Director, Contract Administration

The Role

Kobalt Music Publishing is hiring a Director, Contract Administration to lead our global Contract Administration team. This role requires strong leadership, people management, and communication skills, as well as a strategic mindset to drive process improvements and scalability.

Reporting to the VP, Core Administration Services, you will oversee the end-to-end onboarding, ensuring contracts and works are accurately ingested—whether through manual entry or large data set formats such as CWR v2.2, CWR v2.1, catalogue shipment, CIF, and .csv. You will also play a key role in workload management, capacity tracking, and optimizing team resources, providing critical insights to leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.

The successful candidate is a proactive and adaptable leader with experience managing high-performing teams through change with evolving priorities. You are a natural communicator, a problem solver, and a strategic thinker who thrives in fast-paced environments. You are comfortable with technical challenges, have a deep understanding of music publishing operations, and are excited about evolving processes to improve efficiency and support business growth.

What You’ll Do

You oversee Kobalt’s Contract Administration function and act as the leader for all Contract Administration employees globally.

You oversee several business-critical functions related to the onboarding and general administration of Kobalt’s publishing client contracts, including but not limited to:

• Managing contract and work ingestion at both the manual and large data set levels, including CWR v2.2, CWR v2.1, catalogue shipment, CIF, and .csv formats.
• Overseeing the successful administration of contractual obligations related to song delivery and release commitments, ensuring compliance with contractual milestones for advances, options, and extensions.
• Working cross-functionally with members of Kobalt’s Business Affairs, Copyright, and Royalty departments to ensure the successful administration of Kobalt’s contracts.
• Overseeing the strategy for large onboardings, determining the best approach for ingesting large catalogs into the system, and ensuring resources are aligned to support this process.
• Building and maintaining a system to track team capacity and workload management in partnership with department leadership, providing weekly updates on team capacity to leadership and key cross-functional stakeholders.
• Defining and setting clear expectations for team members across Assistant, Coordinator, Assistant Manager, and Manager roles.
• Identifying and addressing workflow bottlenecks by working cross-functionally to improve processes and enhance efficiency.
• Providing expert guidance to internal teams regarding catalog registrations, royalties, statements, and general administrative matters for client accounts (including with senior members of Kobalt’s management team).
• Fielding questions and supplying information relating to client accounts and internal operations to other departments within the business.
• Leading working groups to drive discussions around innovative solutions to complex departmental challenges, implementing new strategies to improve efficiencies and scalability.

What You’ll Bring

• 10+ years of relevant experience, including at least 5+ years in leadership roles within contract administration, rights management, or music publishing operations.
• An expert end-to-end understanding of music publishing, key contractual terminology, and the rights flow of copyright chain of title, licenses, and royalties.
• Strong people leadership skills, with experience leading and developing high-performing teams.
• Proven management experience, including successfully leading teams through change and adapting processes to align with business goals.
• A natural communicator and adaptable team player with strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build and maintain long-lasting relationships with clients, colleagues, and senior management stakeholders.
• Detail-driven and highly organized, with an analytical mindset and strong numerical skills.
• Ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment, adapting to changing priorities while maintaining professionalism and poise.
• Experience with database query software such as Athena or SQL Developer.

Interview Process

• Informational call with Recruitment Team
• Virtual interview with the Hiring Manager
• Onsite assessment and interview with team
• Virtual interview with a member of our Leadership Team

What Success Looks Like

• By Month 3: 
  • Defined and set clear expectations for team members across Assistant, Coordinator, Assistant Manager, and Manager roles.
  • Established and implemented the new system for tracking team capacity and workload management, ensuring weekly updates are provided to leadership and key cross-functional stakeholders.
  • Completed a comprehensive assessment of existing team processes and identified initial workflow bottlenecks.
• By Month 6: 
  • Successfully overseen the strategy for at least one large catalog onboarding, ensuring resources were aligned and ingestion into the system was accurate.
  • Led a working group to drive innovative solutions, resulting in measurable improvements to efficiency and process scalability in a key administration function.
  • Demonstrated strong cross-functional engagement by working effectively with Business Affairs, Copyright, and Royalty departments to improve contract administration workflows.
• By Year 1:
  • Successfully led the global Contract Administration team through evolving priorities, maintaining a high-performing and motivated team.
  • Implemented new strategies that significantly improve the end-to-end process of contract and work ingestion globally, ensuring ongoing scalability.
  • Functioned as the primary expert providing guidance and critical insights to internal teams and senior management regarding client accounts and operational matters.

Key Behaviors for Success

• Behavior 1: Strategic and Analytical Leadership
• Behavior 2: Developing People and Culture
• Behavior 3: Cross Functional Partnership

Why Choose Us

At Kobalt, we’ve championed creators since 2000. Our technology and music services are built to make the industry more transparent, fair, and rewarding for artists, songwriters, and rights holders. We’re proud to work with some of the world’s most influential talents including Phoebe Bridgers, Sam Fender, Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters, Karol G, Young Thug, Kali Uchis, and Andrew Watt as well as acclaimed writers like Simon Aldred (Rag’n’Bone Man, Liam Gallagher, Celeste) and Clarence Coffee Jr. (Dua Lipa, Lizzo, The Snuts).

We’re a company that thrives on creativity, collaboration, and progress. Our values: Music First, Transparent, Tech Powered, and Transformative. Shape how we work, build, and grow together. We are a community of people who care deeply about making a meaningful impact in music and technology.

Kobalt is an equal opportunity employer. We believe in equitable access to opportunities and are committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and supportive workplace. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and identities. If you need any adjustments during the hiring process, please let us know we’re happy to help.

If this sounds like you, then please share your story by filling out the application below. To get you in the right mood, have a listen here to songs by our talented creators, especially curated to get you in the right mood when looking for the next challenge!

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Applicants must be eligible to work in the United States. A full background check on acceptance of offer. Kobalt is an equal opportunity employer encouraging diversity in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or any other status or characteristic protected by law.