Marketing Specialist, Media

KFC; Vaughan; Hybrid; CAD 70,000 - 88,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Vacation and personal days

Health and dental benefits

Tuition reimbursement

Retirement plan

Employee referral rewards

Job summary

KFC Canada is seeking an early-career Media Specialist to support planning, execution, and reporting of paid media across national campaigns. You will help bring bold retail campaigns and partnerships to life, driving salience, traffic, and transaction-led growth.

This role offers exposure to multiple channels and collaboration with Brand, Retail, Digital, Loyalty, and Analytics teams in a fast-paced marketing environment.

Qualifications

• 1–3 years of experience in media planning, media buying, marketing, advertising, digital media, or campaign management.
• Experience in a media agency, creative agency, QSR, CPG, retail, or fast-paced consumer brand environment is an asset.
• Foundational understanding of paid media channels (TV, digital, social, search, video, audio, OOH).
• Ability to manage multiple projects, timelines, and stakeholder inputs.

Responsibilities

• Assist in developing paid media plans across TV, digital, social, search, and OOH.
• Collaborate with agencies to align calendar, campaigns, and local market initiatives.
• Coordinate inputs (objectives, budgets, timing, specs) and track progress.
• Review plans, timelines, and reports for accuracy and alignment with objectives.
• Support in post-campaign evaluations and optimization opportunities.

Skills

Project management

Analytics mindset

Cross-functional collaboration

Attention to detail

Storytelling with data

Media planning basics

Education

Undergraduate degree in Marketing, Advertising, Commerce, Business, Communications, or Media

Job description

The Media Specialist is a key member of the KFC Canada Marketing team, supporting the planning, execution, optimization, and reporting of paid media across the national marketing calendar. This role helps bring KFC's bold retail campaigns, brand platforms, partnerships, and digital activations to life across paid media channels - ensuring plans are well-briefed, well-executed, performance-oriented, and connected to business objectives.

This is an exciting opportunity for an early-career media marketer to help build one of Canada’s most iconic QSR brands, while learning how media can drive salience, consideration, traffic, and transaction-led growth.

Media Planning & Campaign Execution

• Support the development and execution of paid media plans across key channels, including TV, CTV/OLV, paid social, digital, search, audio, OOH, and emerging platforms.
• Partner with the media agency to help bring KFC's retail calendar, brand campaigns, partnerships, and local market initiatives to life.
• Coordinate campaign inputs, including objectives, audiences, budgets, timing, creative requirements, specs, approvals, and reporting needs.
• Review media plans, decks, timelines, and status documents to ensure accuracy, completeness, and alignment with campaign objectives.
• Support campaign briefings, agency discussions, plan reviews, and post-campaign evaluations.
• Help identify questions, gaps, or watchouts in media recommendations, including audience fit, channel mix, timing, creative requirements, and budget allocation.
• Track key campaign milestones and ensure media workstreams move forward on time across internal teams and agency partners.

Budget Tracking & Investment Support

• Support media budget tracking across national campaigns, local market activity, digital campaigns, and test-and-learn initiatives.
• Monitor budget pacing and work with the media agency to flag risks, opportunities, or required reallocations.
• Assist in building clear investment rationales that connect media spend to business priorities, including awareness, reach, traffic, trial, and conversion.
• Support year-over-year and campaign-over-campaign comparisons to help the team understand performance shifts and investment implications.
• Help maintain internal media planning documents, budget trackers, and campaign calendars.

Performance Analytics & Reporting

• Support weekly, monthly, and post-campaign reporting across paid media channels.
• Help analyze core media metrics, including reach, frequency, impressions, CPM, clicks, traffic, engagement, video completion, and cost-per-outcome where applicable.
• Work with the media agency and analytics partners to summarize performance trends, key learnings, and optimization opportunities.
• Assist in developing campaign wrap reports that go beyond surface-level metrics and help explain what worked, what did not, and what should be optimized moving forward.
• Support test-and-learn initiatives to improve KFC's media effectiveness across channels, audiences, markets, and creative formats.
• Help translate data and media performance into clear, simple storytelling for internal stakeholders.

Audience, Digital & First-Party Data Support

• Support audience strategy across paid media, including campaign targeting, retargeting, lookalike audiences, and market-specific targeting approaches.
• Partner with Digital, Loyalty, CRM, Analytics, and agency teams to help activate first-party data opportunities where applicable.
• Support measurement conversations across digital platforms, helping identify reporting gaps, tagging needs, and optimization opportunities.
• Stay curious about emerging media channels, platform changes, audience behaviours, and QSR/category media trends.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Brand, Retail, Digital, Loyalty, Analytics, Finance, Operations, Franchisee Marketing, and agency partners to support strong media execution.
• Help ensure media plans are connected to campaign strategy, creative assets, restaurant readiness, digital experience, and business priorities.
• Support internal communications and updates related to media activity, performance, and campaign timing.
• Build strong relationships with agency partners and internal stakeholders to help create a collaborative, accountable, and high-performing media function.

Education / Certifications

• Undergraduate degree, preferably in Marketing, Advertising, Commerce, Business, Communications, Media, or a related field.
• Additional media, digital marketing, analytics, or platform certifications are considered an asset.

Experience

• 1-3 years of experience in media planning, media buying, marketing, advertising, digital media, or campaign management.
• Experience working in a media agency, creative agency, QSR, CPG, retail, or fast-paced consumer brand environment is considered an asset.
• Foundational understanding of paid media channels, including TV, digital, social, search, video, audio, and OOH.
• Ability to manage multiple projects, timelines, campaign details, and stakeholder inputs at once.
• Strong attention to detail, with comfort reviewing media plans, budgets, reports, timelines, and creative specs.
• Analytical mindset, with the ability to interpret campaign performance and summarize key takeaways.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to turn data, updates, and recommendations into clear and simple storytelling.
• Collaborative working style and ability to build strong relationships with internal teams and agency partners.
• Comfort working in a fast-paced environment with shifting timelines, priorities, and campaign needs.
• Curiosity, resourcefulness, and a desire to learn how media can drive both brand-building and short-term business results.

Skills & Capabilities

• Strong project management and attention to detail
• Analytical thinking and comfort with performance data
• Strong collaboration across teams and agencies
• Curiosity and willingness to challenge, learn, and improve
• Ability to operate in a fast-paced, high-energy marketing environment
• Passion for building bold, culturally relevant, and business-driving work for KFC Canada

What makes KFC a great place to work?

Our People.

We invest in people capability above all else, with a proven track record of developing internal talent to leadership levels across the business both in Canada and globally. We hire and develop people who lead with Smart, Heart and Courage to make a big impact on the business today and grow into leaders of the future.

Our Culture.

We are known for a culture that rewards and recognizes bold results and promises everyone a seat at our table. We focus on your personal development as much as your professional development to ensure you can bring your best self to work.

Why you’ll love working here

• Hybrid work model (2-3 days per week in office)
• Paid vacation and personal days, plus 10 paid KFC Canada holidays in addition to statutory holidays.
• Comprehensive health and dental benefits, including HSA and PSA options that allow you to personalize your coverage, plus life insurance and disability coverage, with employer-paid premiums
• Family-inclusive Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and virtual care
• Paid parental leave with salary top-up
• RRSP and DPSP retirement programs with employer matching
• Annual tuition reimbursement program
• Employee referral rewards
• And so much more!

Note: remuneration, benefits, and other perks may vary by role, employment status, eligibility, and other relevant factors.

Additional Information

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

We thank all applicants for their interest in joining KFC Canada; however, only those selected for further screening will be contacted. Applicants are assessed based on skills and experience relevant to the role. Canadian experience is not required.

KFC Canada is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace where everyone feels they belong. In accordance with applicable laws, we are committed to providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment and selection process to meet the needs of applicants. If you require accommodation at any stage of the hiring process, please let us know.

The expected hiring range for this role is $70,000 to $88,000 CAD, inclusive of base salary and target annual performance bonus. Final compensation will be based on factors such as skills, experience, qualifications, and internal equity.

KFC Canada uses artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled tools to support certain aspects of the recruitment process, including application screening and assessment, in accordance with applicable legislation. All final hiring decisions are made by human decision-makers.