Associate Media Director Job at The Many in Santa Monica

Since its founding in 2009, The Many has combined technology, creativity and empathy to make stuff consumers actively seek, engage and share.

It has resulted in loads of integrated campaigns and award-winning work for social and digital, long-form and creator content, and activations.

The secret sauce: we harness the power of participation. Because if you look around you’ll notice that brands are no longer built in isolation, they’re built in participation with the many.

We are looking for candidates who are motivated, detail-oriented, a strong leader, who settle for nothing less than excellent work. Our ideal team member is highly organized and collaborative, enjoys creative thinking, and is hungry to lead projects and campaigns for our clients. As a leader at The Many, we look for those who are quick to adapt to a constantly changing environment, while maintaining a positive attitude. We’re looking for problem solvers, who are professionals in all communications both inside the agency and with clients. You will be partnering with our Media and Analytics teams on a daily basis for campaign management, and also cross-functionally with our Brand, PM, Strategy, and Creative teams to lead the campaign planning and execution process. Digital Associate Media Directors are leading the day-to-day externally with clients and vendors, while also fostering and mentoring a high-functioning team. This role is an extension of the leadership team within the Media Department and the agency overall.

What this role is responsible for:

• Become an expert in your clients’ business and how Programmatic media can fit into the bigger picture, have a deep understanding of the target, category, and clients’ competitors
• Build a solid relationship with clients as their primary contact point on a day to day basis, with a high degree of responsiveness, and an understanding of how internal client teams work
• Serve as a subject matter expert in the set-up of in-platform campaigns, platform opportunities and limitations, strategies, and best practices, including measurement & targeting capabilities, audience & testing strategies and plans, tracking/pixels, testing parameters, and tech & compliance barriers
• Oversee the planning, implementation, execution, trafficking, and optimization of Programmatic, Social, and Search campaigns with the ability to also dive in and build campaigns from the ground up, troubleshoot and problem solve issues, and manage day-to-day delivery
• Lead audience planning and data strategy architecture including development of first party data capture strategies
• Stay abreast of current trends and emerging media to develop a comprehensive knowledge base of RTB and MarTech landscape and translate information into actionable ideas, and to stay current on platform updates, beta opportunities, and best practices
• Proactively seek opportunities to keep clients competitive and develop industry and partner POV's through trend reports and email updates
• Spearhead the creation and management of new and ongoing deliverables and processes, including media plan and budget documents, pacing, actualizations, etc. to ensure media campaigns and operations are running smoothly
• Lead a detailed and strict QA process that facilitates flawless digital campaign execution and delivery – from partner communications and managed service measurement studies, to in-platform executions and optimizations – as the lead for quality control across self-serve biddable channels
• Have foresight and understanding of internal projects and processes to maintain and adjust timing of deliverables for team at large, communicating updates to managers, leadership, and cross-functional teams
• Partner with the media team with strategic media planning for all bid-based digital channels, and to have a pulse on ongoing updates throughout the campaign, ensuring everything is running smoothly and effectively, and all ad accounts remain in good standing
• Guide team members while collaborating with media & analytics teams to monitor and analyze performance, identify actionable insights, proactively recommend optimizations and shifts in strategies or tactics, raise and resolve any issues and discrepancies, and ongoing reporting needs
• Develop and maintain strong relationships internally, with external agency partners, and relevant media sales vendors
• Coach and mentor team members, including delegating work, reviewing work, providing strategic guidance, ensuring accuracy across all documents and deliverables, making sure deadlines are met, ongoing education and training, providing strategic guidance, providing performance feedback in real time, completing performance reviews and feedback
• Participate in larger areas of agency development, such as new business pitches, and interdepartmental education and collaboration.

What we need from you:

• 6+ years of hands-on in-platform experience with Programmatic DSPs (TradeDesk, Amazon, DV360, etc.)
• 6+ years of hands-on in-platform experience with third-party ad server and ad verification platforms (CM360, Innovid), including trafficking, creative asset management, tagging, floodlight, and audience creation
• 6+ years of experience with web analytics and reporting tools including Google Marketing Platform (Google Analytics), Looker Studio and/or Tableau
• An understanding and natural curiosity of technology and marketing at large, beyond Digital Media, and eagerness to learn
• Demonstrated proficiency in addressing the full spectrum of digital media objectives from branding and engagement, to conversion, across biddable platforms
• A deep understanding of the nuances & complexities of the Programmatic landscape, innovation, and a POV around creative specs & best practices, including a strong foundational knowledge of DSPs, SSPs, ad servers, verification partners, and data partnerships
• Subject matter expertise in the set-up of Programmatic campaigns, platform opportunities and limitations, strategies & tactics, optimization levers, tech & targeting capabilities, audience & testing approaches, tracking/pixels, and compliance barriers & workarounds
• A collaborative and team-oriented mindset, and willingness to roll up your sleeves
• A passion for and knowledge of emerging trends across media and culture
• Expertise with data solutions, with a deep understanding of the role of, activation with, and how to report on 1P, 2P, and 3P audience data sources
• Demonstrated success in building client trust through written and verbal communication
• Excellent communication, presenting, and writing skills, with a knack for sharing complicated ideas in a simple, understandable way
• The ability to independently and effectively manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced and deadline-driven environment, while maintaining accuracy, precision, and professionalism
• Resourcefulness, tapping into a wide range of sources and tools to proactively solve problems and get the job done
• Expertise in web analytics and reporting tools including Google Marketing Platform (Google Analytics), Looker Studio and/or Tableau
• Expertise in Microsoft Office and/or Google suites, including the creation and use of pivot tables, joining data sets, and complex formulas
• Leadership by example, stepping in as needed to ensure team success
• Open to working in-office three days a week

Other things we’d like to see:

• 6+ years of hands-on, in-platform experience in social channels preferred (Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, LinkedIn, X)
• 6+ years of hands-on in-platform experience with Search (Google, Bing, Yahoo.)
• Proficiency in Retail Media Networks, such as Amazon, Walmart, etc.
• Integrated experience working cross-functionally with Strategy, Brand, and/or Creative departments
• Experience with leading or contributing to new business pitches, and demonstrated success in winning new clients

Our salary range for this opportunity is $110,000.00 to $125,000.00 annually. There are several factors taken into consideration in determining base salary, including but not limited to: job-related qualifications, skills, education and experience, as well as job location and the value of other elements of an employee’s total compensation package (i.e. benefits, retirement plan employer match, etc.).

The Many is more than an agency. The Many is also a movement to push the world forward and we believe that diversity is an integral part of that mission. Every identity, from your heritage to those you hold dear, your beliefs, abilities, status, ethnicity, as well as your gender (and please share your pronouns), these are the threads that strengthen our collective fabric. We want you to feel seen and supported from the get-go. If there's any way we can assist or accommodate you during the interview process, we're just a message away.