable research, trends, and insight projects for the wider organisation
• Ensuring all artist campaigns are built around a clear and compelling creative brief
• Bringing critical thinking to data, planning, and strategy–assessing value, improving presentation, and enhancing communication
• Managing stakeholder engagement across data and strategy–ensuring labels, artists, and partners receive the insights they need

Your day to day at Universal Music Group

In this exciting opportunity at UMG, you can expect to lead on:

Strategic Thinking

• You are a critical thinker with a passion for culture, music, and people
• You are comfortable working with both qualitative and quantitative data
• You are skilled at connecting different sources of information to create clarity and structure
• You are a natural problem solver

Creativity & Innovation

• You can craft compelling narratives and arguments from data
• You can develop new products, services, and capabilities for The Square
• You will collaborate closely with label executives to bring insights to life
• You are proactive in identifying new opportunities and driving innovation
• You are sensitive to artistry and the creative process

Collaboration & Relationship Building

• You will work effectively with The Square team, wider marketing organisation, labels, and artists
• You build strong relationships with artists and their managers
• You can develop international networks across the organisation
• You bring together different specialisms to achieve a common goal

Communication

• You can translate complex data into actionable insight, engaging stakeholders across the business
• You simplify complexity and presents insight and strategy with clarity
• You are confident in delivering presentations to a broad range of stakeholder

Operational Effectiveness

• You can manage multiple, sometimes competing, stakeholders across labels and the wider organisation
• You help focus and prioritise the efforts of the Data Science and Analytics team

Skills and Experience Required

• Experience working in senior strategic roles - agency or client side
• A strong understanding of basic principles of strategy, consulting and marketing
• A natural communicator - personable and engaging
• Experience working with a range of data sets - quantitative and qualitative
• A passion for, and broad understanding of media and creative industries
• A knowledge and interest in music across a wide variety of styles & genres
• Organised and conscientious
• Ability to manage time effectively and work to deadlines
• Be proactive and show initiative when required

Note - you do not have to have worked in music before. But we are keen that you have a nuanced understanding of how capabilities like this are best applied to worlds of creativity, content + artistry.

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 available
• 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.

Job Category:

Data, Analytics & Business Intelligence