Associate Director, Paid Social

the-shelf-careers; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

The Shelf is hiring an Associate Director to own the strategy and execution of paid social campaigns across Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and emerging platforms. This remote-first role requires an autonomous leader who can manage complex campaigns, drive optimization, and partner with internal leads on strategy.

You will build testing roadmaps, own architecture and budgets, and serve as the primary client contact, delivering clear performance recaps and strategic recommendations.

Qualifications

• 4–6+ years of paid social experience with 1–2 years at or near AD level.
• Fluency in Meta and TikTok; YouTube and Pinterest a plus.
• Strategic thinker who can also execute in Ads Manager.
• Excellent client communication and storytelling with data.
• Autonomous, proactive, and able to manage complex campaigns.
• Experience with measurement and attribution frameworks a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead paid social strategy and execution across Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and emerging platforms.
• Own campaign architecture, full-funnel structure, audience strategy, and budget allocation.
• Build and drive testing roadmaps: creative, audience, bidding, and landing pages.
• Serve as primary client contact; run performance calls and deliver recaps.
• Translate data into strategic storytelling through monthly recaps and executive narratives.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to deliver integrated growth programs.

Skills

Paid social strategy

Multi-platform execution

Client communication

Data-driven optimization

Strategic storytelling

Tools

Meta Ads Manager

TikTok Ads Manager

YouTube Ads

Pinterest Ads

Job description

About The Shelf

The Shelf is a full-service influencer marketing agency built on data, creativity, and results. We partner with mid-market and enterprise brands to design and execute influencer programs that drive real business outcomes — from awareness and content production to conversion and long-term brand equity.

What sets us apart is how we work: our proprietary platform gives us deeper visibility into influencer performance, audience quality, and campaign analytics than any spreadsheet or gut-feel approach ever could. We don't just book influencers — we build programs with intention, backed by strategy and measured with rigor.

We're a remote‑first team of strategists, creatives, operators, and data thinkers who move fast, think big, and care deeply about doing great work. If you're looking for a place where your ideas actually shape the product and the culture, this is it.

Our Performance Media team is expanding! We are hiring an Associate Director to own the strategy and execution of paid social campaigns across multiple platforms. This role is ideal for someone experienced enough to operate independently, manage complexity, and make informed optimizations—while partnering with internal leads on strategy.

Your focus will be clean execution, performance optimization, and ad account management at scale.

About the role

• Lead paid social strategy and campaign execution across Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and emerging platforms.
• Own campaign architecture, full-funnel structure, audience strategy, and budget allocation — not just optimization
• Build and drive testing roadmaps: creative, audience, bidding, and landing page hypotheses
• Serve as a primary client contact — run performance calls, deliver clear recaps, and proactively communicate wins, risks, and recommendations
• Translate campaign data into strategic storytelling — monthly recaps, QBRs, and executive-level performance narratives
• Collaborate cross-functionally with creative, analytics, and internal leads to deliver integrated growth programs
• Identify growth opportunities and flag risks before they surface in the data
• Contribute to pitches and new business for performance media Influencer campaigns

What we're looking for

• 4–6+ years of paid social experience with at least 1–2 years at or approaching the AD level
• Expert-level fluency in Meta and TikTok; YouTube and Pinterest a strong plus
• A strategic thinker who can also execute — you're not above pulling levers in Ads Manager
• Exceptional client communication skills — you can distill complexity, tell a story with data, and keep clients confident in the partnership
• Strong written storytelling: performance recaps, strategy memos, and QBR decks should feel like your native language
• Proactive and autonomous — you surface issues before being asked and bring solutions alongside problems
• Experience with measurement & attribution frameworks across the funnel (brand lift, sales lift, search lift, e-commerce) a plus.

What success looks like at 90 days

• You own your accounts — clients trust you and the team trusts your judgment
• Campaigns are structured for performance and optimized with clear, documented rationale
• You've introduced at least one strategic initiative (testing roadmap, creative framework, audience expansion) that didn't exist before
• You're delivering performance recaps that clients reference and share internally
• You're contributing ideas to how we build and grow our performance media client base