Director, Media Planning (Digital and Traditional)

About the Role

Key Responsibilities

• Understand client challenges to craft custom marketing programs including audiences, markets, competitive spend trends, and consumer insights.
• Lead media strategy for new business development and collaborate with all other Quad stakeholders as necessary.
• Lead conversations, internally and support externally, in establishing benchmarks to determine success.
• Oversee media strategy, campaign creation, budget, optimization, and testing strategies for full-funnel, multi-platform campaigns across all paid channels including television, radio, print, out-of-home, digital, social, and mobile media.
• Identify relevant media and data partners to test in plans on a client-by-client basis.
• Identify opportunities to innovate with agency partners to evolve media strategies for clients and the agency.
• Review advanced analytics reports to provide direction on media plan optimizations.
• Leverage insights, learnings, and modeling to determine the right channel mix and bolster data-informed media plans.
• Stay current with new advances in media, the competitive landscape, and vendor capabilities to influence business plans and strategies.
• Develop POV on new media products and vendor capabilities.
• Approve and oversee strategy content for QBRs; lead when allocation allows.
• Nurture team of managers and planners.
• Lead client calls as needed.
• Collaborate with media activation on case study structure and development.
• Advise on measurement frameworks and approaches.
• Motivate, lead, and train team members while fostering accountability and ownership.
• Create, implement, and support operational best practices across the team and department.
• Support new client onboarding efforts as directed by leadership.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree.
• 7-10+ years of experience in agency environments and/or channel partnerships.
• 3+ years in a management or supervisory role.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills to interact effectively with clients, vendors, and internal teams.
• Ability to identify, recruit, and retain top talent and manage personnel issues.
• Proven quantitative and analytic capabilities with expertise in translating data into insights.
• Ability to manage multiple, simultaneous projects with strong judgment and prioritization skills.
• Experience with third-party media research tools such as Nielsen, MRI, Scarborough, Media Radar, DoubleClick, YouGov.
• Expert understanding of media planning, distribution, syndication, and content delivery.
• Skilled in manipulating and understanding data to drive sales and marketing efforts.
• Strong interpersonal, partnership, and influencing skills.
• Self-motivated, creative, strategic thinker who thrives in fast-paced environments.
• Extensive knowledge of media industry, including performance-based marketing across channels, analytics/ROI, and local/national media buying.
• Proven ability to develop and manage paid media plans that meet or exceed objectives.
• Excellent presentation, storytelling, and communication skills.
• Ability to understand client businesses and act as an extension of the client.
• Curiosity and desire to learn and teach industry knowledge.
• Leadership skills to develop high-performing teams with a track record of employee growth.
• Problem-solving skills with the ability to provide creative solutions.
• Ability to articulate a clear vision and manage team responsibilities effectively.
• Sound business judgment to navigate client and team challenges.

Nice to Have

• Experience building client decks and pitching opportunities.
• Knowledge of media industry trends and emerging media products.
• Experience in developing measurement frameworks and success metrics.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree.

Benefits & Perks

• Annualized salary range of $99,700 - $155,650, based on experience and market conditions.
• Opportunity to work in an innovative, diverse, and inclusive environment.
• Career advancement and professional development opportunities.
• Engagement with a reputable media agency committed to social responsibility and belonging.