Director of Paid Media

Accountabilities: Lead end-to-end media planning, sponsorships, placements, and advertising purchases across paid search, paid social, programmatic display, online video and connected TV (CTV), retargeting, and third-party publisher and industry media, including direct-sold display, newsletters, native advertising, and sponsored placements. Oversee execution across advertising platforms, publishers, and external agencies, maintaining consistent performance standards across the brand portfolio. Translate business objectives and marketing funnel targets into channel strategies, audience plans, placement selections, and budget allocations, prioritizing targeted accounts and account-based marketing (ABM) initiatives. Own paid content strategy and provide performance-informed creative direction, supporting day-to-day advertising production and reviewing creative output against campaign objectives and performance standards. Partner with the Design team to optimize reusable templates, creative formats, and production workflows, enabling efficient development of high-quality advertising variations while maintaining brand consistency. Develop and execute a structured, hypothesis-driven creative testing roadmap, defining test objectives and success criteria, scaling winning assets, and retiring creative that has become less effective. Monitor campaign performance weekly, diagnose results across channels, audiences, campaigns, and creative assets, and reallocate spending toward the strongest opportunities to improve return on ad spend (ROAS) and reduce cost per acquisition (CPA). Manage paid media budgets across brands, channels, and campaigns, including investment prioritization, pacing, forecasting, and reporting on spend efficiency and returns to marketing and executive leadership. Own paid media measurement and reporting in collaboration with Growth Marketing and Business Solutions partners, defining funnel-stage KPIs and maintaining reliable tracking and attribution to pipeline and revenue. Apply incrementality testing where appropriate to determine whether paid campaigns generate results beyond what would have occurred without the investment. Translate platform and agency data into clear campaign summaries, actionable recommendations, and executive-level performance reports. Integrate AI into media strategy, creative development, campaign optimization, and measurement while following established governance, brand safety, and review requirements. Collaborate with Design and other stakeholders to strengthen these safeguards, including oversight of AI use in agency workflows. Manage the day-to-day external media agency relationship, including scopes of work, budgets, campaign quality assurance, performance reviews, and accountability against agreed KPIs. Collaborate with Demand Generation, Customer Marketing, Marketing Operations, Sales, and business unit marketing leaders to align advertising with account selection, audience segmentation, funnel objectives, campaign calendars, and product priorities. Evaluate competing requests and develop a focused portfolio of investments that balances individual brand needs with overall efficiency and business impact. Ensure all advertising meets brand, tone-of-voice, legal, claims-review, and accessibility standards and is appropriately tailored to education audiences. Manage, coach, and develop the Digital Marketing Manager responsible for paid media, establishing clear performance objectives and supporting professional growth. Monitor advertising platform developments, competitor activity, and the growing influence of AI-driven discovery, adjusting channel strategies to reach audiences as their search and discovery behaviors evolve. Requirements At least eight years of marketing or advertising experience, including five or more years specializing in paid media. Experience managing or mentoring at least one direct report, with demonstrated ability to set goals, provide feedback, and support employee development. Proven success in developing effective advertising creative and owning the associated campaign performance, testing, and optimization process. Hands-on experience with media planning, placement, and advertising purchases across major platforms, including Google Ads (Search, Performance Max, and YouTube), Meta, LinkedIn, and programmatic or demand-side platform (DSP) buying. Experience negotiating and managing direct relationships with third-party publishers and industry media partners, as well as overseeing agency-managed advertising purchases. Demonstrated ownership of annual paid media budgets of at least $1 million, ideally across multiple brands or business lines, with the ability to prioritize investment and concentrate spending where it delivers the greatest impact. Experience designing and executing paid media strategies for targeted-account initiatives and account-based marketing (ABM) programs. Strong analytical capabilities, including familiarity with Google Analytics 4 (GA4), B2B attribution models, incrementality testing, and business intelligence or reporting tools. Ability to interpret performance trends, make timely optimization decisions, and demonstrate how specific actions improved ROAS, acquisition costs, pipeline contribution, or other business outcomes. Practical experience applying AI tools to paid media strategy, creative production, optimization, or measurement, with sound judgment about where automation adds value and where human oversight remains essential. Familiarity with AI-assisted content creation tools and design platforms, including the ability to create or adapt advertising variations, provide actionable creative direction, and work within reusable templates and established brand systems. Proven experience managing external media agencies, defining scope, overseeing execution, and holding partners accountable for measurable performance. Strong leadership, communication, presentation, and collaboration skills, including the ability to communicate campaign results and strategic recommendations to executive audiences. Excellent project management, prioritization, and organizational skills, with strong attention to detail and the ability to manage competing demands in a complex, cross-functional environment. Adaptability and curiosity to stay current with evolving advertising platforms, emerging technologies, AI-driven discovery, and changing audience behaviors. Benefits Annual salary: $110,000–$145,000. Work arrangement: Fully remote position within the United States. Leadership opportunity: Manage and develop a direct report while shaping paid media strategy across a portfolio of brands. Strategic ownership: Lead significant paid media investments and influence demand generation, pipeline growth, and revenue performance. Cross-functional collaboration: Work closely with marketing, design, sales, analytics, and external agency partners. Innovation and technology: Apply AI and advanced advertising practices to creative development, targeting, optimization, and measurement.