Senior Media Director, Influencer

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.

About the role

The Media Director is the senior-most leader within the YouTube & Social media buying team, responsible for setting strategic direction, driving business growth, and ensuring excellence in execution across all client accounts. You will partner directly with the SVP of Media, serving as the operational right hand, translating channel strategy into team performance, process, and results.

This role demands deep Creator market expertise, proven leadership, and the external presence to represent Oxford Road in rooms that matter, including new business pitches, industry conferences, and senior client conversations.

The Media Director sets the standard for how the team thinks, works, and communicates, both internally and in the market.

What you'll do

Media Oversight & Execution

• Oversee Influencer media planning, buying, and execution to ensure alignment with client objectives and agency standards.
• Maintain deep expertise in buying tools and platforms; actively advocate for process improvements and workflow efficiency.
• Develop buying guides, negotiation frameworks, and standards of practice that create consistency across the team.
• Retain select buying responsibilities for high-priority clients or as needed to support team capacity.
• Troubleshoot performance issues with rigor, investigate before you optimize, optimize before you cancel.

Business Growth & Strategy

• Play a lead role in new business pitches, building strategic proposals, and selling through YouTube and Social capabilities and competitive advantage.
• Oversee client budget allocation, testing roadmaps, and media strategy execution across the portfolio.
• Lead the onboarding of new clients, establishing strong foundations for long-term partnerships and growth.
• Evaluate new media opportunities and guide the development of POVs for internal and client consideration.
• Build and maintain external relationships with creators, networks, and agencies that give Oxford Road first-mover access to the best inventory.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead weekly team meetings and provide mentorship to senior buyers and the broader team.
• Hire, train, and develop a multi-level team: senior buyers, media buyers, associate buyers, and coordinators.
• Own workflow, account assignments, and capacity planning in partnership with the SVP.
• Foster a culture of accountability, proactive communication, and continuous improvement.
• Collaborate with senior management to ensure alignment of department goals, strategy, and execution.

Senior Vendor & Client Leadership

• Serve as a senior point of contact for high-priority clients and vendor partners, driving satisfaction and long-term growth.
• Lead preparation for key vendor meetings and QBRs, ensuring alignment on strategy, performance, and expectations.
• Act as the primary escalation point for client, vendor, and compliance issues, break logjams, make the call, see it through.
• Partner with compliance and media ops to ensure IO terms, vendor accountability standards, and agency protocols are understood and enforced by the buying team.
• Leverage data insights to inform macro-level conversations with network partners and drive strategic decision-making across the portfolio.

Marketplace Expertise & Thought Leadership

• Stay ahead of platform changes, algorithm shifts, new monetization formats, AI platforms, and competitive threats, and bring that intelligence back to the team and to clients.
• Represent Oxford Road at industry conferences and panels.
• Contribute to agency-owned channels (newsletter, podcast, summit) as a practitioner voice on YouTube and the creator economy.

What You Bring

• 8+ years of experience in media buying or media planning, with at least 3 years in a senior leadership role.
• Proven track record of driving business growth, managing large client portfolios, and leading high-performing teams.
• Deep expertise in creator media buying and a strong understanding of the broader media landscape and emerging platforms.
• Exceptional leadership and mentorship skills, with experience managing multi-level media teams.
• Negotiation instincts and market relationships to consistently deliver best-in-market rates.
• Proven ability to lead through change in a fast-paced environment, adapting to evolving client objectives and market shifts.
• Strong analytical skills, you read performance data, know what is driving it, and can make a defensible recommendation.
• Expertise in media buying platforms, analytics tools, and relevant software.
• Outstanding communication, presentation, and strategic thinking abilities.
• Willingness to travel up to 25% for industry events, key client meetings, new business pitches, and company-hosted activities.

Oxford Road Core Values

At Oxford Road, our culture is anchored in three core values. These guide how we work with each other, our clients, and our partners.

• Humility — Mission over ego. We put the mission and the team's success above personal recognition.
• Insight — Insight equals market impact. We ground decisions in deep understanding of audiences, markets, and strategies to deliver measurable results.
• Ownership — Own the outcome, whatever it takes. We take full responsibility for our work and are committed to seeing it through to success.

The pay range for this role is: $130-150k USD