Director, Paid Media - CNBC & MS NOW

About the role

Versant (Nasdaq: VSNT) is an industry-changing media and entertainment business home to trusted brands that shape culture, inform audiences, and build lasting connections. The Director, News Paid Media will lead the paid media strategy for Versant’s News portfolio, supporting both CNBC and MS NOW. This highly visible role is responsible for developing and executing full-funnel paid media strategies that drive customer acquisition and engagement.

As the subject matter expert for direct-to-consumer paid media, you’ll partner closely with Marketing, Analytics, Research, Creative, Finance, and external agency partners to develop data-driven campaigns that maximize marketing investment and business impact. You’ll also help evolve marketing measurement capabilities, attribution strategies, and marketing technology infrastructure to support long-term growth.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end paid media function as the team’s subject matter expert, balancing strategic planning with campaign execution, reporting, optimization, budget management, and operational excellence in a lean, high-impact environment.
• Develop and lead full-funnel paid media strategies across CNBC and MS NOW, driving awareness, customer acquisition, engagement, retention, and conversion through data-informed marketing initiatives.
• Serve as the direct-to-consumer (DTC) paid media expert, developing acquisition strategies that support subscription and audience growth objectives.
• Collaborate with peer group in Owned Media to help quantify increases in audience reach, campaign frequency, and overall impact.
• Partner with internal Marketing, Analytics, Research, Creative, Product, and Finance teams to develop integrated media plans aligned with business priorities.
• Lead paid media budget planning, forecasting, financial reconciliation, and internal billing processes while ensuring efficient allocation of funds.
• Collaborate with external agency partners to translate business objectives into effective paid media strategies, oversee execution, and continuously optimize campaign performance.
• Analyze complex performance data to identify actionable insights, measure campaign effectiveness, and inform future investment decisions.
• Contribute to business development models focused on acquisition, conversion, churn, customer lifetime value (LTV), and incremental business impact.
• Help evolve the organization’s marketing technology ecosystem, including mobile app attribution, web analytics, tracking infrastructure, and connected TV (CTV) measurement capabilities.
• Partner with Analytics teams to continuously improve attribution methodologies and deepen understanding of paid media’s contribution to marketing and overall business performance.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, Analytics, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of experience leading paid media strategy and execution, preferably within digital media, streaming, subscription, news, or direct-to-consumer businesses.
• Demonstrated expertise managing full-funnel paid media campaigns across search, social, programmatic, video, connected TV (CTV), and emerging digital channels.
• Proven experience driving customer acquisition and optimizing performance across the subscriber lifecycle, including acquisition, conversion, retention, and lifetime value (LTV).
• Strong understanding of marketing measurement, attribution methodologies, incrementality, and performance analytics.
• Experience managing significant paid media budgets, forecasting spend, and overseeing budget planning and financial reconciliation.
• Advanced analytical skills with the ability to synthesize large, complex datasets into clear insights and actionable business recommendations.
• Experience partnering with external media agencies while maintaining strategic oversight and accountability for campaign performance.
• Familiarity with marketing technology ecosystems, including mobile app attribution, web analytics, pixel implementation, and CTV measurement.
• Exceptional cross-functional collaboration skills with experience partnering across Marketing, Research, Analytics, Creative, Product, Finance, and executive stakeholders.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills with the ability to translate technical marketing concepts into meaningful business outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience marketing subscription-based digital products or streaming services.
• Experience supporting premium news, media, or entertainment brands.
• Familiarity with platforms such as Google Ads, DV360, The Trade Desk, Meta Ads Manager, Campaign Manager 360, Google Analytics 4, Adobe Analytics, Kochava, Adjust, Tableau, Looker, or similar technologies.
• Experience developing or enhancing marketing measurement and attribution frameworks.