Director, Global ESG & Sustainability

Who we are:

We are UMG, the Universal Music Group. We are the world’s leading music company. We are the home for music’s greatest artists, innovators and entrepreneurs.  We own and operate a broad array of businesses engaged in recorded music, music publishing, merchandising, and audio-visual content in more than 60 countries. We identify and develop recording artists and songwriters, and we produce, distribute and promote the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful music to delight and entertain fans around the world.

Knowing that music, a powerful force for good in the world, is unique in its ability to inspire people and bring them together, we work with our artists and employees to serve our communities.

We are a Dutch–American multinational corporation with corporate headquarters in Hilversum, Netherlands and operational headquarters located in Santa Monica, California.  In September 2021 we became a public company on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.

Who you are:   

We are currently seeking a passionate, engaging and financial team player to join the ESG team. The Director, Global ESG & Sustainability position reports to the SVP and combines elements of reporting (data collection process implementation, validation, and attestation), strategy, team collaboration, and engagement of working groups to deliver and report targets aligned with business goals.

This role requires a combination of environmental reporting and cross-functional coalition building experience.  The ideal candidate is an expert in managing financial systems, data collection, and audit management, and is well versed in the major ESG reporting frameworks.  They will also have proven experience building cross-functional stakeholder engagement programs and supporting strategy development.

How the team JIVES:  

Newly formed last August just before going public, we are a growing ESG team of four committed and passionate ESG specialists based in LA, San Francisco and Portland reporting to the US CFO and EVP Controller.  We set the ESG strategy, embed it across cross-functional working groups, and report results into the Annual Report.

How you’ll CREATE:  

Strategy & Risk (10%)

• Support the SVP with development and adoption of UMG’s ESG program strategy
• Proactively capitalize on opportunities to drive implementation
• Support annual risk assessment and materiality reviews including:
  • Coordinates alignment with Internal Audit for Financial and ESG risk reviews
  • Supports leadership engagement, reviews and content submission
  • Integrates risk results into annual ESG Reporting Framework development process

Team Coordination (20%)

• Manages and develops ESG team members in alignment with stated team and organizational goals:

• • Ensures that team has clear sight lines to individual obligations and deadlines
  • Ensures team resources are aligned to maximize productivity and learning
  • Supports development of team’s deep ESG expertise and fosters a culture of learning
  • Identifies team learning opportunities and estimates plan/budgeting to execute
  • Supports staff to set and track right-size goals with reasonable timeframes and challenge
  • Develops and deploys hybrid/remote team management best practices
  • Acknowledges team member contributions and milestone accomplishments
  • Quickly identifies opportunities for and delivers critical, constructive feedback
  • Fosters a culture of high integrity, meritocracy, and accountability

Stakeholder Engagement (30%)

• Manage Cross-Functional Working Groups:

• • Be the first line of support for ESG Working Groups
  • Manage engagement calendar and agenda
  • Contribute subject matter expertise to initiatives development
  • Track working group priorities, KPIs and overall initiative portfolio, mapping the impact and progress to material topics
  • Develop system to incorporate working group initiatives and KPI progress into ESG data collection and reporting processes
  • Track and validate working group decarbonisation efforts and their impact against organizational targets

• Engage Internal Partners (Business Affairs, People Inclusion & Culture, Supply Chain, Public Policy, Communications, et al.) to:

• • Develop and coordinate strategy that advances ESG goals
  • Raise awareness of ESG commitments and progress to stakeholders, including the investment community
  • Develop content for the ESG portion of the IR website, working with internal partners to build out and refresh content
  • Develop content review process for Board and shareholder reporting

• Manage External Consultants: 

• • Evaluate and coordinate consulting efforts to support scope of work execution and reporting
  • Regularly executes proactive third-party management and reporting on third party accomplishments and on-time deliverables

Reporting (40%)

• Maintain deep understanding of ESG landscape, reporting and disclosure trends and key stakeholders including:

• • reporting and disclosure trends
  • the ratings agency ecosystem
  • reporting frameworks and standards
  • disclosure legislation
  • and peer/company best practices

• Develop Frameworks & Systems:

• • Annual development and implementation of the ESG reporting framework and indicator measurement methodologies in alignment with material topics, working group priorities, KPIs and reference reporting frameworks
  • Proactively develops process improvements and efficiencies without sacrificing data integrity and internal control compliance
  • Maintains deep knowledge of financial reporting systems and their related input requirements for ESG reporting
  • Maintains deep understanding of audit and internal control practices that support data collection, validation and process integrity
  • Configuration of reporting framework and indicator measurement methodologies in applicable systems, authoring applications and project management tools including executable, audit-ready validation procedures
  • Reporting scope determination and validation
  • Deployment of the mid-year and year-end data collection processes
  • Framework data aggregation, analysis, validation, synthesis, and reporting

• Manage Data Audit, Disclosure and Validation:

• • Maintains deep understanding of audit processes and requirements
  • Ensures delivery of validated data subject to internal control procedures
  • Support audited territories with pre-audit preparation and perform deep data validation with each audited territory
  • Prepares process and methodology documentation to support auditor understanding of ESG and reporting system internal controls
  • Delivers audit-ready raw data for auditor review
  • Reviews and coordinates audit inquiries/responses and quickly deliver data requests
  • Serves as subject matter expert (SME) on UMGs prior year disclosures, their evolution, and their impact to delivering progress on targets and commitments in current year disclosure processes

• Manage Annual Report Process:

• • Maintains the annual reporting calendar and aligns team and stakeholder deliverables to meet all deadlines
  • Support development of shareholder engagement plans
  • Draft all prep materials for management meetings with ESG investors
  • Prepares template and rolls forward content/tables as applicable
  • Drafts quality, synthesized and well-supported content and key data for each section
  • Escalates potential gaps in disclosures
  • Assigns content deliverables to stakeholders as needed
  • Obtains documented approval of final deliverables
  • Prepares draft content and instructions for reading committee
  • Validates all financial figures and fact checks and third party review
  • Integrates all reading committee, stakeholder, and third-party feedback well in advance of due dates
  • Support development of Board level reporting

Key People: 

• Position reports to: Senior Vice President, Global ESG & Sustainability, who reports into the US CEO and EVP Controller
• Position indirectly supervises: Team of 3 – Associate Director, Manager and Coordinator

Bring your VIBE: 

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree Finance, Business, Accounting or a related field
• 5-10 years relevant experience such as Corporate ESG, Financial Services, Big 4, ESG Advisory
• Public Company experience required (preferably listed in European Union or the Netherlands)

Proven Skills & Knowledge Required:

• Finance, Accounting or Investment skills
• Experience working with Audit and Finance teams
• Subject Matter Expert in carbon footprint measurement, reporting and frameworks (TCFD, CDP, SBTi)
• Experience with reporting standards and frameworks (SASB, CDP, TCFD, SBTi, UNSDG, GRI, IR, CDSB)
• Strong understanding of ESG assessments and ratings (CDP, DJSI, MSCI, Ecovadis, ISS, Sustainalytics)
• Planning & analytical - capable of quickly synthesizing large amounts of data and aligning to relevant context for management reporting
• Cross-functional leadership - builds strong team foundation and collegial, reciprocal relationships across the organization
• Communication - impeccable business writing acumen and demonstrated experience presenting to large, high-profile audiences
• Project Management - proactively resets team course to efficiently deploy team resources against shifting priorities
• Risk and materiality assessment and articulation, including gap analysis
• Advanced MS Excel & MS Word

Skills & Experience Preferred:

• Master’s degree in Sustainability or Environmental Science
• Big 4 Audit Experience
• Knowledge of ESG challenges within the music/media/tech sector
• Investor Relations experience
• Intermediate to advanced skills with the following applications:
  • Tableau
  • UL360, Sphera, Enablon, Workiva, OneTrust or other ESG reporting software
  • MS PowerPoint, advanced preferred
  • Adobe Design Suite, preferred
• SASB and GRI certified
• Experience in sustainable investing or similar field
• Thrives in fast-paced environments

Perks Playlist:

• Remote working (west coast preferred) with occasional need to be in the Santa Monica office (travel paid for by UMG within the policies)
• Competitive Health Insurance Package including Medical, Dental, Vision
• Generous 401k Savings Plan
• Life Insurance & Travel Assistance Services
• Paid Time Off – 11 Paid Holidays + 18 Personal & Paid time off days, “Winter Break”, Wellness Fridays
• Volunteering Time – 16 hours of paid time to give back to your community
• Student Loan Repayment Assistance & Scholarship Program
• Employee Developmental Support
• Annual Gym Reimbursement Package 

To Apply:

We will be accepting applications on a rolling basis with no fixed deadline. Please click "Apply" below to email your resume (max 2 pages) and Statement of Interest responses. 

Instead of a cover letter, we would appreciate you answering the following questions as your Statement of Interest while keeping to the maximum number of sentences referenced:

1. Why are you applying for this role?
   (1-2 sentences max)

1. What of your skills and prior experience are relevant to the job description?
   (up to 4-5 skills + 3-4 sentences to expand)

1. Summarize your experience in (1-2 sentences each):
   1. Managing/working with auditors and financial experts
   2. Producing ESG materiality assessments
   3. Measuring greenhouse gas emissions
   4. Drafting annual report disclosures
   5. Developing ESG reports using industry frameworks and standards
   6. Leading cross functional working groups

1. Where do you see any gaps in your experience in relation to the job description requirements (2 sentences or bullet points)?

1. What appeals to you most about this role?
   (2 sentences)

1. How would you fit the UMG company culture?
   (2 sentences)

1. Why should we select you over another qualified candidate?
   (2 sentences)

1. What questions do you have about the role or job description at this time, if any? (1-2 sentences) 

Disclaimer: This job description only provides an overview of job responsibilities that are subject to change.

Universal Music Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer

All UMG employees are currently required to be fully vaccinated, and boosted, against COVID-19 before entering any Company offices unless they have been approved for an exemption or unless prohibited by applicable law.