Associate Vice President, Digital (North America) /NYC
Mekanism, Inc.
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Benefits offered by this job
Job summary
Qualifications
- 8+ years in digital media, focusing on strategy and execution.
- 5+ years of team leadership experience.
- Proven track record managing large digital budgets.
- Deep expertise in the US media market and a strong understanding of current media trends, privacy regulations, and platform governance.
- Presentation & Strategic Acumen: Exceptional ability to articulate complex strategies in a clear, compelling manner, especially in high-pressure new business and client review settings.
- Execution Leadership: Demonstrated ability to lead complex, cross-platform media implementations, managing technical dependencies, budgets, and deadlines with zero tolerance for error.
- Digital Media Expertise: Expert-level knowledge of all major social media ad platforms, DSPs, other ad platforms, including their ad operations interfaces, tracking mechanisms, and campaign setup best practices.
- Analytical Thinking: Exceptional ability to synthesize complex data into clear, strategic narratives and present compelling recommendations to executive stakeholders.
Responsibilities
- Develop comprehensive digital media strategies for clients.
- Lead new business pitches and present strategies.
- Ensure flawless execution of all campaign launches.
- Drive Digital Vision: Define and optimize service models and collaborate with other agency leads to ensure consistent offerings.
- Business Growth: Identify and pursue new revenue opportunities with existing and prospective clients.
- Flawless Campaign Launch: Oversee and own the precision of all campaign launches, ensuring adherence to media plans, tagging requirements, and budgets.
- Technical Compliance & QA: Implement QA protocols for assets, tracking links, ad placements prior to activation.
- Performance Oversight & Optimization: Ensure campaigns meet KPIs and lead real-time optimization.
- Budget Management: Maintain rigorous control over spend, reconciliation, and forecasting.
- Data-Driven Decisions: Use analytics tools to track performance and build attribution models.
- Innovation & Testing: Champion test-and-learn and new ad formats across platforms.
- Team Development: Lead and mentor a team of digital specialists across channels.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with creative, analytics, planning, and leadership teams.
Skills
Education
Tools
Job description
✓ Dental Insurance ✓ Disability Insurance ✓ Health Insurance ✓ Life Insurance
Associate Vice President (AVP), Digital
Who We Are
Mekanism is a full-service modern agency making unexpected ideas unstoppable through the power of Soul & Science. We partner with brands to unleash breakthrough creativity and drive impact across the entire customer journey, delivering brand building at full volume.
With eight offices spanning markets throughout the US and Canada, we serve as collaborative business partners to some of the world’s best North American brands, including Alaska Airlines, Jose Cuervo, Quaker, Ben & Jerry's, and Amtrak in the US, and CAMH, Koodo Mobile and Public Mobile in Canada.
Named a Top 10 Most Effective Independent Agency in the US by the Effie Index, Mekanism has been profiled by The New York Times, Fast Company, and ABC’s Nightline. Our campaign methodologies are studied by Harvard Business School. For more information, visit Mekanism.com.
About the Role
We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Associate Vice President (AVP) North America to join our dynamic team. The AVP, Digital will be a key contributor and senior leader responsible for driving the strategy, execution, and performance of all digital media initiatives for their assigned client portfolio(s) at Mekanism Media across the US and Canada. This role represents a key progression for leaders moving into the senior ranks, focusing on building competencies required at the Vice President (VP) level.
The AVP, Digital role is pivotal in driving our clients' business results by conceptualizing, selling, and ensuring flawless, market-leading execution of cutting-edge digital media strategies. The AVP will serve as a key client advisor and team mentor, ensuring our strategies are innovative, data-driven, and meticulously implemented across the full digital ecosystem.
The AVP is essential to the agency’s growth ambitions, supporting the structure required to make 2026 a pivotal year for the business. They will blend strategic, big-picture thinking with hands-on operational expertise.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership & Client Management
- Lead Digital Strategy: Develop and champion comprehensive digital media strategies across all paid channels (Display, Video, Search, and Social Media) for a portfolio of major Mekanism clients in the US and Canada.
- New Business Pitch Leadership: Serve as a lead strategist and presenter for new business pitches, crafting compelling, customized, and innovative digital media proposals
- Client Consultation: Serve as a trusted strategic partner to senior-level clients, presenting digital strategies, performance analyses, and thought leadership with clarity and executive presence.
- Drive Digital Vision: Act as the agency's definitive voice on the evolving digital media landscape, contributing to thought leadership, defining and optimizing our service models, and collaborating with other agency leads to build consistency in our offering and processes.
- Business Growth: Identify and pursue new revenue opportunities with existing and prospective clients, contributing to the agency's overall growth targets.
Excellence in Execution, Optimization & Analytics
- Flawless Campaign Launch: Oversee and ultimately own the precision of all campaign launches, ensuring strict adherence to media plans, technical specifications, tagging requirements, and budget pacing across all digital platforms, with a critical focus on paid social media.
- Technical Compliance & QA: Direct and implement robust Quality Assurance (QA) protocols for all creative assets, tracking links, ad placements, and media buys prior to activation to eliminate errors and ensure maximum data integrity.
- Performance Oversight & Optimization: Ensure all digital campaigns are executed flawlessly, on time, and within budget, consistently meeting and exceeding client KPIs (e.g., ROI, engagement, conversion). Lead the team in proactive, real-time optimization efforts based on performance data.
- Budget Management: Maintain rigorous control over campaign spend, reconciliation processes, and forecasting to ensure 100% budget accuracy and client confidence.
- Data-Driven Decisions: Direct the team in utilizing advanced analytics tools to track campaign performance, derive actionable insights, and develop sophisticated attribution models.
- Innovation & Testing: Champion a culture of test-and-learn, pioneering new ad formats, targeting capabilities, and beta programs, particularly across social platforms.
- Team Development: Lead, mentor, and manage a team of digital specialists across the main digital media channels, instilling a commitment to execution excellence and fostering a high-performance, collaborative environment.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner effectively with creative, analytics, planning, and business leadership teams to ensure integrated, holistic campaign strategies and seamless implementation.
- Act as a key contributor to the business unit's success, with input and ownership on topics such as team structure, operational decisions, and team FTE management.
Qualifications & Skills
Embody the Mekanism Values:
- Believe in bold
- Bring your weird
- Have each other’s backs
- Pursue what’s next
- Give a sh*t
Required Experience
- 8+ years of progressive experience in Digital media, with a significant focus on strategy, execution, and operations, preferably within a media or advertising agency.
- Demonstrated success leading strategic responses and presentations for competitive New Business Pitches.
- 5+ years of direct team leadership and people management experience.
- Proven track record of success in managing multi-million dollar digital budgets and delivering measurable results for large, complex clients.
- Deep expertise in the US media market and a strong understanding of current media trends, privacy regulations, and platform governance.
- Presentation & Strategic Acumen: Exceptional ability to articulate complex strategies in a clear, compelling, and persuasive manner, especially in high-pressure new business and client review settings.
- Execution Leadership: Demonstrated ability to lead complex, cross-platform media implementations, managing technical dependencies, budgets, and deadlines with zero tolerance for error.
- Digital Media Expertise: Expert-level knowledge of all major social media ad platforms, DSPs, other ad platforms, including their ad operations interfaces, tracking mechanisms (e.g., pixels, APIs), and campaign setup best practices.
- Analytical Thinking: Exceptional ability to synthesize complex data into clear, strategic narratives and present compelling recommendations to executive stakeholders.
Regarding compensation, the range below represents the low and high end of the base salary someone in this role may earn as a full-time employee of Mekanism in the United States. Salaries will vary on the basis of various factors, including but not limited to professional and academic experience, training, associated responsibilities, and other business and organizational needs. Salary decisions are dependent on the circumstances of each hire.
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