Sr. Director, Media Planning and Buying

kayak; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 140,000 - 162,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Work from almost anywhere

Mental health & well-being benefits

No meeting Fridays

Paid parental leave

Generous vacation

Volunteer time

Development Dollars

Travel discounts

Early access to learning

Meal benefits

Job summary

KAYAK seeks a Senior Director, Media Planning & Buying to shape multi-market media investment. You will lead cross-functional teams across Brand, Growth, Analytics and Finance to deliver integrated campaigns and measurable outcomes.

You will own budgeting, forecasting and performance reviews, balancing brand impact with efficiency while partnering with agencies and vendors to drive results.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive experience in media planning and buying across multi-market campaigns.
• Proven track record of growing brand awareness with solid ROI.
• Experience across TV/video, OOH, radio, paid social, display, programmatic and search.
• Track record of integrated media strategies delivering measurable results.
• Experience leading annual and quarterly planning, budgeting, forecasting, pacing, optimization and vendor negotiation.
• Strong knowledge of marketing measurement, KPI development, attribution, MMM and ROAS.
• Advanced Excel skills to translate data into actionable recommendations.
• Experience hiring and developing high-performing media teams.
• Proven ability to build trusted relationships with senior agencies and partners.
• Excellent communication and storytelling to explain complex media decisions.
• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing/related field or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead KAYAK’s multi-market media planning and buying strategy across offline and digital channels.
• Own annual and quarterly media planning cycles, including budget allocation, forecasting, pacing, optimization and performance reviews.
• Develop integrated media plans spanning TV and video, OOH, radio, paid social, display, programmatic and search.
• Balance brand impact, audience growth, efficiency and measurable business results across media investments.
• Establish measurement frameworks and feedback loops to evaluate reach, effectiveness, incrementality, efficiency and ROI.
• Partner with Analytics and external measurement providers on attribution, incrementality testing and MMM.
• Use campaign performance, consumer insights and market trends to develop investment recommendations.
• Manage strategic relationships with media agencies, publishers, broadcasters, technology partners and other vendors.
• Collaborate with Creative and Brand teams to translate insights into campaigns.
• Partner with Finance, Product, Growth and Commercial leaders to align media investment with business priorities.
• Lead, coach and develop media professionals while building cross-functional practices.

Skills

Media planning

Budget management

Multi-market campaigns

Data-driven decisions

Vendor negotiation

Team leadership

Measurement & MMM

Excel skills

Stakeholder management

Communication & storytelling

Education

Bachelor's degree in Marketing/Advertising/Communications/Business/Economics/Statistics

Tools

Excel

Job description

KAYAK, part of Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG), is a leading travel search engine. With billions of queries across our platforms, we help people find their perfect flight, stay, rental car and vacation package. We’re also transforming business travel with a new corporate travel solution, KAYAK for Business.

As an employee of KAYAK, you will be part of a travel company that operates a portfolio of global metasearch brands including momondo, Cheapflights and HotelsCombined, among others. From start-up to industry leader, innovation is in our DNA and every employee has an opportunity to make their mark. Our focus is on building the best travel search engine to make it easier for everyone to experience the world.

KAYAK is looking for a strategic Senior Director, Media Planning & Buying to shape how we invest in media across markets and channels. You will partner with Brand, Growth, Creative, Analytics, Finance, Product and Commercial teams to build effective, measurable campaigns that support audience growth and business outcomes.

This role will be required to work from our Cambridge, MA office 3 days per week.

In this role, you will:

• Define and lead KAYAK’s multi-market media planning and buying strategy across offline and digital channels.

• Own annual and quarterly media planning cycles, including budget allocation, forecasting, pacing, optimization and performance reviews.

• Develop integrated media plans spanning TV and video, out-of-home (OOH), radio, paid social, display, programmatic, search and other relevant channels.

• Balance brand impact, audience growth, efficiency and measurable business results across media investments.

• Establish measurement frameworks and feedback loops to evaluate reach, effectiveness, incrementality, efficiency and return on investment.

• Partner with Analytics and external measurement providers on attribution, incrementality testing and media mix modeling.

• Use campaign performance, consumer insights, competitive intelligence and market trends to develop clear investment recommendations.

• Manage strategic relationships with media agencies, publishers, broadcasters, technology partners and other vendors.

• Collaborate with Creative and Brand teams to translate audience and media insights into compelling, channel-appropriate campaigns.

• Partner with Finance, Product, Growth and Commercial leaders to align media investment with business priorities and communicate trade-offs clearly.

• Lead, coach and develop media professionals while building strong working practices across distributed, cross-functional teams.

Please apply if you have:

• 10+ years of progressive experience in media planning and buying, including responsibility for multi-market campaigns and substantial budgets.

• Proven track record of using media investment to drive measurable brand awareness growth while delivering strong ROI and business results.

• Demonstrated expertise across offline and digital media, including TV/video, out-of-home, radio, paid social, display, programmatic and search.

• A track record of developing and executing integrated media strategies that deliver measurable business results.

• Experience leading annual and quarterly media planning cycles, including budget allocation, forecasting, pacing, optimization, vendor negotiation and performance evaluation.

• Strong knowledge of marketing measurement, including KPI development, incrementality testing, attribution, media mix modeling (MMM) and ROI or ROAS analysis.

• Advanced Excel skills and the ability to use data to develop clear, actionable recommendations.

• Experience hiring, managing, coaching and developing high-performing media or marketing teams.

• Proven ability to build trusted relationships with senior agencies, publishers, broadcasters, technology partners and internal stakeholders.

• Excellent communication, presentation, negotiation and storytelling skills, with the ability to explain complex media decisions to senior audiences.

• A bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Advertising, Communications, Business, Economics, Statistics or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Benefits and Perks

• Work from (almost) anywhere for up to 20 days per year

• Focus on mental health and well-being:

  • Company-paid therapy sessions through SpringHealth

  • Company-paid subscription to HeadSpace

  • Company-wide week off a year - the whole team fully recharges (and returns without a pile-up of work!)

• No meeting Fridays

• Paid parental leave

• Generous paid vacation + time off for your birthday

• Paid volunteer time

• Focus on your career growth:

  • Development Dollars

  • Leadership development

  • Access to thousands of on-demand e-learnings

• Travel Discounts

• Employee Resource Groups

• Competitive retirement and health plans

• Free lunch 2 days per week

There are a variety of factors that go into determining a salary range, including but not limited to external market benchmark data, geographic location, and years of experience sought/required. The range for this Massachusetts-based role is $185,000-215,000.00, not inclusive of annual bonus and recurring RSU grants.

We offer a competitive base salary and benefits including: health benefits; flexible spending account; retirement benefits; life insurance; paid time off (including PTO, paid sick leave, medical leave, bereavement leave, floating holidays and paid holidays); and parental leave benefits.

Inclusion

At KAYAK, we want everyone to have the space to grow, share ideas and do great work. That’s why we’re focused on hiring the best talent from all walks of life and experiences, supporting them well and making sure no one feels like they have to fit a mold to belong here.

Need any adjustments for the interview, application or on the job? No problem—we’ve got you.