Senior Product Manager - Santa Monica, 90404

Senior Product Manager - Santa Monica, 90404, United States of America

How we LEAD:

Universal Music Group is seeking a Senior Product Manager to lead the evolution of our next-generation Financial Forecasting & Planning Platform. This platform leverages machine learning and advanced analytics to support one of the company's most critical business processes: forecasting financial performance across a complex global organization.

Reporting into the central Data & AI organization, this role will serve as the product owner and strategic leader for a custom-built forecasting application used by Finance teams across UMG. The successful candidate will partner closely with Finance leadership, data scientists, engineers, and business stakeholders to transform forecasting from a largely manual process into a scalable, intelligent, and continuously improving product.

This is a highly cross-functional role requiring equal comfort discussing forecasting methodologies with finance executives, technical architecture with engineers, and product strategy with senior leadership.

The role is based in Santa Monica, California and requires close partnership with UMG's global Finance organization.

How you'll CREATE:

Own the Product Vision and Roadmap

• Define and execute the long-term product strategy for UMG's Financial Forecasting & Planning Platform.

• Develop and maintain a prioritized roadmap that balances business impact, technical feasibility, operational efficiency, and user experience.

• Partner with Finance leadership to translate forecasting requirements into scalable product capabilities.

• Establish a clear product vision that evolves from advanced analytics and machine learning toward future AI-enabled planning and decision support capabilities.

Partner Deeply with Finance

• Embed closely with Finance teams to understand forecasting workflows, planning cycles, assumptions, approval processes, and reporting requirements.

• Identify opportunities to automate manual processes, improve forecast accuracy, and increase organizational visibility into forecast drivers.

• Facilitate alignment across global stakeholders on forecasting methodologies, business definitions, and planning processes.

• Act as the primary bridge between Finance and technical teams.

Lead Cross-Functional Delivery

• Lead a dedicated product team consisting of machine learning scientists, data engineers, full-stack engineers, and project management resources.

• Drive product discovery, requirements definition, prioritization, execution, testing, and release planning.

• Ensure delivery teams remain focused on measurable business outcomes rather than technical outputs alone.

• Coordinate with enterprise technology, data, and analytics teams to ensure alignment with broader platform strategy.

Drive Adoption and Business Impact

• Define success metrics and KPIs for forecast quality, operational efficiency, user adoption, and business value.

• Monitor platform performance and continuously identify opportunities for improvement.

• Lead change management efforts and stakeholder communications across Finance and business teams.

• Build strong relationships with executive sponsors and key users to ensure the platform becomes a trusted part of financial decision-making.

Shape the Future of Intelligent Forecasting

• Partner with Data Science teams to operationalize forecasting models and continuously improve predictive performance.

• Evaluate emerging AI capabilities and identify opportunities to enhance planning, scenario modeling, forecasting documentation, and decision support.

• Help establish a long-term vision for AI-enabled financial planning and forecasting across UMG.

Bring your VIBE:

Required qualifications:

• 7+ years of product management experience leading complex software products or enterprise applications.

• Experience building and launching custom business applications, workflow platforms, planning systems, or data-intensive products.

• Demonstrated success leading cross-functional teams that include engineering, analytics, and business stakeholders.

• Strong understanding of software development lifecycles and agile product development practices.

• Experience defining product strategy, roadmaps, and business cases for enterprise software initiatives.

• Exceptional stakeholder management and communication skills, including experience working with senior executives.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting Finance, FP&A, forecasting, planning, accounting, ERP, or business operations functions.

• Familiarity with forecasting methodologies, financial planning processes, budgeting, or scenario modeling.

• Experience working with machine learning, predictive analytics, or AI-enabled products.

• Understanding of modern data platforms, cloud technologies, and analytics ecosystems.

• Experience leading products that combine structured data, statistical models, and business workflows.

• MBA, finance background, or equivalent business experience is a plus.

Success in the First 12 Months

• Establish a clear product vision and multi-year roadmap for the forecasting platform.

• Become a trusted partner to Finance leadership and key forecasting stakeholders.

• Improve forecasting workflows through automation, usability improvements, and operational efficiencies.

• Successfully lead a multidisciplinary product team delivering measurable business outcomes.

• Increase confidence, transparency, and scalability in UMG's global forecasting process.

• Lay the foundation for future AI-enabled forecasting and planning capabilities.