Head of/Director of Production & Physical Supply Chain

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Company Description

Warp is a leading independent record company releasing music by ground-breaking and influential artists, including Aphex Twin, Flying Lotus, Danny Brown, Kelela, Squid, Yves Tumor, Nala Sinephro, Stereolab, and many more across our family of labels-including Warp Records, LuckyMe, and On-U Sound as well as others. With offices in London, New York, Los Angeles, and Sheffield, we're a global team looking for people who share our passion for these artists and who think a little bit differently.

Job Description

We're looking for a talented leader in the area of operations to oversee our Production and Physical Supply Chain function. Managing a team in London, you'll hold a key position within our Recordings business, ensuring the successful end-to-end delivery of our global physical and digital releases across audio, video, and merchandise from product conception through to physical manufacturing and distribution. You'll be responsible for nurturing an ethos of quality, creativity, and sustainability across the production of our new releases and extensive catalogue. As head of this team, you'll be responsible for ensuring that Warp employs best-in-class approaches to operational management of release timelines, workflows, capacity planning, assets/masters, repertoire metadata, costs/profitability, sustainability, logistics, team/staff development, and relationships/stakeholders. You'll work to deliver successful day-to-day production, manufacturing, and distribution activities as well as striving to continually improve our label's ability to support our artists, bringing their music and releases to life.

The ideal candidate will have existing experience leading record label production or be a seasoned senior production manager with experience managing others and ambitious for a next career step. You will bring extensive expertise in record label operations and production and have a passion for continual improvement, operational excellence, best practices, innovative problem-solving and creative thinking - and crucially, you'll understand that, to our artists and their fans, vinyl isn't just a piece of plastic! We're looking for someone who loves music and is passionate about supporting artists through efficient delivery of physical, digital, and merchandise projects that elevate new releases and continually cultivate the growth of our catalogue. You'll have outstanding communication skills, a talent for designing efficient workflows, a skill for building and mentoring teams, an appreciation for vinyl records as well as the next big digital thing, and a keen eye for detail and managing costs. You'll bring strategic thinking to the day-to-day and exhibit solutions-oriented, positive leadership.

Key Responsibilities:

• Oversee the end-to-end operational release management, production, and physical manufacturing/distribution function within the Operations dept; manage the team responsible for delivering day-to-day activities in this area and own the framework for Warp's development of high quality, creative, sustainable, and ethical products
• Develop and optimise workflows used for operational release planning, production, asset management, product set up, and workflow tracking for digital, physical, promotional, merchandise formats; oversee and manage physical and merchandise manufacturing, distribution, inventory, and logistics activities; innovate to optimise efficiency/costs and keep Warp at the forefront of changes in the music industry landscape
• Drive Warp's ambitious sustainability and carbon impact initiatives in physical manufacturing, distribution, and logistics, and implement strategies for year-on-year carbon footprint reduction
• Oversee detailed metadata capture for repertoire and releases according to best practices across the business; oversee the set-up of repertoire and releases within Warp systems for cross-business use
• Establish and oversee optimal operational and production lead times and deadlines, ensure detailed tracking, review, and approvals are followed by the team; ensure efficient management of capacity and resource planning for the delivery of our global release schedule
• Oversee management of our physical catalogue inventory and distributor stock availability; develop advanced methods for stock forecasting and catalogue management
• Oversee management of costs and invoicing for production, manufacturing, and distribution, working to optimise profitability and reduce expenditure
• Manage relationships with suppliers and optimise working processes with them; proactively negotiate costs with suppliers and get the best price possible
• Lead continual improvement activities and strategy for the area and support wider operational initiatives
• Provide management reporting for the production and physical supply chain area and work closely with Warp's Head of Operations

Qualifications

Skills/Experience - Required:

• Experience managing physical and digital release production and physical manufacturing within a record label
• Expertise in production, release planning, capacity management, project/timeline/deadlines management, workflow/process design, and operational best practices
• Thorough understanding of the vinyl manufacturing process and print production
• Experience with and passion for putting sustainability at the forefront of production and manufacturing decisions
• Experience negotiating prices with suppliers
• Experience managing staff and leading groups or teams
• Experience analysing, optimising, and reducing costs
• Expertise in repertoire metadata, label copy, and asset management
• Expertise managing, tracking, and monitoring complex projects or workstreams; ability to manage urgency and prioritise
• Proactive communication, stakeholder management, relationship building, and upward management skills
• Ability to influence others and manage change
• Positive, solutions-oriented problem solver

Skills/Experience - Desired:

• Experience managing a large active physical catalogue alongside new releases
• Experience with production and/or manufacturing of merchandise or apparel
• Skilled at using Adobe Creative Suite/design software
• Experience with masters and archiving
• Experience with systems design and roll-out

Additional Information

Please use the 'Message to Hiring Manager' section to provide a full cover letter detailing why you feel you are suitable for the role. Candidates who do not provide a cover letter will not be considered.

North London office based.

Salary dependent on experience

Applications close on April 30, 2024

We recognise the importance of diversity within our teams and are fully committed to embracing all types of talent. Additionally, we are happy to discuss any reasonable adjustments to the application process that may be required. If there is anything that you want to make us aware of, please note this at the time of your application.

Thanks for applying, and don't be discouraged if you don't hear from us right away as we take the time to review all applications.