What’s next in music happens on SoundCloud first. As the world’s largest open audio platform, SoundCloud is powered by a connected community of creators, listeners and curators who share, discover and influence what’s new, now and next in music and audio. Our people team creates an environment that attracts and retains talented people and celebrates growth & connection
THE ROLE – DIRECTOR, DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION (DEI DIRECTOR)
We have made significant progress over the past several years building diverse teams with an inclusive culture yet we acknowledge much more work needs to be done. Reporting to our General Counsel & Chief Diversity Officer, the DEI Director will focus on advancing SoundCloud’s DEI efforts in deep partnership with our Executive Team. This role will build, refine, and drive the development of an integrated DEI strategy that is globally relevant and cross-functionally (Music Team, Listeners, Creators, Engineering, Marketing, Communications, People) aligned to business outcomes.
As the founding expert on our DEI Team, you will respond to external events and/or policies that affect both our employees, company, and communities of creators and listeners. We need a leader who’s driven to solve hard problems—the harder the better. You will be valued for your intellectual curiosity, your innovative approach to problem-solving, and your strong analytical skills to make an impact on the success of our most valuable assets—our people and platform. This role is an opportunity to be a thought leader in our organization with a high level of autonomy and the full support of our Executive Team.
This role will serve as a trusted thought leader with internal and external stakeholders. You will truly enjoy what you do, be flexible and communicative. This role will report to the General Counsel & Chief Diversity Officer with extensive cross-functional interaction to ensure SoundCloud’s DEI strategy is comprehensive across the employee lifecycle and all operating functions.
Inclusion and diversity must be integrated into everything we do: a mindset with which we operate, a capability we build, a performance metric we goal, and success we measure and reward. It is not only an integral part of all of our people programs and practices but our platform as well. This is not a consultative role, rather we will hire a leader who is capable of designing a strategy, working closely with many partners across SoundCloud to execute on that strategy, and lead a team who program manages all aspects of the work underway at SoundCloud to ensure that it aligns to our overall DEI strategy and that we are collectively moving the company forward at a pace we can all be proud of.
HOW YOU WILL FULFILL YOUR IMPACT
- Lead a diverse and globally dispersed team to deliver a long-term DEI framework focused on measurable and scalable strategies for SoundCloud’s employees plus our vast community of creators and listeners
- Refresh DEI OKRs by being a data-informed partner through deep analysis of current and newly derived data to align goals with core business objectives
- Leverage diversity data and use insights to inform our approach in people management, product development, and external community engagement
- Collaborate across the People Team to build fair and equitable people practices across the entire talent lifecycle and build inclusion capabilities in every leader, manager and team member
- Develop initiatives and programming to increase access to underrepresented networks
- Drive accountability and governance for underrepresented hiring across executive, manager, and contractor roles
- Collaborate with appropriate teams to ensure SoundCloud facilitates an inclusive onboarding experience for employees, creators, and listeners
- Ensure leadership, diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies and best practices, including recruitment, retention, and training, are well-communicated and widely adopted across company
- Anticipate DEI needs of functions and recommend feasible, impactful solutions before they impact their businesses; have a strong pulse and feedback loop on needs
- Partner with Communications and Marketing partners to prepare dynamic and highly compelling narratives for both internal and external audiences as a spokesperson for SoundCloud’s comprehensive DEI strategy priorities, activities, and results
- Strengthen external brand as an industry leader that consistently values and celebrates the business advantage for inclusion leading the way with inclusive creator and listener communities
- Liaison with broader music industry leaders to collaborate, support, and amplify critical DEI work externally
- Maintain focus on regulatory and policy changes, and local advocacy for DEI
WHY WE VALUE THIS LEADER
- You maintain discretion and are sought out as a trusted confidante with the ability to manage confidential information and exercise sound judgment and risk management
- You are respected for being a thoughtful, smart, humble individual — you know how to drive consensus among
- Executives with a wide range of opinions and working styles
- You are highly conscious of workplace injustices stemming from race, gender, and/or other identities with a strong knowledge of social power dynamics and ways to shift systemic inequities
- You are entrepreneurial and thrive in autonomous environments that complement your ability to prioritize with high tolerance for ambiguity and complexity while being efficient with limited resources
- You have the professional self-esteem and confidence to “push back” on executives when necessary
- You are a results-driven executive with a proven track record of transformational leadership
- You bring strong perspective that inspires change and motivates to develop solutions to complex issues
- You undertake projects and tasks with an attention to detail coupled with a sense of urgency
- You are a natural, experienced storyteller/spokesperson, able to construct effective narratives
- You have strong critical-thinking skills combined with a propensity toward innovation and risk taking
- You are a good sounding board for others, with low ego
DESIRED MULTIPLIERS
- 7+ years of professional experience as a DEI strategist, consultant, or professional
- 3+ years working with senior executives in a client-facing, consulting role on inclusion and diversity
- Ability to accommodate occasional international travel as needed once business travel resumes
DIVERSITY AT SOUNDCLOUD
“SoundCloud is for everyone. Diversity and open expression are fundamental to our organization; they help us build a social platform and global community where anyone can create, discover, and share sounds. We acknowledge the challenges in our industry, and strive to develop an inclusive culture where everyone can contribute”.
