Director of Media Partnerships

Yorktown Search Partners; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A high-growth platform seeks a Director of Media Partnerships to drive equity-backed media deals and accelerate brand growth. This role emphasizes negotiation, strategic engagement, and financial alignment with performance metrics, offering competitive compensation including deferred salary and equity participation.

Benefits

Performance-based incentives

Equity ownership and participation

Qualifications

• 4-7+ years of experience in brand partnerships, venture capital, or strategic business development.
• Demonstrated track record of sourcing and managing growth partnerships.
• Proficiency with digital growth metrics and marketing KPIs.

Responsibilities

• Source, negotiate, and manage media-for-equity partnerships.
• Structure and negotiate creative equity-linked agreements.
• Monitor media campaigns and ensure alignment with KPIs.

Skills

Negotiation

Strategic Business Development

Growth Marketing

Storytelling

Job description

Position Title: Director of Media Partnerships
Location: Toronto / Ottawa / Hybrid
Reports To: Managing Director
Compensation: Deferred market-competitive salary, performance-linked incentives, and equity participation
Search Mandate: Yorktown Search Partners is conducting a confidential executive search on behalf of a high-growth platform operating at the intersection of media, capital, and brand acceleration.

Role Overview

Yorktown Search Partners has been retained to recruit a Director of Media Partnerships for a confidential client-a pioneering platform at the forefront of media-for-equity investing. The firm leverages strategic media capital to accelerate early- and growth-stage brands while aligning founders, investors, and media partners in shared value creation.

This role combines elements of venture investing, media strategy, and brand growth. As Director, you'll lead the origination, negotiation, and execution of equity-backed media deals that fuel the next generation of consumer and tech brands. You'll work directly with founders, media owners, and internal investment teams to drive scaled outcomes in a highly entrepreneurial environment.

This role offers a deferred, market-aligned base salaryalongside performance-based incentives and equity ownership-designed to reward long-term value creation and strategic leadership.

Key Responsibilities

Origination & Partnership Development

• Source, negotiate, and manage media-for-equity partnerships across DTC, SaaS, CPG, marketplace, and lifestyle sectors
• Build relationships with media owners, influencer networks, digital publishers, and creative platforms
• Identify and engage high-potential companies where strategic media can serve as a growth lever

Deal Structuring & Execution

• Structure and negotiate creative equity-linked agreements based on performance metrics and milestone delivery
• Lead internal and external deal teams to close transactions that are accretive for both media and capital partners
• Coordinate with legal and finance to ensure agreements reflect proper governance, equity impact, and monetization timelines

Campaign Oversight & Value Tracking

• Monitor the execution of media campaigns and ensure alignment with KPIs such as CAC, ROAS, LTV, and subscriber growth
• Work alongside media partners and portfolio operators to ensure optimization and post-deployment tracking
• Translate performance into investor reporting, founder strategy sessions, and reinvestment recommendations

Strategic Ecosystem Engagement

• Represent the firm at key media and venture industry events, brand summits, and strategic roundtables
• Build thought leadership around the media-for-equity model in founder communities and agency circles
• Collaborate with portfolio management, investment, and brand leads to align partnership strategy with capital deployment goals

Ideal Candidate Profile

• 4-7+ years of experience in brand partnerships, venture capital, growth marketing, or strategic business development
• A demonstrated track record of sourcing, negotiating, and managing growth partnerships across media and content platforms
• Proficiency with digital growth metrics, marketing KPIs, and value attribution in campaign environments
• A founder-friendly, commercial mindset with strong storytelling, negotiation, and deal execution capabilities
• Familiarity with emerging brands in DTC, SaaS, or digitally native categories
• Established network across digital publishers, influencers, media buyers, and content creators

Compensation & Alignment Structure

This is a high-impact, growth-aligned role. Compensation includes:

• A deferred, market-aligned salary structure to support platform scalability
• Performance-based incentives tied to executed deals and campaign impact
• Equity ownership and participation in platform-wide upside, including carried interest and strategic bonuses

Full compensation terms and participation details will be shared with shortlisted candidates under NDA.