Lead, Business Development & Licensing - Sureel AI

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. You will also oversee the business use cases for integrating Sureel's infrastructure with AI companies and DSPs, defining what a commercially viable integration looks like and structuring the terms around it.

You'll work closely with Product and Client Relations. They will bring the product and partner perspectives, while you will lead the commercial structure and economics that support the business.

This is an opportunity to help define the business function of a company working in a new and evolving area, and to help shape how creators are compensated in the age of AI.

What you'll do:

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Own the business function for Sureel's negotiations , whether with AI companies, DSPs, other digital service providers, or rights holders, leading commercial strategy, deal structure, and terms from first conversation through signature.

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Negotiate the economics of platform integrations , including licensing models, revenue structures, payment flows, and frameworks that reflect the value of Sureel's technology alongside rights holders' catalog and distribution positions.

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Develop the business use cases for integrating Sureel's infrastructure with AI companies and DSPs, defining commercial success and prioritizing opportunities based on enterprise value.

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Develop licensing and economic frameworks for an emerging category , using relevant AI and rights-technology transactions to inform agreements that can work across different partners and markets.

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Structure multi-stakeholder commercial arrangements among rights holders and