We are looking for a General Manager to take ownership over Hal Leonard’s school methods portfolio, Essential Elements, and flagship K–8 general music platform, Essential Elements Music Class (EEMC).
In this role, you’ll shape the content roadmap for a growing digital platform that serves elementary and middle school music classrooms. You’ll work directly with authors, composers, consultants, and the product team to ensure every resource meets the highest pedagogical and editorial standards.
We are actively integrating AI and automation into all areas of the business and expect candidates with mindset focused on improving efficiency and deliver a better user experience.
What’s in it for you?
Shape the Future of Music Education: Lead content strategy for one of the most comprehensive K–8 general music platforms available, directly impacting how music is taught in classrooms worldwide.
Creative & Strategic Autonomy: Define how elementary music content is built, scaled, and enhanced, incorporating AI-assisted models and tools, and collaborating with talented authors, composers, and curriculum specialists, to produce engaging, pedagogically sound resources.
High-Impact Collaboration: Work closely with product, design, and education experts in a fast-moving environment where your decisions are visible.
Key responsibilities
- Own content strategy, editorial direction, and commercial outcomes for the school methods portfolio, with primary responsibility for Essential Elements and related instructional products - quality, pedagogical clarity, market relevance, and revenue.
- Lead products from concept through publication - initiation, manuscript development, review, production coordination, scheduling, and cover/art direction.
- Drive content strategy and creation for EE Interactive, expanding print-to-digital pathways and teacher-facing resources, and growing active users and digital revenue.
- Serve as senior editorial authority for method-based content, ensuring musical accuracy, sequencing integrity, and classroom usability.
- Own the strategic direction and content roadmap for EEMC - prioritising song additions, lessons and assessments, and sustaining the cadence that supports subscription growth.
- Develop internal processes to scale song availability on EEMC through closer collaboration with wider HL editorial team.
- Ensure key standards correlations for both EE and EEMC are maintained and developed, using managed curriculum consultants for specialist input.
- Set and own the AI-assisted content strategy across both portfolios - identifying, testing, and embedding tools that accelerate production and improve consistency, with sound quality control.
- Build and manage senior relationships with authors, composers, arrangers, clinicians, ambassadors, and educator partners across the band/strings and general-music communities.
- Partner at a senior level with Editorial, Digital, Sales, Marketing, Production, and Design to align strategy, timelines, positioning, and launch readiness.
- Own content schedules, budgets, and vendor relationships for on-time, on-budget delivery across both portfolios.
- Set long-range content strategy for both portfolios in collaboration with internal stakeholders and external education partners, informed by market and classroom insight.
Required experience
- Hands-on experience teaching, or deep direct knowledge of, band and/or strings instruction; personal experience with the Essential Elements series a strong bonus, some choral experience a plus.
- Senior content, editorial, or product leadership experience in music or educational publishing - owning strategy and outcomes.
- Demonstrated experience leading and developing external creative contributors (authors, composers, clinicians, consultants) through a structured editorial process.
- Experience with - and sound strategic judgment about - AI-enabled content-production workflows, including quality control and appropriate use.
- Strong digital content leadership; experience shaping and growing interactive or platform-based educational products.
- Excellent program and stakeholder management across multiple portfolios, calendars, and senior collaborators in a deadline-driven environment.
- Confidence operating at a senior cross-functional level, moving products from strategy to published release with clear accountability.
- Bachelor's in music, music education, publishing, or related; advanced study a plus.
Nice to have:
- General music (K–8) curriculum familiarity - Orff/Kodály, NCAS/TEKS, SEL/CASEL - sufficient to direct EEMC contributors.
- Music editing experience: notation proofing, score preparation, method-book production.
- Music notation software (MuseScore, Sibelius, Finale, Noteflight).
- Knowledge of music licensing, copyright, and permissions.
- Conference leadership (NAfME, TMEA, Midwest Clinic, MEA).
Job Types: Full-time, Casual
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Dental insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Flexible spending account
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
- Vision insurance
Application Question(s):
- Please describe your experience in building content strategy, editorial direction, and commercial outcomes for the school methods portfolio.
- Please describe what hands-on teaching experience you have.
- Are you legally authorized to work in the United States?
- Will you now or in the future require sponsorship for an employment visa to work in the United States?
Work Location: Remote
