Associate Director of Media

Purpose

The Associate Director of Media will manage and lead a team of Media Managers, working to drive clients’ paid media strategy across advertising solutions with a focus on Paid Search, Social, Programmatic Display, and other digital channels. The Associate Director of Media is accountable for campaign strategy and account performance to ensuring business objectives are met. This role is equal parts client-facing and team management. This role acts in a consultative manner to build client trust, educate, and deliver on client goals. The role must also be adept at managing and grooming a team of paid media specialists.

The Associate Director of Media establishes and manages strategy across a variety of paid media platforms including Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, and Display. The position must stay up to date on the latest paid media trends and capabilities, identifying which clients they apply to as well as laying out the steps for implementation.

Additionally, the Associate Director of Media will manage, train, and coach a team of Media Managers who are responsible for campaign activation, optimization, and reporting. This role reports to the Director of Media.

Hot Dish Advertising Core Values:

• Passionate about our clients, our team and the work we produce.
• Curious to learn more, improve skills, use new programs, open to change and test new creative solutions to help our clients achieve their goals.
• Smarty Pants to challenge what has been done before and prove out a better solution that delivers results.
• Playing to win by willing to hustle and politely persist to meet or exceed our goals.
• Respectful of everyone. Open minded to the needs of others and work to help improve along the way. Teaching and showing without judgment.
• Fun and thrive off partnering with other high-energy team members and clients!

Essential Functions of the Job:

Responsibilities

• Enhance clients’ paid media campaign performance through innovative strategies and data-driven tactics.
• Establish yourself as a trusted advisor to clients by acting as their digital marketing consultant.
• Efficiently allocate paid media budgets across channels, recommending changes or optimizations to meet desired business objectives.
• Lead client performance calls, deliver strategy recommendations and data driven insights.
• Lead process improvements, working collaboratively across Client Services, Project Management, and Ops.
• Manage platform and vendor relationships, ensuring prompt and accurate work delivery.
• Actively identify new testing and learning opportunities within media to build on expertise, expand platform suite for relevant audiences and unlock new capabilities.
• Keep up on industry trends and develop training materials and best practices.
• Set up, review and monitor conversion tracking across digital platforms, Google Analytics (GA4) and within CRM systems.

Role Competencies

• Leadership
• Evolving Talent
• Results Oriented
• Effective Communication
• Collaboration
• Multi-tasking across a variety of client accounts and budget levels
• Critical Thinking
• Innovation
• Customer Focused
• Sense of Urgency

Leadership & Team Mentorship

• Lead, manage, and hold the team accountable (LMA) by setting a clear vision, fostering a strong culture, provide structure and support, ensure processes are followed, and drive accountability to achieve business goals.
• Onboard, train and support the professional development of the media team members to meet client goals and expectations.
• Lead and mentor a team of media managers, fostering a collaborative and high-performance environment.
• Provide clear, constructive feedback on media work to elevate the team’s output.
• Guide junior and senior media managers, as well as freelancers, ensuring work aligns with brand standards and strategic objectives.
• Encourage a culture of curiosity, continuous learning, and innovative problem-solving.

Agency Core Values and Leadership:

• Proactively bring issues to Department L10 meetings with recommendations to improve processes with a creative approach.
• Complete quarterly rocks and goals.
• Embody the agency’s core values.
• Recognize team members using our core values.
• Demonstrate collaboration and creativity.
• Be resourcefully responsible in all circumstances, maintaining professional with clients and teams.
• Stay informed about consumer digital marketing trends and franchise industry shifts to continue growing as a subject matter expert (SME).

What We Need From YOU

• 8+ years’ experience in digital marketing and/or paid media, having developed strategy and executed campaigns across multiple channels, including search, display, and social.
• Experience leading and mentoring digital marketing teams.
• Demonstrated experience in a client-facing role, managing paid media accounts focused on lead generation and direct response campaigns.
• Proven ability to translate high-level client goals into paid media strategy.
• Proven ability to analyze campaign data and come up with a performance-driven strategy, recommendation, or solution.
• Demonstrated success operating in an environment where cross-functional collaboration with teams is required.
• Track record of success and meeting deadlines.
• Excellent research and analytical skills.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience in Google Analytics (GA4) and Google Tag Manager.
• SEO experience not required but is a plus
• Experience with data visualization platforms is a plus

Job Demands & Conditions

• This position is a remote working situation with the ability to meet in person on a quarterly or as needed basis.
• This position involves sitting at a computer for several hours at a time.
• Proficiency in the use of keyboard / mouse and video meetings.
• Ability to maintain a regular schedule aligned with Central Time zone business hours, 9 am – 5 pm, to facilitate effective collaboration and communication with team members and clients.
• Ability to see and hear in virtual meetings.
• Ability to work extended hours as needed.