Associate Director, Media

Spindrift; Massachusetts; Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Mission-driven culture

Hybrid work model

Equity & Benefits

Newton HQ

Job summary

Spindrift is seeking an Associate Director of Media to lead paid media strategy, planning, and optimization. Reporting to the VP of Brand Management, you will manage our media agency, oversee campaign-level planning, and drive performance insights that align with brand and business goals.

This hybrid role requires four days in Newton, MA, and one remote day per week. The ideal candidate combines analytical rigor with strategic thinking and has experience across digital, social, video and audio

Qualifications

• 8+ years in media planning or media strategy.
• Expertise across paid social, online video, programmatic, search, audio, and CTV.
• Fluency in paid media analytics and in-platform analysis.
• Able to synthesize data into concise insights and executive summaries.
• Experience managing external agencies and partnerships.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of campaign-specific media strategies.
• Collaborate with Creative, Insights, Influencer & Partnerships teams to translate priorities into media plans.
• Evaluate media investments and budget allocations to drive awareness and trial.
• Balance short-term performance with long-term brand growth.
• Own performance measurement and analytics across paid channels; develop actionable insights.
• Maintain dashboards and scorecards to track KPIs and media goals.
• Partner with agencies and platforms to ensure accurate tracking and data integrity.
• Strengthen measurement frameworks and attribution approaches across teams.
• Lead day-to-day agency relationship and set expectations for deliverables and timelines.
• Foster collaboration to drive innovation, efficiency, and continuous improvement.
• Identify and negotiate strategic media partnerships and sponsorship opportunities.
• Stay current on platforms, consumer behaviors, and media trends for growth opportunities.

Skills

Media planning

Media strategy

Analytics

Agency management

Partnerships

Executive reporting

Communication

Job description

Who We Are

Spindrift is challenging people’s expectations of how good a beverage can be. Founded in 2010 on the belief that the best tastes come directly from nature, Spindrift is the only sparkling water in America made with real squeezed fruit. Every Spindrift product is crafted to celebrate the aroma, texture, and taste of real squeezed fruit — never from concentrate — in every sip. Spindrift’s product portfolio now includes Spindrift® Soda and Spindrift® Tea, in addition to the flagship Spindrift® Sparkling Water.

The Role

We are seeking an Associate Director of Media to lead the development, execution, and optimization of our paid media strategy. Reporting to our VP of Brand Management, this role will be responsible for managing our media agency relationship, overseeing campaign-level media planning, driving performance reporting and optimization, and cultivating strategic media partnerships that amplify our brand and business objectives.

This is a hybrid position requiring four days per week in our Newton, MA headquarters with one remote workday per week.

The ideal candidate combines strong analytical rigor with strategic thinking and has experience managing integrated media programs across digital, social, video and audio. They are equally comfortable being hands on keyboard and diving into performance metrics as they are developing strategy recommendations and exploring new, innovative media opportunities.

What You’ll Own

Media Strategy & Planning

• Lead the development of campaign-specific media strategies aligned to brand and business objectives.
• Partner closely with Creative, Insights, Influencer & Partnerships teams to translate business priorities into effective media plans.
• Evaluate media channel investments and recommend budget allocations to drive awareness and trial of Spindrift beverages.
• Ensure media plans balance short-term performance objectives with long-term brand growth.

Media Reporting & Optimization

• Own performance measurement and analytics across all paid media channels (eg: social, digital, CTV, audio), including development of actionable insights and recommendations for optimizations
• Maintain reporting frameworks, dashboards, and scorecards to track campaign performance against business objectives, KPIs, and media investment goals.
• Partner with media agencies, platform representatives, and internal stakeholders to ensure accurate campaign tracking, tagging, and data integrity.
• Partner with analytics and insights teams to strengthen measurement frameworks and attribution approaches, including frameworks such as Marketing Mix Models, Brand Lift studies and Incrementality testing.

Agency Management

• Serve as the primary day-to-day lead for the media agency relationship.
• Establish clear goals, deliverables, timelines, and performance expectations for agency partners.
• Review media plans, optimizations, reporting, and recommendations to ensure strategic rigor and accountability.
• Foster a collaborative partnership that drives innovation, efficiency, and continuous improvement.

Media Partnerships & Innovation

• Identify, evaluate, and negotiate strategic media partnerships that support brand objectives.
• Build relationships with publishers, platforms, and media partners.
• Assess sponsorship, experiential, content, and custom media opportunities, in conjunction with the Influencer & Partnerships team.
• Stay current on emerging platforms, consumer behaviors, and media trends to identify new growth opportunities.

Who You Are

• 8+ years of experience in media planning or media strategy (either client or agency side)
• Expertise across media channels including paid social, online video, programmatic, search, audio and connected TV.
• Fluency in paid media analytics, with the ability to conduct hands-on, in-platform analysis and translate findings into concise, executive-level performance reporting.
• Ability to (1) synthesize complex datasets into clear, concise insights and recommendations and (2) create executive-ready summaries and presentations that communicate performance, learnings, and future recommendations.
• Experience managing external media agencies and holding partners accountable to reporting and optimization, as well as business outcomes.
• Track record of identifying and executing successful media partnerships and sponsorship opportunities.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and relationship-management skills.
• Experience within consumer-packaged goods, food & beverage, retail, or consumer brands preferred.

What We Offer

• The opportunity to shape the trajectory of a fast-growing, beloved brand at the forefront of health and wellness movement.
• A collaborative, entrepreneurial, and mission-driven culture.
• Competitive compensation, equity, and benefits.
• Position is a hybrid role (4 days in office, 1 day remote) based out of our Newton, Mass headquarters

Compensation & Benefits

The salary range for this position is $140,000 to $160,000 and is dependent upon the candidate’s experience prior to joining Spindrift. In addition, we offer the following compensation and benefits:

• Short-term incentive programs specific to level and department.
• Long term incentives.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance, with an employer contribution rate of 80% towards monthly premiums, regardless of plan type selected
• Company-paid life insurance, and a 401k retirement savings plan with a company match
• Monthly cell phone allowance
• Annual allowances for personal use of Spindrift product, health and wellness, professional development, and social justice education
• Voluntary additional life insurance, short-term disability and long-term disability insurance
• In addition to any paid leave benefits required by regulation, the company provides paid parental leave, vacation, sick, personal, bereavement, community service, and holiday time