Director, Music Licensing Operations

Sirius XM•New York, NY

About The Position

The Director, Music Licensing Operations role is a high-visibility strategic contributor that supports the Music Licensing Team with effective decision-making, project management, and execution of strategic initiatives across the department. Provides the organizational and communication framework for team members to implement the Leadership Team’s vision and achieve the company’s annual goals. Responsible for managing and maintaining comprehensive process documentation to ensure organizational efficiency and consistency. Supports long-term content strategy and procurement projects to ensure department efficiencies that contribute to the growth of the organization and the success of the company. Must possess a growth mindset, be a creative and a results-driven thinker, an excellent problem solver, and possess strong interpersonal skills to effectively manage execution of key department initiatives across a cross-functional team. Must be a highly organized, polished communicator who is willing and able to multi-task while effectively displaying ownership of large assignments, as well as possess meticulous follow- through on day-to-day business necessities.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business management or related field; MA preferred.
10+ years relevant Music Industry experience, preferably at a DSP.
Recognized subject-matter expertise in music licensing operations, rights workflows, and scaling systems/processes (including documentation standards, controls, and change management).
Demonstrated ability to operate with wide latitude—setting objectives and approaches for critical assignments and delivering outcomes with limited oversight.
Track record of identifying and resolving ambiguous, high-complexity problems (rights, metadata, partner operations, and systems) with root-cause rigor.
Experience building business cases/ROI for tooling and process investments and driving adoption across stakeholders.
Excellent project management and reporting skills with sensitivity to time and deadline driven workflow
Must possess excellent interpersonal and communication skills (oral and written) and a knack for productive collaboration across varying departments
A fluency with, or willingness to learn, technological concepts, financial models and product features
Collaborative, team-oriented work style
Able to successfully organize and lead teams of people
Interface regularly with senior management on tactical and strategic priorities with the necessary levels of confidentiality
Self-motivated and solution-oriented with an ability to prioritize workload, independently and in a fast-paced environment
Detail-oriented, Analytical, and organizational
Proven creative thinker and strategic planner
Impeccable time management and multi-tasking skills
Proven problem solver who can make clear-headed decisions while under pressure
Experience with automation and/or AI tools such as chatGPT, Gemini, etc.
Must have legal right to work in the U.S.

Responsibilities

Serve as a thought partner and strategic advisor to Music Licensing leadership on licensing operations, developing solutions to critical issues and broad design matters affecting current and future licensing capabilities.
Build and maintain formal networks with key decision-makers across the company (and, where relevant, externally) to align priorities and drive outcomes.
Anticipate internal/external business challenges (including partner, platform, or regulatory shifts) and recommend process/product/service improvements to protect and scale licensing operations.
Define success metrics and report progress for major initiatives (cycle time, compliance/audit readiness, metadata quality, automation coverage, partner onboarding time).
Lead high-visibility programs from strategy through implementation (roadmaps, governance, milestones, risk management, change adoption) and ensure action items are executed on behalf of Music Licensing Team leadership.
Identify inefficiencies of legacy systems through a comprehensive review process.
Recommend and procure third-party tools that can address inefficiency issues and offer additional benefits across differing aspects of the music team and potentially company-wide.
Develop and implement a robust process documentation strategy to capture and record all critical business processes and workflows.
Periodically review and manage updates to existing process documentation to ensure accuracy and relevance.
Operate at a tactical, strategic, and operational level, handling the oversight of projects that do not neatly fit within the organizational chart.
Build and run cadence for team meetings.
Proactively follow up on projects and with the team members if goals are not being achieved to determine why objectives are not being met. Provide actionable recommendations where needed.
Develop policies to promote a positive department culture.
Assist with the ongoing enhancements of our content management systems with an emphasis on documentation, data integrity and automation.
Coordinate setup and integrations with new partners.
Troubleshoot rights management, metadata, and asset issues with existing digital partners.
Support employee training of new process, workflows, and information policies for Licensing.
Collaborate with Label and Artist Relations, Programming, and Marketing to help facilitate music initiatives and promotions.