Junior Programme Manager

This is a Full Time Job

Job title: Junior Programme ManagerResponsible to: Innovation Manager, Abbey Road RedDepartment: Abbey Road RedLocation of work: Abbey Road StudiosIt'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.The A Side: Abbey Road RedAbbey Road Red is Abbey Road Studios' music technology incubation programme.Our aim is to help talented start-up founders introduce the next set of universally adopted technologies into the music business value chain from creation to consumption, in the same way our predecessors did for audio in the Record Engineering Development Department (REDD) with inventions like the Redd .17 desk, regarded as the blueprint for the modern recording console, and against the backdrop of other innovations within Abbey Road Studios' walls like the invention of stereo, automatic double tracking and much more.The first of its kind in Europe and at the forefront of the music technology landscape since launch in 2015, our programme has incubated 17 music tech start-ups spanning music creation to consumption and creating new innovations in smart instruments, production tools, generative and adaptive music and lyric engines, royalty reporting, advanced music track classification, immersive experiences, the metaverse and more. Our alumni have raised more than $70m with a collective valuation of over $300m and made pioneering deals across the music, technology, media and consumer industries. We have just experienced our first alumnus acquisition.We aim to incubate between four and eight start-ups in any year. In the role of Junior Programme Manager you will work closely with Abbey Road Red's Innovation Manager helping to scout and run the incubation programme as well as manage Red's research and knowledge sharing activities.The B Side: A Day in the LifeStart-up Scouting:
• Scan and scout the music technology start-up landscape and create and maintain a database of all companies and activity
• Assimilate information from technology and music news sources daily to form a view on the industry and tech trends gaining traction
• Proactively approach promising start-ups to learn more about their businesses, technology and financing
• Work with Innovation Manager to develop a funnel of opportunity and develop filtering criteria for selection onto the incubation programme
• Maintain and build relationships with founders and Red's network of experts & mentors
• Continuously develop Red's scouting processes, platforms and network of sources to ensure ''no stone is left unturned'' Start-up Incubation:
• Help manage Red's start-up diligence process from initial pitch to the Abbey Road Red team to deep commercial, technical and financial analysis
• Help build presentations and incubation pitches to our Advisory Board for discussion and voting
• Manage the start-up onboarding process and drafting incubation frameworks
• Help manage and deliver the incubation programme including scheduling, attending and producing meetings and workshops; recording insights and next steps; delivering follow-up actions
• Help produce the Abbey Road Red Demo Day in Studio Two each year to showcase the start-ups from the incubation programmeKnowledge sharing, internal and external
• Identify and share music tech trends and key insights with the Red team informally and in regular written updates or presentations to Red's stakeholders
• Help produce knowledge sharing events including Abbey Road Red Talks
• Manage the creative content for Abbey Road Red such as blog posts on the Abbey Road Studios website and social media posts on our own channelsPerson Specification
• Loves music and technology, has an interest in how technology can be used to add value and solve problems across the music industry
• Experience in the start-up world, whether in a start-up, business development or advising start-ups
• Curious with a growth mindset, driven to continuously learn new things and keep up with tech trends and the start-up landscape
• Highly analytical and research driven, experience writing critically
• Exceptionally well organised with a keen eye for detail - loves spreadsheets, lists, organising and archiving, comfortable managing a large volume of emails, messages and conversations
• Adept communicator with an ability to build relationships with an eclectic mix of talent / executives
• Proven ability to thrive in a dynamic working environment with new learnings and challenges every week
• Self-starter displaying strong initiative and 'lean-in' tendencies, able to manage own downtime productively
• Ability to present complex concepts in succinct, exciting and approachable manner
• Proficient using Microsoft Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, Excel (ideally with good experience in advanced Excel tasks) and has used WordPress; happy to learn and use other project and content management toolsDesirable but non-essential:
• Strong understanding of the music value chain and the different processes and technologies which underpin it from creation to distribution and consumption
• Has experience in incubation or accelerator programmes
• Has experience using a range of music and audio software and hardware and be familiar with commonly used audio-visual tools and technologies
• Is familiar with areas of emerging technologies in areas like machine learning and artificial intelligence, creator tools, loudspeaker design, content platforms, wellness, metaverse platforms and contextual tech, gaming and Web3
• Has knowledge and appreciation of the history of recording and production technologiesBonus 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 thejobholder'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.