Contracts & Rights Manager chez ITV PLC

Workplace: ITV Leeds + Hybrid - expectation is 2 days in the office per week.

The team..

At ITV, the Contract & Rights team is part of the M&E legal team which sits at the heart of ITV’s commercial business. The team provides a crucial role within the Media and Entertainment division, including contracting content and ensuring the correct rights information is recorded engaging with many areas of the business that rely on that rights information.

The role..

We’re looking for a dynamic and detail-driven Contracts & Rights Manager to join ITV on a permanent basis, reporting directly to the Director of Rights Strategy. In this pivotal role, you’ll lead a team of Senior Contracts & Rights Coordinators and play a key part in shaping and delivering ITV’s contracts and rights strategy. From managing the end-to-end contracting process to ensuring high standards of data accuracy and system governance, you'll be central to enabling ITV’s commercial success and transformation goals. You’ll take ownership of key processes, drive continuous improvement, and act as the go-to expert for both internal stakeholders and external suppliers, including producers. With a focus on operational excellence, team performance, and system transformation, this is a role where legal and commercial precision meets agile leadership.

Some of your key day-to-day Responsibilities will include:

• Lead and manage a team of Senior Contracts & Rights Coordinators
• Set team objectives, monitor performance, and support development
• Oversee end-to-end contract lifecycle, from internal sign-off to execution
• Ensure contract and rights enquiries are handled efficiently and to SLA
• Maintain accuracy and integrity of contract and rights data across systems
• Provide timely rights availability and proactively identify potential issues
• Monitor team KPIs and resolve workflow inefficiencies
• Manage day-to-day relationships with external suppliers, especially producers
• Collaborate with internal teams across Commissioning, Finance, Ops, Tech, etc.
• Act as Super User for key rights systems (DocMoto, Adobe eSign, Genersys, PARIS, Rome)
• Support ongoing system upgrades and transformation projects

Skills you’ll need (minimum criteria)

• Hands-on experience drafting and managing contracts, or a background in legal work/formal legal training
• Proven experience managing and developing a team, with a focus on excellent customer service
• Strong knowledge of TV rights and how they impact commercial decisions in a media business
• Experience designing and delivering improved processes and policies
• Good understanding of financial processes related to rights management and content exploitation
• Solid awareness of how commissioning, production, and technology teams work together — and the challenges a business like ITV faces

Other things we’re looking for (key criteria)

• Confident decision-making with the ability to respond quickly under pressure
• Ability to work independently and stay focused on agreed objectives
• Track record of delivering timely, business-focused results
• Strong communication skills and ability to build effective working relationships across teams and with external partners
• Resilient, motivated, and adaptable when managing change
• Excellent attention to detail, with experience in reading and interpreting contracts
• Solid experience in contracts and data management, ideally within a media and/or legal setting
• Ability to improve and adapt existing processes in response to business needs and new technologies

Please note, on occasion we may receive a very large volume of applications which means applications for a role may close earlier than the referenced closing date. We’d encourage you to apply as soon as possible if interested.

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