Media Investment, Associate Director

The Associate Director, Media Investment ( a Point of Care role), is a key member of the Investment team of experts responsible for delivering smart, innovative and performance driven campaigns for its clients. They take the lead in identifying and selecting media partners that achieve identified strategic and tactical objectives as laid out by the Connections Planning and Comms Planning teams.

They are the primary owners of the vendor relationships and are responsible for all negotiation and value creation with these vendors and for ensuring each plan is executed with excellence. They supply aggregated quantitative and qualitative information for group level reporting for rate and program negotiations.

The team is expected to stay at the cutting edge of Digital innovation within the industry and educate the larger brand/client teams on relevant opportunities and challenges.

In order to fulfill these requirements, the Investment team must collaborate seamlessly with other functional teams and specialties.

This role reports to the Director, Digital Investment, supports the larger Investment team, and manages the junior Digital Investment team.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES:

Plan Creation & Execution of media channels; Paid Social, Paid Search, SEO, web and mobile programmatic.

Oversee Investment team recommendation with supporting documentation in support of client and brief objectives.

Negotiate rates, value and terms with media partners that are in line with negotiation strategy set forth by VP, Digital Investment.

Partner with specialty teams to ensure cohesive campaign launch.

Oversee content creation for Investment Plan to the Connection Planning team for plan recommendation to client.

Oversee junior team in ensuring campaign readiness to launch.

Accountable for campaign execution with excellence from launch to post buy.

Accountable for site-by-site trading history reports to support rate (media cost) negotiations.

Ensures plan stays within approved budget.

Assist in reconciliation of discrepant billing issues and raise to senior staff when necessary.

Vendor Partnerships & Industry Education

Maintain and grow key marketplace relationships, including senior-level media owner and tech platform contacts.

Responsible for creation of POVs where necessary of new opportunities and/or vendor updates.

Keep abreast of industry trends and assist in knowledge sharing across the team and agency.

Partner with specialty and partner teams to create case studies and share best practice execution.

Managerial/Agency Support

Lead by example while developing, motivating and coaching the junior Digital Investment team.

Ensure team understands and supports the vision and values of the Agency.

Foster environment of learning for junior staff.

Participate in the recruitment and growth of junior staff and ensure all direct reports master the skills and organizational savvy required for advancement.

Create environment of trust and accountability providing clear tasks and objectives when delegating tasks to the team.

Manage team workload and help drive prioritization when necessary.

Ensure team delivers on time and accurate work product.

KEY COMPETENCIES:

6-8 years’ experience in Planning and Buying, recent experience managing a team.

Demonstrates strong business acumen as expert in the investment space, inclusive of all sites direct and all specialty fields.

Strong understanding of syndicated tools utilized by the team to deliver on planning, buying and reporting, insights and optimization aspects of Digital Media.

Great business sense and negotiating skills.

Strong connections in the industry with the knowledge of knowing all the right people and places to go for the deal.

Experience in leading and collaborating with others.

Keen eye for detail and understanding of budget restraints.

Self-Starter/demonstrates initiative.

Strong problem-solving skills.

Exceptional interpersonal, organizational, communication and decision-making skills.

The salary range for this role is:$120K - $125K annually, DOE.