Lead, Business Development & Licensing - Sureel AI

About this role

A little bit about our team Sureel AI is building the standards and infrastructure for AI rights, licensing, attribution, protection, and intelligence, starting in music and expanding across media. We are building the infrastructure that enables creators and rights holders to control how their work is used by AI, protect their rights, understand its use and value, and participate in new AI licensing models. We also provide AI companies and digital platforms with the systems they need to access rights, permissions, attribution, guardrails, reporting, and licensing infrastructure programmatically.

Acquired by Warner Music Group, Sureel operates as an independent, federated company, combining startup speed with the reach of a global music company. Our commercial relationships sit at the heart of what we're building: with the AI companies and digital service providers (DSPs) who integrate our attribution infrastructure into their platforms, and with the rights holders whose works and interests that infrastructure protects.

As Director, Business Development & Licensing, you'll own the business function across both sides of that equation, working closely with senior leadership, cross-functional teams, and external partners across the music, technology, and legal worlds. Your work will directly shape the commercial architecture of AI attribution at scale. Your role You will lead Sureel's business function, reporting to the CEO and two Co-Presidents.

This is a senior, commercially focused role. When Sureel is negotiating with a service provider or a rights holder, you will own the business function of that negotiation. You will also serve as Sureel's primary liaison with industry bodies such as DDEX and regulatory bodies such as WIPO where their activities relate to Sureel's business. A key part of the role will be developing business models and modeling outcomes for charging clients, including DSPs and AI companies.

A strong understanding of economics and music rights will be important. Your objective is to structure agreements that increase adoption of Sureel's infrastructure, create repeatable commercial models, and establish frameworks that can scale across multiple rights holders, AI companies, and markets. You will negotiate licensing models, revenue structures, payment flows, and the economic frameworks that determine how permissions through Sureel's technology translate into compensation.