Director, Paid Media Strategy & Growth

Bully Pulpit International; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 135,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) match

Paid parental leave (16 weeks)

Vacation time

Phone reimbursement

Sick time

Dental & Vision

Job summary

Bully Pulpit International is seeking a Director of Paid Media to lead end-to-end campaigns for multiple clients, delivering data-backed strategies and actionable insights. The role blends client leadership with hands-on management of media plans, optimization, and performance reporting.

Ideal candidates bring 8–11 years in digital media strategy, strong Excel/Sheets skills, and a track record across corporate reputation, politics, or nonprofit accounts.

Qualifications

• 8-11 years of relevant work experience in digital media strategy, planning, and direct-IO buying (agency experience preferred).
• Proven track record of independently running campaigns for corporate reputation, public affairs, and/or political clients.
• Excitement to work on large corporate reputation accounts in addition to support of Democratic politics, non-profit, and advocacy opportunities as they arise.
• Advanced analytical thinking capabilities, with strong hands-on experience utilizing media consumption tools (e.g. GWI, Comscore) and business intelligence/dashboard software (e.g. Datorama, Google Analytics, or Tableau).
• Demonstrated ability to quickly learn and navigate new digital systems, emerging media tech, and specialized proprietary tools with minimal downtime.
• Expert-level proficiency in Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets for budget tracking, performance analysis, and data manipulation.
• Exceptional organizational skills, rigorous attention to detail, and a demonstrated ability to manage multiple high-stakes projects simultaneously.
• A readiness to work independently, think big, solve complex problems creatively, and scale leadership capabilities rapidly within a fast-paced environment.
• Expectation to work from one of our physical offices (DC, NYC, SF, CHI, LA) at least 3 days a week (unless hiring under a fully remote arrangement).

Responsibilities

• Independently manage clients and end-to-end advertising campaigns from inception through completion with high accountability, quality, and results.
• Develop comprehensive, data-backed media plans aligned with client goals; take the lead on paid media POVs for clients or internal teams with limited paid experience.
• Regularly present sophisticated media strategies, reporting, and performance insights directly to clients, while providing off-the-cuff POVs and proactively anticipating issues or feedback.
• Oversee how campaigns are executed, optimized, and analyzed across digital and traditional platforms, including partner negotiation and contracting.
• Foster strong working relationships across all client and internal specialty teams (Media Buying, Marketing Analytics, Insights, and Client Services) to set strategic goals around measurement, testing, and seamless execution.
• Proactively identify areas for team-wide workflow and operational process improvements, partnering with senior leadership to implement scalable solutions.
• Bring new ideas to advance the agency’s media offering to senior leadership, drive team priorities, and operationalize new processes across the broader team.
• Serve as a senior agency contact for key partners, evaluate new vendor technologies, manage yearly vendor endeavors, and negotiate rate discounts to ensure planning utilization.
• Conduct deep-dive media, industry, and competitor research to stay abreast of market trends, inform strategic advertising plans, and evangelize the agency’s media vision.
• Contribute to agency growth through budgeting exercises, pitch deck development, and participation in new business pitches as needed.
• Attract, retain, and elevate talent across the team through effective management, structured training, and empathetic mentorship.
• Lead team pods and scale impact beyond immediate reports to the broader planning department, acting as a role model to elevate the work product of junior and mid-level planners.
• Embody agency values and ensure all client work reflects the standards, perspective, and quality of the agency at large.

Skills

Digital media strategy

Campaign management

Client leadership

Analytics

Excel

Google Analytics

Budget tracking

Tools

GWI

Comscore

Datorama

Google Analytics

Tableau

Job description

Bully Pulpit International is seeking a Director of Paid Media to lead end-to-end campaigns for multiple clients, delivering data-backed strategies and actionable insights. The role blends client leadership with hands-on management of media plans, optimization, and performance reporting.

Ideal candidates bring 8–11 years in digital media strategy, strong Excel/Sheets skills, and a track record across corporate reputation, politics, or nonprofit accounts.