EMPLOYMENT

Job Summary 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. The Observability Director is a key role within the UMG Technology team, responsible for defining and executing the strategic vision for all things Observability across the Global UMG network. The role is responsible for delivering best-in-class Observability solutions across existing and emerging technologies, driving innovation while partnering with teams within the Global technical functions. Driving cross-functional success across internal systems, Artist and Public facing systems as well as removing barriers to success for being able to execute on UMG’s initiatives for Metrics, Observability and AIOps. Working closely with senior leadership in Engineering, DevOps, Operations, and Security to embed observability principles into our entire technology ecosystem, fostering a proactive, data-driven culture that minimizes downtime and optimizes system performance. You will lead a high-performing team of observability engineers, driving the adoption of best practices, cutting-edge tools, and innovative solutions to ensure the reliability, performance, and security of our critical IT systems and applications worldwide. The role is based in Sydney but is a truly Global role, heading the UMG Observability team with people in Australia as well as the USA and UK and partnering closely with the wider Global Technology team within UMG. Job Functions Define and execute the Observability strategy within UMG – being across existing and emerging solutions as well as UMG’s technology stack in order to identify and deliver on opportunities. Strategic Leadership: Lead the product identification, review and implementation process to deliver on UMG’s strategy with existing solutions and over time review and replace or right-size these solutions as needs and technologies change. Team Leadership & Development: Lead, mentor, and inspire a world-class team of observability engineers. Foster a culture of continuous learning, innovation, and excellence. Manage team performance, career development, and hiring. Architectural Oversight: Provide expert guidance and architectural oversight for the design, implementation, and evolution of UMG's global observability platform, ensuring scalability, resilience, and cost-effectiveness. Tooling & Platform Management: Evaluate, select, procure, and manage the portfolio of observability tools and platforms (e.g., Dynatrace, AWS Cloudwatch, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack, Splunk, OpenTelemetry), optimizing their utilization and integration. Standardization & Governance: Establish and drive the enterprise-wide observability standards, policies, and governance frameworks to ensure consistent instrumentation, data quality, and actionable insights across all technology teams. Responsible for an effective framework for monitoring solutions that enable automation, visibility as well as overview of resources and associated costs. Operational Excellence: Drive continuous improvement in incident management, problem resolution, and root cause analysis through advanced telemetry and data-driven insights. Oversee the development of critical dashboards and reporting for operational health. Leading a path for others to follow: Partner with internal teams and stakeholders, understanding their needs within the Observability space and drive adaptation of solutions also within teams outside of your direct influence. Budget & Vendor Management: Manage the observability budget, optimize spending, and oversee relationships with key technology vendors and service providers. Innovation & Research: Stay abreast of industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices in observability. Drive research and adoption of innovative solutions like AIOps, chaos engineering, and predictive analytics. Communication & Reporting: Communicate observability status, key metrics, and strategic initiatives effectively to executive leadership, technical teams, and business stakeholders. Make UMG the place to be: Mentoring, managing and genuinely leading the Observability team in a way that attracts and retains the best talent. UMG is a place where everyone can bring themselves fully to work and thrive, as a Leader you are a key part of this. Job Requirements Leadership: Proven experience leading technical teams, driving results and setting direction. Technical depth: Strong technical knowledge within the Observability space with solid experience in Dynatrace, AWS Cloudwatch, BigPanda, OpenTelemetry, Splunk, Open Search, and related technologies. Cloud platforms: Strong technical knowledge in cloud platforms like AWS, GCP, DevOps and Docker/Kubernetes. Software Engineering: Experience in designing and automating Observability workloads with a foundation in software engineering, database administration and system administration. Data Analysis: Expertise in analysing and visualising telemetry data into meaningful information to drive actions. Hands-on: Demonstratable hands-on engineering and coding experience, ability to deep-dive into existing and emerging technologies to identify opportunities and solutions. Broad Tech knowledge in Applications, as well as Computer Deployment, Architecture, Security, and Infrastructure (focus on SaaS) A strong background in ITSM design and implementations as well as software development methodology (i.e., Agile, ITSM, ITIL) and project management / business analysis Strong interpersonal skills and excellent presentation and communication skills Ability to communicate complex problems in a non-technical and simplified manner to stakeholders and end-users and to effectively communicate business needs to technology teams Self-motivated with high degree of initiative and excellent follow-up skills, along with strong analytical and problem-solving skills Travel may be required but is not part of the regular work schedule. Bachelor's degree in technology related field as well as 8 years of relevant experience within the Observability field. Desired additional qualifications: Experience with AIOps implementations or predictive analytics for operational insights. Familiarity with compliance frameworks (e.g., GDPR, SOX, SOC 2) and their impact on observability data. Active participation in the observability or SRE community (e.g., conference speaking, open-source contributions). Diversity & Inclusion At Universal Music we are committed to fostering diversity and inclusivity as an equal opportunity employer. We encourage applicants from all backgrounds to apply for our roles regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, marital or family status, neurodiversity, religion or belief, disabilities, or socio-economic background. We also encourage people from all cultural backgrounds to apply, including First Nations people. It is through our diversity and inclusivity that we bring together different perspectives, enhancing our creative and evolving workplace. Music is Universal. Disclaimer 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 jobholder's 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. Job Category: Technology