Sony has recruited Louis Tomlinson to help them find the next big girl band.

The One Direction star is lending a hand to the record label's 'Be in the Band' search, which aims to find talented female musicians to form a girl group.

Louis - who took a seat on the judging panel at auditions in London on Saturday (07.03.15) - is believed to have accepted the offer straight away as he has a ''vision'' of following in the footsteps of music mogul Simon Cowell.

A source told The Sun newspaper: ''Louis has his business head screwed on and is busy making plans for the future. He's rated very highly at Sony and they knew he'd be great to get on board.

''Louis accepted their offer straight away. He has visions of being a music boss in the future and has a good eye for new talent.

''There are even industry rumours he'll end up as an 'X Factor' judge at some point down the line.''

The 'Steal My Girl' hitmaker - who found fame on the TV show - will have to squeeze his judging duties in as he is currently in the middle of the band's On The Road Again tour.

The group - which also includes Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik - are due to reconvene together in Singapore to start the second leg of the tour on Wednesday (11.03.15), which will see them travel around Asia.

They will then jet off to Europe, the United States and Canada before finishing in the United Kingdom and Ireland.