We are looking for a new Head of Programme for our MW:M Convention!

About Most Wanted: Music

Started in 2014, Most Wanted: Music (MW:M) has become the most important music business conference in Berlin and a rising European hotspot event for music and creative industry professionals worldwide. It is run by the Berlin Music Commission, the music industry network of Berlin. 

Most Wanted: Music aims to start building the music and creative industries of tomorrow, where collaboration is not merely about working together but creating new with modern goals and rallying around a new ethos.

MW:M’s key objectives are: enabling practical know-how transfer, fostering networking and exchange and inspiring new ideas and business models.

Offering a wide range of inspiring keynotes, interviews and debates, hands-on workshops and matchmaking events, MW:M covers the most current and relevant questions of today’s music, tech and creative industries in order to bring direct value to creators and music businesses.

MW:M25 will take place from 11th-13th November 2025  in Berlin. The programme includes interactive talks, interviews and workshops with experts and artists from all over the world, experimental networking formats and live performances..

The conference called MW:M Convention is accompanied by MW:M Live, Berlin’s international showcase event and the LISTEN TO BERLIN: AWARDS, the awards for remarkable achievements in the Berlin music scene.

Your tasks

The MW:M programme team brings the most relevant and inspiring people and topics to stage. Your role as a Head of Programme will be to:

• Lead a team of approximately 4-5 more Programme Managers/Curators and Speaker Relations Managers,

• Identify the most pressing and important issues, challenges, technologies and business models in the music and creative industries of today and tomorrow,

• Analyse the implications of global and local societal trends for the music and creative industries,

• Collect and evaluate external speaker, topic and format ideas via a call for papers and an advisory board,

• Discuss internal and external proposals within the team and create a comprehensive programme scheme together with the project leads,

• Research, approach and convince the most renowned experts, progressive entrepreneurs and innovative artists to participate in Most Wanted: Music 2025,

• Come up with ideas for new, innovative conference formats, i.e. talks, workshops and networking sessions (digitally and analogue) and implement and execute them together with the other teams (event production, marketing, etc.) and help to communicate them to our attendees,

• Advise external content partners such as sponsors on their programme ideas and plan its implementation in the conference,

• Plan, prepare and supervise the operational execution of the conference programme, including the preparation of a strong agenda and detailed cue sheets,

• Select, approach and brief moderators for individual sessions as well as for entire stages.

• Take the main responsibility for looking after the speakers, moderators and programme partners, including 

  • detailed discussions on the content and format of the individual sessions/talks,

  • collecting the necessary information on people and their content for external communication (marketing) as specified,

  • do organizational and technical briefings of speakers and moderators in preparation for the conference, 

  • personal speaker support before, during and after the event,

  • possibly support speakers in planning their journey to the event,

• Content-related and organizational management of the programme team (2-3 people)

• Responsibility for dedicated speaker and programme budget,

• Communication with other project teams such as marketing, partner management/sponsoring, attendee support and technical event production, etc.

• Regular meetings within your team ,

• Regular meetings and reporting to project management.

Your profile

• You provide expert knowledge in the European and international music, tech and creative industries and are well aware of its current changes and challenges.

• You are well connected within the music and creative industries and are familiar with its relevant ecosystems and latest trends.

• You are passionate about creative markets and marketing, you think outside the box when it comes to developing interesting topics and formats for the conference and you go the extra mile for high profile stories and speakers.

• You provide proven project management skills.

• You are well organized, quality-oriented and able to react quickly to unpredicted changes.

• You are resilient and you can keep calm in a fast-pace and sometimes challenging event environment.

• You are a team player and an excellent communicator both internally within the team as well as externally towards speakers and other partners.

• You are in full command of English language and have business-fluent German skills both verbally and in writing. 

Would be a plus

• You have several years of event management experience and you know the processes and requirements of conferences.

• You are experienced with digital content production and virtual or hybrid events.

• You have experience in leading a small team.

Our offer to you

• A professional working environment,

• A highly qualified, experienced and motivated team

• Short communication channels and flat hierarchies.

• Flexible working hours and locations,

• The freedom to creatively define and develop your own programme content and conference settings  and to shape one of the most relevant music business events,

• A vast and vibrant network within the international music scene,

• New personal  insights and a steep learning curve, guaranteed by a great team of music and event professionals.

• You will learn how to realize highly innovative virtual and hybrid events,

• A competitive compensation with the potential to grow.

Work load: approx. 700 working hours

Duration: From March until mid of December 2025. 

Payment: According to your personal conditions and qualification on a freelance basis.

Contact
Please send us your proposal/application including cover letter and CV until 14th February 2025 via e-mail to stephan@berlin-music-commission.de. Please indicate your favoured compensation (rate per hour). If not enough qualified offers have been received by this date, we reserve the right to extend the invitation to tender.

The Berlin Music Commission explicitly welcomes applications from people with migration backgrounds, women/non-cis-male applicants, and other marginalized groups. People with disabilities will be given preference if equally qualified.