Associate Director, Paid Media Planning

What to know

Develop and execute game-changing advertising strategies that tie engagement to the bottom line. As an Associate Director, Media Planning, you'll develop and implement digital and traditional advertising strategies across clients ranging from leading nonprofits to political and advocacy groups to major brands (and everything in between).

This may be the right role for you if you’re someone who is equally strategic, creative, and analytical. Switching seamlessly from a client presentation, to writing an insightful analysis of campaign performance, and translating a client’s business objectives into a tactical media plan. You’re used to spending most of your day speaking in acronyms — terms like DSP, CPA, IVT, ROAS, and AVOC are major parts of your vocabulary — and you know how to explain them to clients and teammates.

You will use your depth of paid media experience to inform your work but also tap into your digital curiosity and passion for innovation to bring new ideas and thinking to the team.

The company

Blue State is a purpose-driven agency. We partner with leading causes, brands, and campaigns and create real change. From Google and UNICEF to Amnesty International and Oxfam, we transform how brands and causes raise money, influence policy, build platforms, and grow communities of supporters. Led by the most creative and analytical minds from the political, nonprofit, and brand worlds, Blue State is an independent agency with 150+ employees in the US and London.

A day in the life

• Develop media plans and recommendations for a range of assigned clients by translating their strategic visions into media objectives to accomplish a wide range of client objectives including direct response (lead gen and fundraising), awareness, persuasion, and advocacy.

• Analyze ongoing and historical performance data to identify opportunities for improvement, make strategic recommendations, and generate reporting and insights to drive optimization.

• Have a strong POV on measurement, attribution, and conversion tracking, and apply that knowledge to strategic recommendations and ongoing campaign management.

• Participate in (and frequently lead) client-facing interactions to deliver media strategies and provide clients with the context to understand how your tactical media plans will achieve their business objectives

• Work collaboratively with other internal or external teams, including media planners, strategists, account directors, designers, and analysts, to produce campaigns, creative ideas, audience and target recommendations, and experimental designs.

• Keep us up to date with the latest digital media trends by maintaining relationships with media partners and engaging in media R&D projects

• Serve as a mentor and internal and external thought leader by helping train colleagues to develop media strategy expertise, writing blog posts, and participating on panels.

What we offer

• Unlimited time-off (inclusive of sick, personal, and vacation days)

• $1,250 annually in professional development funds

• Competitive health, dental, and vision insurance

• Inclusive family planning coverage, including fertility, surrogacy, and adoption benefits

• Flexible and health savings accounts

• 401K & employer match

• Generous paid holiday schedule

• 12-week fully-paid parental leave for all parents-to-be

• Short-term and long-term disability insurance

• Pre-tax commuter benefits

• Remote work flexibility

We approach in-office working with a hybrid model. On-site presence is welcome for US staff who are within commuting distance of the NY or DC office. Managers retain discretion to require in-person attendance for folks on their discipline or client teams as necessary, including for those whose roles require them to be in person.

The salary range for this position is $101,000-$120,000; compensation will be commensurate with experience.

The team

As part of the Paid Media team, you’ll work closely with a cross-disciplinary group of Blue State employees who are passionate, geeky, and care about their clients and causes. Blue State fosters an environment where everyone has an opportunity to shape new approaches, grow and learn from their colleagues, and take advantage of a personal development fund to stretch their skills even further. You’ll have the opportunity to work with some of the most inspiring charities, ambitious brands, and passionate advocacy and social change campaigns.

Some things we’re looking for

• 6-8 years experience in cross-channel media planning, including a mix of digital and traditional media

• Demonstrated experience translating client business goals into cohesive media strategies and specific KPIs, and a record of managing large scale, multi-channel media campaigns that delivered on those goals.

• Deep understanding of all aspects of media strategy, planning, campaign management, and analysis reporting, and the tools and platforms used

• Ability to effectively manage multiple clients and projects on time, within budget, and meet performance goals.

• Exceptional attention to detail, especially with regards to budgeting, pacing and spend tracking, managing vendor relationships and paperwork, and reporting.

• Ability to adapt to new situations, solve problems on the fly, and communicate with those around you. Teamwork and scrappiness required.

• A shared passion and curiosity for delivering change. This includes comfort with ambiguity, a restlessness that resists the status quo, and a commitment to quality that ensures we’re always making progress.

• A testing evangelist - no result is ever a problem as long as we can learn and improve in future.

• Humble in victory, constructive in defeat. We champion and expect empathy, communication, collaboration, and respect.

At Blue State, diversity is a necessity, not a nice-to-have. We encourage those from underrepresented communities — women, people of color, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, those with disabilities and people at all the intersections in between — to apply. Even if you don’t think your current skill set checks every box below, but this role seems to align with your strengths, we want to hear from you.

Blue State is committed to creating an inclusive and accessible application and interview process. If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation for a disability, including the use of AI tools throughout the hiring process, please contact us at [email protected] with the subject line: Accommodation Request to get started.

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