Lead - Distribution, Creator & Event

About The Role HotCult is building a new pod focused on Distribution & Creator , bringing together content distribution, social-first media properties, and creator/talent partnerships under one roof. The idea is to build owned or co-owned media and creator-led brands — properties with their own audience, voice, and distribution engine that stand on their own, not simply a service line delivering client work. Think publisher-style or creator-first media brands that generate their own attention, community, and monetization independent of any single client mandate.

We're looking for someone to lead and build this pod from the ground up defining its shape, hiring the team, setting up the operating model, and owning its P&L and growth. This is a builder's role: equal parts strategist, operator, and hands-on leader.

What You'll Own

• Pod strategy & build-out — define the pod's charter, revenue model, and roadmap; decide what gets built in-house vs. partnered vs. acquired
• Team building — hire and structure the pod (content, distribution, creator partnerships, ops) as it scales from founding team to full function
• Distribution strategy — grow owned channels and audience across platforms (Instagram, YouTube, X, emerging platforms); own the playbook for what makes content travel
• Events — build IRL/experiential touchpoints as an extension of the pod's owned properties, driving community and additional monetization
• Creator ecosystem — build and manage a creator/talent network — sourcing, partnerships, negotiations, and long-term relationships with creators relevant to the pod's audience
• Revenue & P&L — own the pod's revenue and EBITDA targets; identify and close monetization opportunities (brand partnerships, licensing, creator deals, owned IP)
• Cross-pod collaboration — work closely with HotCult's other pods (solutioning, creative, strategy) to identify synergies — e.g., distribution support for client work, creator access for brand campaigns
• Reporting & accountability — represent the pod in leadership reviews; be accountable for outcomes, not just activity

Culture, the Hotcult Way This Pod Isn't Just a Distribution/monetization Play — It's An Extension Of How Hotcult Already Reads And Builds Culture, Applied To Owned Properties Instead Of Client Briefs. A Few Things That Should Carry Over

• Culture-reading as the core skill, not an add-on. Hotcult's methodology reads culture through History, Present, and Future Signal — understanding where a cultural thread has come from, what's happening with it now, and where it's heading next. The pod head should apply this same lens to pick what to build, when to build it, and when a trend has run its course — not chase virality reactively.
• Owned brands should feel native to a scene, not manufactured for reach. The same instinct Hotcult brings to reading South Indian regional culture for client work — specificity over generic pan-India content — should shape what these properties sound and look like. Distribution strategy should be built around genuine cultural fluency in the spaces the pod chooses to own, not just platform best practices.
• Creator relationships as long-term culture partnerships, not transactional deals. In line with how Hotcult approaches brand-culture fit, creator sourcing and partnerships should be judged on whether the creator's voice is authentically aligned with what the pod is building — not just reach or price.
• Integration, not a silo. Even though this pod builds its own IP and revenue line, it should stay porous with the rest of Hotcult — sharing culture intelligence back into solutioning and creative (what's trending, what's landing, what's fading), and drawing on the agency's existing cultural research and client-work learnings rather than rebuilding that knowledge from scratch.

What We're Looking For

• 7-8 years of experience across media, content, or creator economy — ideally with direct experience building or scaling a media/distribution brand or creator business
• Strong grasp of platform mechanics and what drives distribution/virality across short-form and long-form content
• Existing relationships in the creator/influencer ecosystem are a strong plus
• Comfortable owning a P&L and being measured on revenue and EBITDA, not just output
• Entrepreneurial mindset — this role has founder-like latitude and founder-like accountability
• Strong people leadership — you'll be hiring and building a team, not just doing the work yourself

Skills: influencer partnerships,digital distribution,influencer marketing,brand integration