Associate Director, Paid Social

Publicis Media; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 97,375 - 155,961; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Dental and vision

401K

Flexible time off

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

A leading media organization in Chicago is seeking an Associate Director, Social Media to drive social marketing excellence across multiple agencies. This position requires 6+ years of experience in paid social media and a bachelor's degree, focusing on strategic content development and campaign management. The successful candidate will lead innovative solutions and help define agency priorities, sharing expertise across platforms like Meta and TikTok. Competitive compensation and an inclusive work environment are part of the offer.

Qualifications

• 6+ years' experience in paid social media with emphasis on activation.
• Extensive familiarity with paid social media strategy.
• Strong understanding of major social platform algorithms and ad products.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to development of paid social activation content.
• Understand the evolving paid social landscape including commerce and AI.
• Identify and document FAQs for agency questions.

Skills

Paid social media strategy

Content development

Communication skills

Campaign management

Analytical skills

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in advertising, marketing, business administration, or communications

Tools

PowerPoint

Excel

Job description

Company Description

Read this first: If you have what it takes for this job, but don't meet all the criteria within the job description, we encourage you to apply. We'd like to connect with you to see what skills and experience you could bring to our team.

Who We Are

Publicis Media harnesses the power of modern media through global agency brands Starcom, Zenith, Spark Foundry and Performics. A key business solution of Publicis Groupe, Publicis Media is a top-rated conglomerate of agencies and entities that happen to deliver digital-first, data-driven services. Our global practices deliver client value and drive growth in a platform-powered world. It is present in more than sixty countries with over 17,000 employees worldwide.

About The PMX Performance Team

PMX Performance is our team of cutting-edge performance marketers who create and drive performance marketing excellence across Publicis Media agencies. Our mission is to enable our agencies to operate as efficiently as possible while bringing industry leading performance marketing solutions to our clients. We enable our agencies through standardization of processes and best practices, leveraging our tools and solutions and delivering performance marketing training and education.

Overview

The Associate Director, Social Media acts as a key contributor and expert in the social space, serving all Publicis Media agencies. This role requires a proven ability to showcase strategic application and development of tactical best practices. This role requires a thorough understanding of all major social platform capabilities and be able to translate complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences. We need someone who loves to solve challenges, collaborate across agency teams, and has a strong POV with the ability to proactively identify needs and build solutions.

This role is unique as it drives best practices, thought leadership, and innovation across all agencies. Rather than working for a single client, our work impacts all clients. The Associate Director is able to help define our roadmap, team priorities, and lead content that directly influences all clients in the US. Self-starters and people who naturally curious and are comfortable working in grey space are successful in this role.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to development of paid social activation content, including POVs, playbooks, training, and educational 101, 201, and 301 content pieces.
• Deep understanding of the evolving paid social landscape – inclusive of Commerce, AI, and emerging social platforms – to deliver against business outcomes.
• Curate first-to-market solutions – inclusive of activation support, collateral development, and testing frameworks.
• Identify and document FAQs, automating responses to common agency questions.
• Contribute to development of ad hoc content based on custom requests from agency teams and/or reactions to relevant marketplace changes.
• Lead campaign audits to strengthen activation approach for Publicis Media account teams.
• Build relationships with Publicis Media agency counterparts and social channel leads.
• Execute roadmaps and build thought leadership collateral for social strategy and activation.
• Develop cross-functional relationships to collaborate on solutions priorities.
• Contribute to account planning and coordination with key SMEs across agencies to improve how we serve clients across Publicis Media.
• Identify clients that are candidates for priority solutions and assist in stewarding clients into best-in-class landing pads.
• Contribute to assessments and guide agency teams on recommendations.
• Stay abreast of industry trends and advise on the use of emerging platforms and technology based on agency, industry, and client priorities.

Qualifications

• 6+ years’ experience in paid social media, with an emphasis in activation.
• Bachelor's degree, preferably with a concentration in advertising, marketing, business administration, and communications preferred.
• Extensive familiarity and past experience with paid social media strategy and activation.
• Strong understanding of major social platform algorithms, ad products, optimization levers, and roadmaps also pertaining to broader industry developments.
• Extensive experience in campaign management and optimization across Meta, Snapchat, TikTok, X, Pinterest, Reddit, and LinkedIn.
• Social commerce experience involving native shops, product feeds, and media amplification.
• Advanced knowledge of 3P measurement capabilities and restrictions in the social space.
• Strong verbal, visual and written communication skills.
• Possess confidence, composure, and polished presentation skills to effectively attend and lead meetings.
• Passionate about working in a fast-paced environment.
• Detail-oriented with the ability to coordinate projects across multiple teams and functions.
• Ability to articulate complex concepts in a clear manner.
• Advanced content development skills with extensive PowerPoint experience.
• Attention to detail on all projects, with an expectation for high quality of work every time.
• Team oriented, approachable and viewed as coach and mentor to others.
• Excel fluency in pivot tables, charts, vlookups and basic equations—knowledge of macros and visual basic is a plus. Comfortable working with large data sets, analyzing reporting and identifying trends.

Additional Information

Our Publicis Groupe motto “Viva La Différence” means we’re better together, and we believe that our differences make us stronger. It means we honor and celebrate all identities, across all facets of intersectionality, and it underpins all that we do as an organization. We are focused on fostering belonging and creating equitable & inclusive experiences for all talent.

Publicis Groupe provides robust and inclusive benefit programs and policies to support the evolving and diverse needs of our talent and enable every person to grow and thrive. Our benefits package includes medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401K, as well as parental and family care leave, family forming assistance, tuition reimbursement, and flexible time off.

If you require accommodation or assistance with the application or onboarding process specifically, please contact [e-mail]. All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Compensation Range: $97,375 - $155,961 annually. This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on the skills, qualifications, and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position, and the Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. Temporary roles may be eligible to participate in our freelancer/temporary employee medical plan through a third-party benefits administration system once certain criteria have been met. Temporary roles may also qualify for participation in our 401(k) plan after eligibility criteria have been met. For regular roles, the Company will offer medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401k, and paid time off. The Company anticipates the application deadline for this job posting will be 04/16/2026.