Production Director / Creative Director (Podcast) – Freelance

Production Director / Creative Director (Podcast) – Freelance

Day Rate: Competitive

Location: London (Hybrid)

Our client is hiring a Production Director / Creative Director to lead the development and delivery of a new flagship podcast. This is a freelance role for someone with deep experience in podcast production, content direction, and social‑first storytelling. The project also includes a large volume of short and long form social content, so platform fluency and strong editorial instincts are essential.

You’ll shape the creative vision, build the production approach, and guide the team through pre‑production, recording, post‑production and distribution. The ideal person has worked on high‑profile shows, understands how to build compelling interviews and narrative structure, and knows how to turn podcast moments into social content that travels.

What you’ll be doing:

Podcast Creative Direction

• Leading the creative development of a new high‑profile podcast concept, including theme, tone, structure, and visual identity
• Shaping episode formats, narrative flow, interview arcs, recurring segments, and signature moments
• Creating treatments, briefings, run‑of‑show documents and story outlines for each episode
• Working with hosts to refine delivery, tone, and conversational direction
• Ensuring the podcast has a clear point of view and a repeatable structure that builds audience loyalty
• Owning the full production pipeline from initial scoping to final delivery
• Leading pre‑production: research, guest briefing, script refinement, shot lists, production schedules and logistics
• Overseeing recording sessions, both in‑studio and on location, ensuring high‑quality audio and video
• Directing production teams, including sound engineers, camera operators, editors and supporting creatives
• Managing post‑production workflow: audio edit notes, video cut notes, version control, music, graphics and final QC
• Ensuring all content meets brand, legal, and platform standards

Social Content Development

• Translating podcast themes and episode moments into strong social concepts across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts and LinkedIn
• Leading ideation of short‑form clips, highlight edits, cutdowns, \”extended moments\”, behind‑the‑scenes content and episodic promos
• Guiding editors on pacing, hooks, structure and platform best practices
• Developing longer‑form YouTube content, standalone video features and related storytelling formats
• Ensuring all social content builds the brand, strengthens audience engagement, and feeds the overall growth strategy

Audience Growth & Strategy

• Working with strategists on distribution, release strategy, titling, thumbnails and posting cadence
• Reviewing analytics across podcast platforms and social channels to refine content and inform future episodes
• Identifying opportunities for new formats, collaborations, guests, or spin‑off content
• Staying up to date with genre trends, cultural moments, and platform developments

Main Requirements

• Significant experience as a Production Director, Creative Director or Executive Producer within podcasting or long‑form content
• Demonstrated success developing and producing high‑quality audio or video podcasts
• Strong editorial judgement with a feel for pacing, narrative, and conversation management
• Expertise in versioning content across multiple social platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn
• Experience directing hosts and guests, and guiding a production team on set
• Confident in pre‑production planning, run sheets, studio logistics, shoot direction and managing post workflows
• Strong understanding of how to turn long‑form podcast moments into high‑performing short‑form content
• Comfortable working at pace and handling multiple deliverables with tight deadlines
• Collaborative, detail‑oriented, and capable of leading both creatively and operationally

SUMO are an equal opportunities employer. We encourage applications regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, disability or gender. As an employment agency, SUMO is fully committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process for all (both internally and on behalf of our clients).

Thank you for your interest in the above vacancy. Please note – due to the high volume of CVs & applications we receive, we can\’t always get back to everyone, although we do try our best!