Managing Producer - Content Design for Music & Podcasts

Summary

The Apple Services Product, Design & Marketing organization is seeking an experienced Managing Producer to lead our Music and Podcasts Content Design Producers team. In this role, you will sit at the intersection of world-class design, culture-defining music and audio content, and operational excellence. As a senior production leader, you will be responsible for orchestrating end-to-end design workflows, managing project prioritization, overseeing substantial operational budgets, and championing the growth of a high-performing team of creative producers and project managers. You possess an innate ability to operate effortlessly between thirty thousand feet—setting strategic vision, team architecture, and vendor frameworks—and ten thousand feet—driving daily production rigor, unblocking creative roadblocks, and ensuring flawless execution. If you are a passionate advocate for music and podcasts with a proven track record of bringing ambitious creative concepts to life across digital platforms, we invite you to help shape the future of Apple’s content design ecosystem.

Minimum Qualifications

10+ years of design production experience within a top-tier creative agency, entertainment brand, or internal brand creative team, including significant experience operating at a senior/leadership level. 7-8+ years of proven leadership managing, mentoring, and scaling a team of Creative Producers and Project Managers, with demonstrated success building organizational capability and developing talent into more senior roles. Organizational strategy & structure: Track record of shaping team structure, roles, and workflows to match evolving business needs — including workforce planning, hiring, and performance management across a multi-level team. Strategic & tactical balance: Proven ability to navigate ambiguity, translate high-level business goals into actionable production roadmaps, and balance long-term strategy with daily tactical execution. Resource & portfolio management: Expertise in navigating competing priorities, dynamic resource allocation, scope definition, and proactively mitigating production risks across complex creative portfolios spanning multiple concurrent workstreams. Cross-functional leadership: Demonstrated ability to represent the production organization in cross-functional forums, negotiate scope and timelines with peer leaders, and align production capacity against shifting business priorities. Financial & vendor stewardship: Demonstrated experience authoring detailed SOWs, tracking budget burn, managing annual budget allocations/actualizations, and directing premier agency and freelance rosters (branding, photography, illustration, motion, and digital production). Communication & stakeholder alignment: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; demonstrated success in writing clear creative briefs, articulating creative intent, and standardizing communication frameworks across executive, business, and editorial partners. Sound judgment and discretion in representing the team and its work to senior leadership, with the ability to distill complex production tradeoffs into clear recommendations. Bachelor’s degree in Design, Communications, Media Production, Arts, or equivalent practical industry experience.

Preferred Qualifications

Deep industry passion & expertise: Comprehensive understanding of the music, podcast, and audio streaming landscapes, digital platform standards, and emerging media trends, paired with genuine enthusiasm for the music and audio industry. Editorial fluency: Experience partnering with or operating within an Editorial organization, understanding how editorial curation, programming calendars, and content moments intersect with creative production timelines. Fast-turn production expertise: Experience running high-velocity, fast-turn creative production processes for time-sensitive, moment-driven content (e.g., launches, live events, editorial features) without sacrificing quality or brand consistency. Comfort with ambiguity and complex org structures: Demonstrated ability to operate effectively within matrixed, cross-functional, or evolving organizational structures, and to bring clarity and structure to loosely defined problem spaces. Systems for scale: Experience designing and implementing production systems, tooling, and automation that allow a creative team to scale output without proportionally scaling headcount — including workflow standardization and templated production pipelines. Product & UX fluency: Experience operating in a product-focused environment, with working proficiency in UX design principles and the ability to partner credibly with product, design systems, and engineering teams. Data-informed decision-making: Comfort using performance, engagement, or production metrics to inform creative and resourcing decisions. Experience managing creative work across global or localized markets, with sensitivity to regional/cultural nuance in music and audio content.

Description

As the Managing Producer for Music and Podcasts Content Design, you will serve as the single point of contact, operational command center, and creative champion for your team’s portfolio. Team Leadership & Creative Enablement Lead, mentor, and empower a dedicated team of Creative Producers and Project Managers, fostering an inclusive, high-craft environment that encourages creative risk-taking and innovation. Establish standard operating procedures that ensure design teams have all necessary inputs, clear scoping, and context at the right stage of the creative lifecycle. Articulate creative vision and intent across cross-functional teams, translating abstract creative ideas into structured, actionable deliverables. Portfolio Prioritization & Workflow Architecture Own and manage the Music and Podcasts Project Priority List, leading regular prioritization reviews with internal and cross-functional leadership. Define, organize, and facilitate structured daily and weekly production touch-points with clear agendas, actionable takeaways, and clear accountability. Proactively identify workflow bottlenecks and partner with internal tooling, operations, and external teams to implement scalable, efficient production methodologies. Act as the escalation path and expert troubleshooter for complex day-to-day production hurdles. Financial Management & Vendor Partnerships Oversee annual budget planning, allocation, and monthly actualization in close partnership with internal Finance teams, providing executive-ready financial readouts. Curate, maintain, and expand an established network of world-class external agencies, freelance creators, illustrators, photographers, and branding partners. Inform and author rigorous Statements of Work (SOWs), master service agreements, and rate cards; closely monitor vendor performance and budget burn rates. Cross-Functional Collaboration & Communication Standards Build strong, trusted partnerships with Editorial, Music Programming/Artist & Label Relations, Product, Marketing, Engineering, and Operations counterparts — serving as the connective tissue between creative production and the editorial/business calendars that drive it, and ensuring alignment on deliverables, timelines, and measurable outcomes. Partner closely with Editorial and Music Programming/A&LR teams to understand upcoming content moments, artist priorities, and programming calendars in advance — translating those inputs into production plans that hit fast-turn deadlines without compromising creative quality. Standardize high-touch communication protocols across the team, including clear meeting recaps, weekly operational digests, and monthly leadership reporting. Serve as the primary voice of the production organization in quarterly executive prioritization readouts, distilling complex production tradeoffs and portfolio decisions into clear, actionable recommendations for senior leadership. International Partnership & Global Scalability Partner with International (INTL) teams to ensure creative production processes, timelines, and asset pipelines account for localization, regional markets, and multi-language delivery from the outset — not as a downstream add-on. Build scalable production frameworks and templated systems that allow a single creative concept to flex across languages, markets, and regional nuance without linear increases in production time or headcount. Serve as an escalation point for INTL-specific production or scoping conflicts, balancing global brand consistency with local market relevance.