About the job

The APAC Music Partnerships team is responsible for driving the in-market artist and label relations strategy, managing day-to-day engagement with creative partners, and advocating for YouTube’s ecosystem within the music community. Key responsibilities include executing high-impact artist campaigns, optimizing partner content performance, and providing strategic guidance on product adoption to enhance artist growth. The team also collaborates closely with cross-functional teams on marketing initiatives and platform features, ensuring seamless support for partners and addressing industry-specific escalations.

As the Head of YouTube Music Partnerships for Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, you will be responsible for the success of the music ecosystem across these critical markets. You will require a combination of strong commercial acumen, respected leadership, and a deep understanding of the dual-speed entertainment ecosystem. You must be able to balance the high-growth, mobile-first, and hyper-local fragmentation of Southeast Asia with the mature, artist-driven, and highly structured industry of Australia and New Zealand.

You will lead a dedicated team to cultivate relationships with artists, labels, and aggregators, leveraging data and insights to drive growth on the platform, managing KPIs for both emerging and saturated markets. Your ability to influence stakeholders both internally and externally (including C-Suite and local pioneers) will be paramount as you represent YouTube at major events and during sensitive negotiations.

At YouTube, we believe that everyone deserves to have a voice, and that the world is a better place when we share, and build community through our stories. We work together to give everyone the power to share their story, explore what they love, and connect with one another in the process. Working at the intersection of cutting-edge technology and boundless creativity, we move at the speed of culture with a shared goal to show people the world. We explore new ideas, solve real problems, and have fun — and we do it all together.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a team of music partner managers across Southeast Asia (SEA), Australia, and New Zealand (AU/NZ), providing mentorship and career development.

• Represent YouTube at the highest levels of the music industry, maintaining and developing C-level relationships with global majors, local labels, aggregators, and artists across both high-growth and mature markets.

• Shape and execute dual-speed commercial business strategies. Support complex, multi-territory music licensing negotiations, ensuring favorable commercial terms and sustainable growth.

• Navigate complex regulatory landscapes, including complex licensing, and managing relationships with professional bodies. Collaborate cross-functionally to drive strategic partnerships and optimize operations.

• Be the official ‘Regional Market Strategist’ and leader. Drive strong business development initiatives by identifying and executing strategic partnership opportunities that expand YouTube's footprint.

Minimum qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.

• 15 years of experience in business development, partnerships, or management within the music, digital content, or technology industries.

• Experience with commercial agreements, digital music licensing agreements, or agreements with multi-territorial licensing entities.

• Experience working with C-level executives and cross-functionally across all levels of management.

• Experience in a leadership role, managing teams and working with executives in the music industry.

Preferred qualifications

• MBA, Master's degree or other advanced degree.

• Experience in the Southeast Asia and Australia/New Zealand entertainment ecosystem, including music copyrights and digital royalty financial models.

• Experience navigating both highly-structured and mature markets as well as hyper-local/fragmented high-growth markets.

• Experience maintaining relationships with regional CEOs of global majors, local labels, and key industry bodies in the music industry.

• Excellent communication and commercial acumen, with the ability to use data to influence cross-functional teams and external stakeholders.

• Ability to communicate in Bahasa, Thai and Vietnamese fluently, in order to collaborate with partners in the region.