Emerging Media Manager: Paid & Audience Growth (Remote)

National University; Sacramento (CA); Remote; USD 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

National University is seeking a Manager, Emerging Media to lead paid media initiatives across PPL partnerships, emerging media, and audience testing to support enrollment goals. You will manage and optimize campaigns, test new partners and channels, and collaborate with internal teams to maximize lead quality and conversion.

The role requires 5+ years in paid media and a bachelor’s degree in a related field, with remote work options available and occasional travel.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in advertising, Communications, Marketing, Management, or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in paid media, digital marketing, performance marketing, Demand Capture, or a related area.
• Experience managing external media or lead-generation partners, including performance-based or PPL campaigns.
• Experience managing and optimizing paid media campaigns against lead generation and conversion goals.
• Experience testing new media opportunities, audiences, targeting approaches, or emerging digital channels.
• Working knowledge of paid search, paid social, display, video, programmatic, and other digital media channels; direct hands-on experience across every channel is not required
• Experience with audience segmentation, targeting, testing, and campaign measurement.
• Experience leading projects and working cross-functionally.
• Experience managing direct reports a plus.
• Experience in higher education marketing is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Manage assigned PPL partners and campaigns, including planning, execution, performance monitoring, optimization, and ongoing partner communication.
• Work with PPL partners to improve lead quality, conversion, efficiency, and overall campaign performance.
• Partner with PPL and other media partners to evaluate new campaign concepts, placements, products, and growth opportunities.
• Identify and test emerging channels, platforms, and partnerships that complement established Demand Capture efforts.
• Develop structured tests and pilots to evaluate new media opportunities and determine their potential for optimization and scale.
• Stay informed about evolving media platforms, technologies, partner capabilities, and industry trends to identify new opportunities.
• Identify and test new audience segments, targeting approaches, data sources, and media capabilities to expand prospective student reach.
• Partner with media platforms and external partners to identify new and incremental audience opportunities.
• Analyze audience performance and apply learnings to improve lead quality, conversion, and media efficiency.
• Recommend future audience tests and investments based on performance insights and evolving media capabilities.
• Manage day-to-day relationships with assigned media partners, establishing clear expectations around campaign objectives, deliverables, lead quality, and performance.
• Manage campaigns from planning through execution, including asset coordination, tracking, timelines, stakeholder communication, and optimization.
• Collaborate with creative, web, analytics, and other team members to support effective campaign execution.
• Proactively work with partners to surface new ideas, capabilities, and opportunities while holding partners accountable for performance
• Monitor PPL and emerging media performance, including lead volume, lead quality, conversion, efficiency, and other key performance indicators.
• Translate campaign and audience performance into actionable recommendations for marketing leadership.
• Monitor spend and collaborate with finance and analytics teams to support budget management, forecasting, and reporting.
• Use performance insights to recommend where investment should be optimized, scaled, shifted, or discontinued.
• Share learnings from PPL, emerging media, and audience tests to inform broader Demand Capture strategy.

Skills

Paid media

Digital marketing

Campaign optimization

Data-driven decision making

Cross-functional collaboration

Audience testing

Education

Bachelor's degree in advertising, communications, marketing, management, or related field

Tools

PPL platforms

Campaign analytics tools

Job description

National University is seeking a Manager, Emerging Media to lead paid media initiatives across PPL partnerships, emerging media, and audience testing to support enrollment goals. You will manage and optimize campaigns, test new partners and channels, and collaborate with internal teams to maximize lead quality and conversion.

The role requires 5+ years in paid media and a bachelor’s degree in a related field, with remote work options available and occasional travel.