Senior Lead - Copy (Brand Foundations)

In short

At On, we believe in the power of storytelling. Whether it's celebrating the achievements of our athletes, the passions of our communities, or the innovation behind our products, our stories captivate and inspire. Key to this success is our Brand Foundations & Culture team, which is responsible for defining On’s tone of voice. We're seeking a highly strategic senior creative leader to steer this team and act as a central authority on our tone of voice. Reporting directly to the Head of Copy, you will define and codify the global tone of voice through strategy and systems, empowering writers across On to speak with one consistent, unified, and compelling voice. This is a role for a strategic copy leader with a strong background in brand strategy, eager to build the foundational tools that will enable our brand to scale globally while maintaining its premium, distinct identity. With your small, focused team, you’ll drive TOV strategy, deliver narratives for our most critical brand moments, and build toolkits and guidelines that enable all teams to sound like one united voice.

Your Mission

Lead the strategic direction and definition of our brand's tone of voice (TOV), working in close partnership with the Head of Copy, Head of Brand Creative, Brand Voice and Strategy. This includes defining TOV systems, attributes, and guardrails across all product categories, channels, and partnerships.

Direct and write high-priority brand narratives for our most critical global moments, key brand partnerships, and define our vertical POVs in the market.

Shape, codify, and guide the essential brand DNA and voice guidelines. You’ll steer global toolkits, guides, and internal workshops that enable consistent, high-quality execution by copywriters and agencies.

Lead, mentor, and inspire a small team of copywriters.

Act as a copy and TOV authority when collaborating with external creative and branding agencies, ensuring foundational work aligns with our strategic intentions.

Own the global copy toolkits and guidelines portal, ensuring it is a dynamic, accessible, and up-to-date resource for all teams.

Your story

You’re a strategic copy leader with a minimum of 8+ years of experience in copywriting, brand strategy, and tone of voice development, ideally within a premium, global consumer brand.

You have a proven track record (ideally from a leading branding agency or a senior in-house role) of defining, shaping, and successfully scaling a brand's tone of voice and foundational identity across multiple categories and markets.

You are adept at translating complex brand strategy into clear, inspiring, and actionable guidelines, toolkits, and presentations that brief and excite wider teams.

While this is a strategic role, you maintain exceptional writing craft and can write high-impact, final-level copy for priority brand narratives.

You possess a strong ability to build TOV systems – not just singular assets – that can adapt and scale consistently.

You’re a natural leader capable of guiding a small, specialist team while effectively collaborating with senior leaders across copy, creative, and marketing. You thrive in a dynamic, high-performance environment.

You maintain a strong understanding of emerging technologies in the copywriting space, including Gen AI and LLMs, and possess the strategic foresight to integrate AI tools into your workstreams where appropriate.

What to expect

We want to set everyone up for success, so here’s the lowdown on how we hire. Our process is a two-way street – bringing you into our culture, while helping us learn how you think.

Our full process can last about eight weeks from application to offer, because we care about getting it right. These steps explain how we usually do things.

Before you get started, feel free to consider if you want to work with us. Strange question? Well, we give people a lot of space to navigate their day-to-day and that style isn't for everyone. We want you to be passionate about what you do and be sure this is the right fit. Because when skills and passion combine – it creates that 'Wow' moment.

• Step One

  It starts with you...

  You'll start by submitting your application to a specific role. We try to keep this step as simple as possible. We do get a lot of applications, but we review them all. If you're a good fit to the role, a recruiter will follow up with you directly. If you didn't receive a reply, or were unsuccessful this time around, we encourage you to look for other possible matches at On.

• Step Two

  Interview with a recruiter

  What ignites your spirit? This is where we’ll start getting to know all about you and what makes you tick – and it’s your first chance to get a feel for our culture. Chatting with a member of our talent team, you’ll learn more about On and how we work. We’ll learn about what motivates you and what you could bring to the team.

• Step Three

  Interview with a hiring manager

  Ready to dig into the details? This second interview will be held with your future manager and will focus on the specifics of the job. Together you’ll delve into your unique skills and experiences and how they could be relevant at On. It's also a time to assess how you might feel working side-by-side. Bring any questions you have about the job, the team or anything else you might like to know – this is an open forum.

• Step Four

  The Case Study

  What's your style? This task will help us understand how you think, face a challenge and give insight into your novel ideas. Designed to give everyone their best shot, your case study is based on something you might typically experience on the job. This is your chance to show us what you’ve got. So express yourself. Be you.

• Step Five

  The Experience Day

  Your first taste of the Oniverse. This is a time to meet some of the people you'll be working closest with. In person or virtually, you'll get a feel for the day-to-day at On and the people who make it happen. You'll chat with a few potential teammates - the conversations will be as equally driven by the role and your experience as by our values. We believe how you do things is just as important as what you do.

• Step Six

  The Result

  Are we a good fit? We’ll get together internally to share our feedback and decide if we’re a match. We know that job searching is a big time investment, so it’s not a decision we take lightly. It’s also time for you to reflect on the experience – are we the right place for you? No matter the outcome, we’ll give you meaningful feedback.

Step One:

It starts with you...

You'll start by submitting your application to a specific role.

We try to keep this step as simple as possible. We do get a lot of applications, but we review them all. If you're a good fit to the role, a recruiter will follow up with you directly. If you didn't receive a reply, or were unsuccessful this time around, we encourage you to look for other possible matches at On.