Executive Creative Director

About Oxford Road

Oxford Road is the world’s largest podcast advertising agency. We unite brands and creators through strategy and technology for outcomes only we can deliver.

Since the beginning of podcasting, we’ve been here building the playbook, setting the standards, and scaling brands through the power of audio and creator-driven media. Today, we manage campaigns across podcasts, radio, streaming audio, YouTube, and emerging creator platforms for clients that include half of the top advertisers in podcasting.

What really sets us apart? We’re not just buying media. We’re shaping the market itself.

Our thought leadership defines the conversation. Our newsletter reaches thousands of industry decision-makers every week. Our podcast, The Media Roundtable, convenes the most influential voices in audio advertising. Our annual Chief Audio Officer Summit is the premier gathering for marketers, platforms, and creators shaping the future of the medium. Our research (from attribution methodologies to brand safety frameworks) becomes industry standard.

We don’t wait for the market to tell us what’s next. We build it.

The Role

The Executive Creative Director is Oxford Road's most senior creative leader, accountable for the quality, performance, and culture of everything the Creative department produces across host-read, pre-produced audio, and bespoke 360-degree campaigns. This role owns the creative standard across every client account, not just the highest-profile ones, and is responsible for ensuring that standard is consistently met, measurably tied to results, and strengthened by every test the team runs.

This is a leadership role built around three commitments: quality on everything that ships, creative tied to performance, and testing built in as a standard practice rather than an afterthought. The ECD is the keeper of the craft and the driver of the creative department's contribution to client outcomes, agency growth, and new business.

Scope of Ownership

• Owns creative quality end-to-end across all client accounts: reviewing work in flight before it ships, closing the feedback loop to writers directly, and maintaining a consistent standard across host-read and pre-produced disciplines
• Owns how Audiolytics is used across the department: as a benchmark and coaching tool integrated with compliance and performance data, not as a checkbox exercise
• Owns the talent onboarding, briefing, and feedback process: ensuring every host receives a clear creative jumping-off point, product familiarity, and structured ongoing feedback that improves their reads over time
• Owns the connection between creative output and market performance: working with Analytics and account teams to establish performance baselines and translate results into creative direction
• Owns a test-and-learn culture in partnership with Analytics: bringing creative hypotheses, making testing a standard part of how briefs are written, and ensuring what the team learns shapes the next round of work
• Owns the full creative team: leading and developing writers across Bespoke and Format tiers and producers across host-read and pre-produced disciplines
• Owns key client and talent relationships at the senior creative level: these relationships stay direct, not delegated
• Owns the department's presence in new business pitches: concept development, pitch decks, and demo work, including a repeatable three-ways-in approach (functional, emotional, and host-story angles)
• Owns creative support for bespoke, creator-first partnerships and 360-degree campaigns
• Does not own test design, statistical analysis, or tracking infrastructure; those sit within Analytics
• Does not own production cost, change-order pricing, or P those sit within Finance

Decision Rights

• Final decision-maker on creative quality: what ships and what does not, across all accounts and both production disciplines
• Owns how Audiolytics is applied, evolved, and integrated with compliance and performance data across the department
• Authority to direct the creative team across writing and production in service of quality and performance outcomes
• Owns casting, talent direction, and host feedback structures
• Owns creative concept and approach for new business pitches; coordinates with account leadership on pitch strategy and timing
• Escalates resource, capacity, and structural gaps to the Chief Executive Officer with recommendations
• Does not make unilateral commitments on media plans, client contracts, or agency pricing

What You'll Do

Pillar 1: Quality on Everything That Ships

• Quality control, end-to-end: Own QC across all creative that ships. Review work in flight against a clear quality bar before it reaches a client. Close the feedback loop so direction reaches writers directly. Hold host-read and pre-produced work to the distinct craft standards each discipline requires.
• Audiolytics as benchmark, not scorecard: Own how Audiolytics is used and where it goes next. Prevent the score from becoming the goal. Integrate it with compliance and performance data to produce real insight, and drive the automation that lets it scale without adding manual burden to writers.
• Talent onboarding and feedback: Own how talent is onboarded, briefed, and coached. Ensure every host receives a clear creative jumping-off point, product familiarity, and structured ongoing feedback that improves their reads over time.

Pillar 2: Creative Tied to Performance

• Creative performance and market outcomes: Own the connection between what ships and how it performs. Work with Analytics and account teams to establish performance baselines, then translate performance and Audiolytics data into creative direction so outcomes, not just compliance, shape decisions on every account.
• Closing the loop: Ensure what the team learns in market changes how they write, cast, and coach. Every round of creative should start smarter than the last.

Pillar 3: Testing Built In

• Test-and-learn culture: Foster a team that is curious about what is working, what is not, and why. Analytics owns statistical design and tracking infrastructure; this role brings the creative hypotheses and ensures what the team learns shapes the next brief.
• Test-ready briefs: Make a clear hypothesis and planned variants a standard part of how briefs are written, so testing is part of the everyday process rather than a separate project.

Leading the Department

• Team leadership and development: Lead and develop the full creative team across writing tiers (Bespoke and Format) and production disciplines (host-read and pre-produced). Shepherd the process from brief through talent-facing direction and production. Shape the team around the skills the department needs as it grows.
• Key client and talent relationships: Serve as the senior creative point of contact for key clients and talent. These relationships remain direct, not delegated. Clients and hosts should know who owns the creative point of view on their business.
• New business and pitch support: Own the department's presence in every pitch: concept development, decks, and demo work. Develop and maintain a repeatable three-ways-in approach (functional, emotional, and host-story angles) so account teams walk into every pitch with real creative options.
• Bespoke and creator-first partnerships: Own creative support for bespoke, creator-first campaigns: the 360-degree work that links show content, social, newsletters, and onsite activation to a client's brand.
• Agency direction: Surface new formats, offerings, and creative opportunities as they emerge from the work. Bring them to leadership with a clear point of view.

Operating Cadence

• Weekly: QC review across active accounts with creative on the agenda; one-on-ones with Bespoke and Format writing leads and Producers; cross-functional check-ins with Compliance and Analytics on Audiolytics integration, performance outcomes, and the testing roadmap; pitch and new business support as it arises; ongoing talent feedback touchpoints
• Monthly: Performance and test result review with Analytics; talent feedback loop assessment; pitch win rate and new business creative review
• Quarterly: Creative department performance review with leadership; Audiolytics integration and automation progress; test-and-learn record review; team development and capacity assessment

What Success Looks Like

Quality

• Consistent creative quality across every account, with in-market creative meeting the 90% Audiolytics target
• A measurable shift away from Audiolytics-as-checkbox behavior, without losing substantiation or compliance discipline
• Fast turnaround on host-read work and fire drills without a drop in craft

Performance

• Performance baselines established on priority accounts within the first 90 days
• A growing share of active accounts with creative decisions informed by performance data and test results, not just Audiolytics compliance scores
• Measurable performance lift on accounts where creative direction changed based on results

Testing

• A meaningful share of active accounts running at least one creative test per quarter
• A shared test-and-learn record that the team actively uses when briefing new work

Leadership and Growth

• Client and talent satisfaction with the department's creative involvement and responsiveness
• Pitch win rate and the quality of creative options the team brings to new business
• A creative team that is developing, retained, and clear on what great looks like

Specific targets will be confirmed within the first 90 days, once performance baselines are established.

Key Performance Indicators

Creative Quality

• Audiolytics score compliance: percentage of in-market creative meeting the 90% target
• QC turnaround: creative reviewed before client delivery, not after, with no material exceptions
• Host-read turnaround speed on fire drills and standard requests, within defined SLA

Performance and Testing

• Share of active accounts with established performance baselines
• Share of active accounts with creative decisions informed by performance or test data, growing quarter-over-quarter
• Share of active accounts running at least one creative test per quarter
• Test-and-learn record adoption: frequency with which the shared record informs new briefs

Leadership

• Pitch win rate on new business opportunities where Creative is involved
• Creative team retention and development: direct reports growing in capability and remaining engaged
• Client and talent satisfaction with creative quality and responsiveness

What We’re Looking For

The strongest candidates will bring:

• 10 or more years of experience in creative leadership, with a track record of owning creative quality across multiple accounts or productions simultaneously
• Deep fluency in audio advertising: host-read, pre-produced, and bespoke formats; candidates with strong audio or podcast creative backgrounds are strongly preferred
• Demonstrated ability to connect creative decisions to measurable performance outcomes; comfort working with data, analytics teams, and test-and-learn frameworks as inputs to creative direction
• Experience leading and developing creative teams across writing and production disciplines; a coach and standard-setter, not just a practitioner
• Strong point of view on what makes audio creative work: clarity of message, authenticity of voice, structure that converts; able to articulate and transfer that standard to a team
• Experience owning or contributing to new business pitches: concept development, creative presentation, and demo work in high-stakes settings
• Comfort working directly with talent: onboarding hosts, providing structured feedback, and maintaining creative relationships at the senior level
• A bias toward ownership: someone who runs toward gaps, raises the standard without being asked, and holds the quality bar even under deadline pressure

What This Role Is Not

• Not a hands-on copywriting role for every account. The ECD sets the standard, resources the team, and steps in personally on the highest-stakes work. Writing every script is not the job.
• Not a testing infrastructure role. Analytics owns test design, statistical analysis, tracking, and reporting mechanics. This role owns what gets tested, why, and what the team does with the results.
• Not a pricing or P&L role. Finance owns production cost, change-order pricing, and the margin conversation. Creative owns the work itself.
• Not a media strategy or buying role. Those functions sit within Media. The ECD operates within the creative lane and coordinates with Media as needed.

Key Relationships

• Chief Executive Officer: Direct reporting relationship; accountable for creative department quality, team performance, and strategic creative direction
• President: Coordinates on agency-wide creative positioning, new business strategy, and client escalations
• Analytics Team: Primary partner on performance data, Audiolytics integration, test design, and the test-and-learn record
• Compliance Team: Coordinates on script substantiation, IO requirements, and the integration of compliance signal into creative coaching
• Account and Client Growth Teams: Partners on pitch creative, client QBRs, and performance-based creative direction conversations
• Creator Partnerships: Coordinates on bespoke, creator-first campaigns and 360-degree deal creative
• Finance: Coordinates on production resource needs; does not own pricing or P&L

Why This Role Matters

Creative is not a cost center at Oxford Road. It is one of the primary drivers of whether clients get results and stay. Every script that ships without a clear value proposition, every host-read that lands flat, every campaign that cannot be connected to measurable outcomes is a missed opportunity to prove what this agency can do. The Executive Creative Director is accountable for ensuring that does not happen, consistently, across every account, not just the ones leadership is watching. A strong ECD means clients win faster, advocacy compounds, and new business is easier to win. Without it, the agency's creative output is only as good as whoever happened to review it last.

The pay range for this role is: $170-210k USD base + incentive plan

Originally posted on Himalayas