Director Business & Legal Affairs-Platform and Data

WELCOME TO UTOPIA

Music is incredible. It can excite hundreds, and unite thousands. But as an industry, it has been slow, complicated, and disparate. While the tech world has moved into the future, the music industry continues to be shaped by inefficient systems of the past. At Utopia we believe there is a better way. Which is why today we are setting out to transform the entire industry; creating new revenue streams, consolidating the data and decluttering the admin. Unlocking the industry’s full potential by unifying it all in one truly holistic space. Some might call that a Utopia.

Funnily enough, so do we. Welcome to Utopia. Where music lives.

WHAT UTOPIANS DO

The open secret is that the music industry is struggling with the very basics of music accounting: What was played, when and where? Who should get paid and how much?

Utopia Music is bridging the data gap by connecting global consumption, accurate metadata, and fast payments to an industry-wide trust platform. Our goal is to unlock creative value and enable Fair Pay For Every Play to make a better world for Music. The solutions we offer do not threaten to usurp the role of industry incumbents - it is about bringing transparency in the industry and supporting efficient royalty collection for all.

THE ROLE

As a Business & Legal Affairs Director at Utopia you are part of a growing professional team in the legal field creating business value and supporting the rest of the Utopia Group with legal and business affairs expertise in different domains.

The main focus of the BA team is to be a strategic business partner to Utopia and its business units. In order to achieve this objective we as a team also need to work as a business unit rather than an in-house law firm. This means we need to be structured, business-minded and strive for operational excellence. The BA team are looking for an inquisitive and talented lawyer to support the Utopia Platform, a dynamic and rapidly growing business unit within Utopia that empowers our partners and customers with the data to achieve Far Pay for Every Play.

We are looking for an experienced and highly motivated lawyer with technology, intellectual property or IT experience who would thrive on novel and complex commercial matters for our Utopia business units. The Platform unit builds an innovative robust data pipeline to enrich consumption flows with metadata, copyright and cash flows. The successful candidate must be enthusiastic about technology, enjoy challenges, and can demonstrate sound judgement in a dynamic and fast-growing business. Experience in licensing intellectual property rights is also an advantage.

The work will be international and involve contacts with external and internal stakeholders in different countries. You will be part of a team that is highly motivated and with ambitious goals for the future. You will proactively identify solutions that mitigate key risks and, even more importantly, increase likelihood that we hit our business objectives, in the contract or task at hand as well as a company. This is a unique opportunity to help grow a company, to gain responsibility and to join a company that is creator-focused and passionate about improving the music industry through data transparency. You will report to our CLO and be part of a global team.

RESPONSIBILITIES

- Able to manage multiple projects at once, follow through and meet deadlines
- Provide day-to-day legal support to the Platform business unit and develop strategies for handling legal issues in creative, efficient, and business-centric ways.
- Help the Platform business unit launch new services, features and scale up globally.
- Draft and negotiate commercial contracts whilst also positively influencing business transactions.
- Lead complex and time sensitive projects and co-ordinating internal stakeholders
and external advisors.
- Being a key player in the daily operations of the BA team, ensuring we continually
move away from short-term and reactive to long-term and strategic
- Support work on diversity, inclusion and team well-being.


REQUIREMENTS

- Approximately 10 years of significant post-qualification legal experience, with
experience at a leading law firm or in house. Qualified to practice in the UK, Europe
or a common law jurisdiction. The experience required here is indicative only so if
you don’t meet this we still encourage you to apply as applications will be
considered on merit.
- You have a passion for music, interest in the music industry and a love for tech.
- Sound and practical judgement, even in ambiguous situations, and comfortable
making high-quality decisions quickly.
- Ability to work independently and contribute successfully to a cross-functional,
global team.
- A creative, solution and data driven attitude to meet objectives and has the ability to influence, persuade and negotiate.
- Exceptional written and verbal English language skills.
- You love building relationships, having fun with colleagues and super serving
business partners and customers.
- You enjoy doing business.
- Have the ability to communicate complex issues and matters with finesse and clarity.
- You are able to see the bigger picture.



WHAT WE OFFER

- Great atmosphere - we live, love & breathe music & tech!
- Working in an impact oriented team and inclusive company culture.
- An experienced team to learn from, with proven track records in multiple startups and big tech companies.
- Our flexible remote policy provides Utopians the freedom to work either from one of our inspiring offices or from home.
- We celebrate being an international and multicultural company.
- Competitive benefits; packages depend on location. You’ll be given more details on this during the interview process.
- We are only recruiting within our European locations for this position.



THE HIRING PROCESS

- You send us your CV in English
- We invite you for an introductory video call with the Talent Acquisition team to get to know you better and share more about us
- We ask you to complete a drafting assignment at home to assess your operational skills
- Interview with CLO, who this position will report to
- Interview with a stakeholder from one of our business units that this position will collaborate closely with
- Final interview with a member of the BA team

UTOPIANS

As we want to bring transparency, trust, and clarity to the music industry we serve, we know a change comes from within. Utopia is a transparent, trust...