Legal and Business Affairs Manager – Central Legal Team (Recorded Music)

Music is Universal

Its the passionate and dedicated team at Universal Music who help make us the worlds 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

The Central Legal Team part of Universal Music UKs wider Legal & Business Affairs department for recorded music provides legal and business affairs support across our core central operations.

Our remit spans a wide range of functions including:

Commercial teams (digital and commerce)

Globe UMGs award-winning brand partnerships division

UMR UMGs renowned catalogue team

Universal Music Ireland

Abbey Road Studios

Artist Relations & Events

Core Universal Music UK business and board (including general commercial M&A joint ventures and artist rights agreements)

We are a central hub supporting and collaborating with almost every part of Universal Music UK working closely with teams across the business as well as partnering with our frontline label Legal & Business Affairs colleagues.

The Role

We are seeking a talented and ambitious Solicitor to join our Central Legal Team. This role offers a broad and varied scope working across multiple areas of Universal Music UKs business.

From brand partnerships to corporate transactions artist rights to live events your work will cover the full spectrum of music and entertainment law. While some responsibilities will be transactional this position offers the chance to grow into a trusted advisor role supporting the business as it evolves and helping shape its future direction.

This is a unique opportunity to gain exposure to the inner workings of the worlds leading music entertainment company while developing both your legal expertise and commercial acumen in a truly dynamic industry.

Key Responsibilities

Drafting negotiating and advising on agreements covering:

General commercial (commerce digital suppliers)

Brand partnerships and activations

General corporate (including M&A and joint ventures)

Artists and labels

Live performances and musicals

Competitions and promotional campaigns

Events and experiential projects

Producers remixers mixers featured artists and samples

Overseeing and administering:

Deals from inception to completion

Deal approvals and internal processes

Rights management systems

What Were Looking For

Qualified Solicitor in England & Wales with a strong academic background

Some experience in music media or entertainment law (in-house or private practice) helpful but not essential

A self-starter who enjoys working across multiple teams and building strong relationships across the business

A true generalist excited by variety and comfortable switching between different types of legal and commercial work

Commercially minded confident with numbers and not afraid to think outside the box

Organised adaptable and proactive with a collaborative approach

Why Join Us

An exceptional opportunity to launch or grow a long-term career with the worlds leading music entertainment company

Exposure to a constantly evolving exciting and creative industry

A varied and challenging role spanning multiple areas of law and business

The chance to work alongside a young dynamic and diverse team in a highly collaborative environment

First-hand insight into the full breadth of life at a global entertainment powerhouse

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 jobholders 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.

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