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

 We are the leading independent digital & physical distribution, and label services company working with some of the greatest labels, artists, and rights holders in the music industry. The mission of Utopia Distributions Services is to enable all music distribution with greater quality and accuracy. Our objectives are as follows:

• Distribute music to maximum audience with minimum effort
• Broaden digital and physical channels of distribution of music creative works
• Expand customer value through other music services beyond distribution

With the mission and strategic objectives above, the Staff Product Manager is the product specialist for Distribution Services product offering who is the domain-expert in the product team guiding the strategic and execution priorities for product development.  

this product manager will help us build best-in-class product functions that span platforms and screens, be directly responsible for cradle-to-grave product management, and the driving force behind a major part of the Utopia Distribution Services product stack.

In this role, you will use your deep understanding of the music industry to guide the product management team on defining and prioritizing product features. You will collaborate with each product manager in the Distribution Services team to curate and execute the holistic business unit roadmap. This product manager will act as the “music guru” for the cross-functional development squads and tightly work with each respective product manager to make sure that each feature meets DoR/DoD criteria from a music industry perspective.

As part of this role, you’ll work across all Utopia business units and functional organizations, performing competitive analysis, defining required features, developing roadmaps, and working to deliver on next-generation customer requirements.  In general, you will be responsible for defining documents and schedules that move innovative new products and services from the idea-level to revenue-generating elements of the product offering.

As a seasoned product manager, you will guide cross-functional efforts involving Engineering, Design, Marketing, Sales, Operations, and other organizations. This role requires a significant wide range of skills – including technical acumen, strong interpersonal skills, and a keen focus on shipping great products.  

Our ideal candidate lives and breathes a dedication to being the voice of the market/customer to internal development and architecture teams and being the voice of the business to the market/customer, has proven experience with delivering both B2B and B2B2C products/solutions, and has worked extensively in international and distributed organizations. The ideal candidate has software development experience and domain knowledge in music.

You are a senior individual contributor, with significant upward mobility to grow into greater seniority responsibility either as an individual contributor or people leader/management. You will report directly to the VP Product Management, Distribution Services.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Part of the product management team of Distribution Services
• Define and refine overall product roadmap that is shared with internal and external customers
• Harmonize and align product roadmap with engineering delivery
• Manage the entire product life cycle from strategic planning to tactical activities for layers of the platform
• Develop a cohesive product vision, considering market trends and opportunities, major customer needs, gaps in the current market offerings, as well as current and future competitive landscape
• Participate actively in Go-to-Market planning, collaborating with other business units to define and support effective strategies and messaging for driving customer adoption
• Perform competitive analysis
• Work closely with Operations and Finance to build detailed business cases for product evolution
• Interface with Marketing groups to build product marketing materials for communication to sales, customers, developers, and partners
• Drive internal and external evangelism of current and future data products and services capabilities
• Follow market developments and ensure competitiveness and differentiation

REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s degree or Master’s degree in music or art-related degree or engineering background strongly preferred; MBA a plus
• Domain knowledge and experience of music and/or music distribution is a major plus
• Significant (8+ years) work experience in Product Development, Product Management or a related field (Program Management, Product Marketing), with a proven track-record of delivering products and services
• Demonstrated capabilities to lead a team
• Strong product management skills, and a demonstrated ability to lead in the face of complex technical challenges
• Excellent oral and written Communication skills, coupled with the ability to build strong interpersonal relationships
• Ability to reduce complex problems and requirements into implementable solutions

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.

Located preferably in London, UK or Chicago, Illinois USA or remotely within reasonable timezone of London

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-based organization striving to have clarity in thinking and doing what we set out to do.

We execute urgently and innovate to grow faster. We ship things that make a difference today, so we can make them better tomorrow. We embrace fairness and are all accountable.

Strictly diverse and inclusive. We are an equal opportunity employer.

We celebrate our diverse backgrounds and we welcome everyone who identifies with the above to apply. Welcome to Utopia - Where Music Lives!

We’re eager to meet You! :)