Associate Director, Media Investment

The Digitas Networked Experience Agency seeks an Associate Director, Cross Channel Investments to join our dynamic team. With a focus on leveraging comprehensive data, technology, creative, media, and strategy capabilities, we deliver ambitious outcomes through unique solutions including Creative Experiences, Integrated Media, Addressable Relationships, Social Marketing, and Total Commerce.

About the role

We are looking for a leader who can bring an innovative approach to tactical planning and buying, identify new opportunities, and achieve greater value through strong partner negotiations and relationships. This role requires a fluency in multiple media channels and the ability to speak to them effectively.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the marketplace, build relationships, and co-lead channel negotiations as needed
• Oversee the work of multiple channel specialists, manage workflow, QA process, provide strategic guidance and oversight, and ensure operational excellence across all stages of tactical planning and buying
• Serve as a central point of contact for clients and internal teams for the client investment portfolio, with oversight from account leadership
• Speak fluently to multiple media channels, calling on deep expertise from activating one or more channels
• Work alongside Channel Teams and Media Strategy to determine how best to spend media dollars to drive outcomes with account leadership oversight
• Bring innovative solutions and out-of-the-box thinking to partners and clients
• Develop thought leadership on media marketplace evolution, ensuring delivery of strong point of view and industry knowledge
• Aid in delivering bespoke agency solutions and offerings to evolve client relationships
• Report to VP/VPGD, Investments Planning & Optimization, leading tactical plan development and recommendations, ensuring cross-channel and channel tactical recommendations ladder up to the media strategy and are backed up by industry trends, competitive, and media insights
• Liaise with channel teams in the creation, distribution, and evaluation of RFPs in the marketplace
• Partner with channel teams to assess proposals and negotiate pricing, added value, and more
• Create and maintain channel activations on a holistic media plan and flow chart by partner with associated details (flighting, placements, targeting, cost, etc.)
• Develop cross-channel budget shift decisioning and recommendations with assistance from senior account leadership to maximize profitability and exceed client goals
• Oversee total dollars in market, monitoring pacing and navigating over and underspends by channel, and performance cross-channel
• Work within teams to troubleshoot campaign management issues as they arise or identify when to escalate to senior account leadership while also effectively partnering with cross-functional teams and senior account leadership to appropriately communicate issues with clients

Qualifications

• 7+ years of media planning and buying experience, with a strong foundation in media channel investment and activation (option to add pending client: "emphasis on performance media or video or retail media, etc.")
• Bachelor's degree or higher, with a concentration in advertising, marketing, business administration, communications, or equivalent
• An analytical background – comfort with data and numbers
• 5+ years of people managing experience, overseeing five or more reports in an account management/client services team
• Deep industry relationships with ad tech firms, brand teams, and publisher/platform partners
• Excellent negotiation skills and understanding of how to add incremental value and communicate that to our clients
• Strong communication and writing skills—you’re poised, precise, and above all, kind when engaging with others
• Able to package, merchandise, and sell in concepts and new opportunities
• Strategic thinking and able to see the bigger picture
• A self-starter with ability to work independently and in a collaborative team setting
• Familiarity with prompt-based interaction and commonly used generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Google Gemini, DALL·E, Midjourney) is a plus, especially for tasks like ideation, research, or content generation