Director, Digital Activation

OMD; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 90,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Omnicom seeks a Director, Digital Activation to lead integrated media investment and activation for a major North American brand.

This role blends big-picture strategy with hands-on media expertise and senior client leadership, owning the day-to-day investment agenda, guiding a cross-functional team, and delivering measurable activation across digital channels.

Qualifications

• Proven Director-level experience in digital media, investment or activation.
• Recent hands-on activation experience across media channels.
• Strong expertise in Search, Retail/eRetail and Paid Social.
• Experience with Programmatic and Digital Video.
• Exceptional client presence and senior stakeholder communication.
• Experience leading cross-functional activation teams.
• Commercial mindset connecting media to measurable outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead activation strategy and investment across Search, Retail/eRetail, Paid Social, Programmatic and Digital Video.
• Serve as a senior client adviser, presenting recommendations and influencing stakeholders.
• Own the day-to-day investment agenda and ensure strategy translates into activation.
• Lead and develop a cross-functional activation team with clear priorities.
• Connect media performance to business outcomes including leads and offline sales.
• Collaborate with Planning and Marketing Science to measure media impact.
• Identify opportunities across data, technology, AI, audience and retail media.

Skills

Director level experience

Hands-on activation

Search

Retail/eRetail

Paid Social

Programmatic

Digital Video

Client leadership

Commercial mindset

Offline to online journeys

Tools

Omnicom/Annalect products

Job description

The Opportunity

We’re looking for a

Agency

Omd

Job Function

Media

Job Subfunction

Media Planning and Buying

Job Description

Director, Digital Activation

The Opportunity We’re looking for a Director, Digital Activation to lead integrated media investment and activation for a major North American brand.

This is a high-impact leadership role for a senior digital activation professional who can move seamlessly between big-picture strategy, hands-on media expertise and senior client leadership. You’ll own the day-to-day investment agenda, lead a talented cross-functional team, and turn business challenges into smart, measurable activation solutions across the full digital ecosystem.

You’ll work closely with senior investment leadership, Planning, Marketing Science, Media Operations and Annalect to drive innovation, elevate performance and deliver meaningful business outcomes.

• Lead activation strategy and investment across Search, Retail/eRetail, Paid Social, Programmatic and Digital Video.
• Serve as a senior client adviser, confidently presenting recommendations, influencing stakeholders and constructively challenging thinking when needed.
• Own the day-to-day investment agenda, ensuring strategy translates into integrated, effective activation.
• Lead and develop a cross-functional activation team, setting priorities, removing roadblocks and creating a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Connect media performance to commercial outcomes, including qualified leads, retailer/dealer engagement and offline sales.
• Partner with Planning and Marketing Science to connect brand and performance measurement and build a stronger view of media effectiveness.
• Identify and activate opportunities across data, technology, AI, audience, search/discoverability and retail media.
• Leverage Omnicom and Annalect capabilities to create differentiated solutions- not simply recommend them conceptually.
• Foster a test-and-learn culture, bringing forward new ideas while maintaining a disciplined focus on business impact.
• Develop channel specialists into stronger integrated thinkers, commercially minded practitioners and confident client advisers.

What You Bring

• Proven Director-level experience in digital media, investment or activation.
• Deep, recent hands-on activation experience—you understand how campaigns are built, bought, optimized and measured.
• Strong expertise in Search, Retail/eRetail and Paid Social, with solid Programmatic and Digital Video experience.
• Exceptional client presence and communication skills, with confidence presenting to and influencing senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrated success leading and developing cross-functional activation teams.
• A strong commercial mindset and experience connecting media to measurable business outcomes.
• Experience with online-to-offline consumer journeys, particularly in retail, dealer-network or other high-consideration environments.
• The ability to operate autonomously, make decisions and own the day-to-day investment agenda.
• Experience applying data, technology and media capabilities to solve real client challenges.

Nice to Have

• Linear TV experience combined with strong digital fluency.
• Experience with 360-degree partnerships, sponsorships or custom media solutions.
• Automotive, retail, dealer-network or other high-consideration category experience.
• North American or cross-market experience, particularly across the U.S. and Canada.
• Experience with emerging AI, search/discoverability, audience/data and retail media capabilities.
• Experience working with Omnicom/Annalect products, data and technology.

Why This Role

This is an opportunity to shape how a major brand activates media across North America, while leading a multidisciplinary team and influencing senior client stakeholders.

You’ll have the scale and resources of a global media organization, the ability to bring together best-in-class data and technology, and the autonomy to make a meaningful impact on the business.

If you’re a digital activation leader who combines strategic thinking, technical depth, commercial curiosity and strong client leadership, we’d love to hear from you.

$90,000 - $170,000

Omnicom’s policy requires employees to work in the office for a minimum of three days a week, unless additional in-office days are directed by their agency or manager. Our objective is to increase this requirement over time, and many of our agencies as well as Omnicom’s corporate group already require five days of in-office attendance.

Omnicom is committed to hiring and developing exceptional talent. We agree that talent is uniquely distributed, and we’re focused on developing inclusive teams that can bring the best solutions to everything we do. We strongly believe that celebrating what makes us different makes us better together. Join us—we look forward to getting to know you. We will process your personal data in accordance with our Recruitment Privacy Notice.

Link to Recruitment Privacy Notice: https://www.omc.com/privacy-notice

For US Job Seekers

It is the policy of Omnicom and any of its affiliates to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, religion, color, ethnic origin, gender, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, disability, or any other basis prohibited by applicable federal, state, or local law. EOE/AA/M/D/V/F.

$90,000 - $170,000