Director, Global ESG

We are UMG, the Universal Music Group. We are the world’s leading music company. In everything we do, we are committed to artistry, innovation and entrepreneurship.

We own and operate a broad array of businesses engaged in recorded music, music publishing, merchandising, and audiovisual 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.

How we LEAD: 

We are currently seeking an exceptional, passionate person to join the ESG team as Director for our Global ESG & Sustainability function. This position reports to the SVP. The role combines elements of strategy, policy, operations (data collection process implementation, validation, and attestation), team management and development, advocacy, and support for working groups against the delivery and reporting of targets aligned with business goals.

The Environmental, Social Governance (ESG) Director, will be a key member of the ESG team and reports to the Senior Vice President. This role requires significant cross-functional interaction and coalition building experience. The ideal candidate is an expert in environmental reporting, is well versed in the major reporting frameworks and has deep experience building stakeholder engagement programs.

How you’ll CREATE:

Strategy

• Support the SVP with development and adoption of UMG’s ESG program strategy and proactively capitalize on opportunities to drive implementation
• Manage Working Groups calendar/agenda.

• • Be the first line of support for ESG Working Groups
  • 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/KPI progress to overall data collection and reporting processes (including ESG reporting system capture where possible)
  • Track and validate working group decarbonisation efforts and their impact against organizational targets

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

• • reporting and disclosure trends
  • the ratings agency ecosystem
  • reporting frameworks and standards
  • disclosure legislation
  • and peer/company best practices
• Support coordination and integration of ESG operations globally driving program maturity
• Manage specialists; evaluate and coordinate consulting efforts to drive results

Operations

• Manages and develops ESG team members in alignment with stated team and organizational goals
  • Supports deep ESG expertise development on the team and fosters a culture of learning
  • Identifies team learning opportunities and supports 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
  • Regularly 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
• Supports annual risk assessment and materiality reviews including:
  • Coordinates alignment with Internal Audit of Financial and ESG risk reviews
  • Manages specialists driving reporting of accomplishments and on-time deliverables
  • Supports leadership engagement and reviews and content submission as applicable
  • Integrates risk results into annual ESG Reporting Framework development process
• Drives operations including:
  • 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
  • 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
• Manages Attestation process including:
  • 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
• Disclosure development supported by validated data
  • Becomes the subject matter expert on UMGs prior year disclosures, their evolution, and their impact to delivering progress on targets and commitments in current year disclosure processes
• Deliver regular, proactive, and detailed team and program management reporting
• Regularly executes proactive third-party management and reporting on third party accomplishments and on-time deliverables

Reporting

• Annual Report Process Management
  • Maintains the annual reporting calendar and aligns team and stakeholder deliverables to meet all deadlines
  • Prepares annual report template and rolls forward content/tables as applicable
  • Drafts quality, synthesized and well-supported content for the annual report
  • Reviews all content contributing to the annual report, organizes and synthesizes key data for every section of the report
  • Prioritizes and recommends content for inclusion and escalates potential gaps in disclosures
  • Assigns content deliverables to stakeholders as needed and obtains documented approval of final deliverables
  • Prepares draft annual report content and instructions for reading committee
  • Validates all financial figures and fact checks
  • Integrates all reading committee, stakeholder, and third-party feedback well in advance of due dates
  • Proactively develops process improvements and efficiencies without sacrificing data integrity and internal control compliance
• Support development of Board level reporting
• Support development of shareholder engagement plans and drafting of all prep materials for management meetings with ESG investors
• Effectively engage with key cross functional partners (including Business Affairs, People Inclusion & Culture, Supply Chain, Public Policy, Communications, et al.) to:

• • Support development and coordinate strategy, refining, and advancing of ESG goals
  • Support raising awareness of ESG commitments and progress to stakeholders, including the investment community
  • Support content development 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

Bring your VIBE:

• Bachelor’s degree Finance, Business, Accounting or a related field
• Master’s degree in Sustainability or Environmental Science, preferred
• Big 5 Audit Experience, preferred
• Intermediate to advanced skills with the following applications preferred:
  • Tableau
  • UL360, Sphera, Enablon, Workiva, OneTrust or other ESG reporting software
  • MS PowerPoint, advanced preferred
  • MS Excel (advanced, required)
  • MS Word
  • Adobe Design Suite, preferred
• 5-10 years relevant experience such as Corporate ESG, Financial Services, Big 4, ESG Advisory
• SASB and GRI certified, preferred
• Public Company experience required (preferably listed in European Union or the Netherlands)
• Investor Relations experience
• Knowledge of finance, accounting, and investment analysis
• Experience in sustainable investing or similar field, preferred
• Knowledge of ESG challenges within the music/media/tech sector
• Excellent planning, analytical and communication skills
• Detail oriented and data driven
• Extremely organized, detail oriented and data driven
• Proactively anticipates team needs and obligations and is quick to implement solutions for managing what lies ahead
• Capable of quickly synthesizing large amounts of data and aligning to relevant context for management reporting
• Thrives in fast-paced environments and proactively resets team course to efficiently deploy team resources against shifting priorities
• Builds strong team foundation and collegial, reciprocal relationships across the organization
• 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)
• Experience with risk and materiality assessment and articulation, including gap analysis
• Strong stakeholder management and interpersonal skills
• Proven cross-functional leader with exceptional project management skills
• Impeccable business writing acumen
• Demonstrated experience presenting to large, high-profile audiences

Perks Playlist:

• Competitive Compensation Package including Salary, Benefits and Generous 401k Savings Plan
• Paid Time Off – Paid Holidays, “Winter Break”, Wellness Fridays
• Student Loan Repayment Assistance
• Employee Developmental Support
• Annual Gym Reimbursement Package

Universal Music Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Note: 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.

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