SummaryWe are seeking an
Associate Director, Paid Social to join our Performance Media team. This role serves as the agency's paid social expert, providing strategic leadership, channel expertise, and client guidance across a diverse portfolio of healthcare and pharmaceutical brands.
The Associate Director, Paid Social is responsible for developing and overseeing integrated paid social strategies that drive business outcomes while ensuring alignment with broader media, marketing, and customer experience objectives. This individual will serve as a trusted advisor to clients, collaborate closely with paid search and programmatic leaders, and help advance the agency's paid social capabilities through innovation, thought leadership, and team development.
We are looking for a strategic thinker, strong communicator, and experienced leader who is passionate about the evolving social landscape and thrives in a collaborative, fast-paced environment.
What You'll DoPaid Social Leadership & Strategy- Serve as the agency's paid social subject matter expert across client engagements and internal teams
- Lead paid social strategy development for multiple clients, ensuring recommendations align with business objectives, audience needs, and performance goals
- Oversee channel planning, activation, optimization, measurement, and reporting across paid social programs
- Develop platform-specific strategies and tactical recommendations across Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, Reddit, Pinterest, X, and emerging social platforms
- Translate industry trends, platform updates, privacy changes, and beta opportunities into actionable recommendations for clients and agency teams
- Establish and maintain paid social best practices, testing frameworks, operational standards, and measurement approaches
- Remain hands-on in campaign setup, trafficking, optimization, and troubleshooting while providing strategic oversight and direction to the team
- Oversee pharmaceutical platform requirements, including account verification, prescription drug advertising authorization, and resolution of ad disapprovals in partnership with platform representatives
Integrated Performance Media Leadership- Partner closely with Paid Search, Programmatic, Analytics, Strategy, and Client Services teams to develop integrated, full-funnel media strategies
- Ensure paid social recommendations complement broader channel strategies and customer journeys
- Collaborate with channel leads to identify cross-channel optimization opportunities and unified measurement approaches
- Contribute to annual planning, audience strategy, media investment allocation, and campaign architecture discussions
Client Leadership- Serve as a senior client-facing leader across assigned accounts
- Present strategic recommendations, performance insights, testing roadmaps, and investment opportunities to client stakeholders
- Lead social media planning discussions, business reviews, and performance meetings
- Act as a trusted consultant by providing thought leadership and strategic guidance on the evolving paid social landscape
- Identify opportunities to expand client engagement and grow paid social and performance media services
Performance & Measurement- Use multiple data sources and platform insights to evaluate campaign effectiveness and identify growth opportunities
- Lead audience, creative, placement, bidding, and conversion optimization strategies
- Develop testing frameworks and measurement approaches that support continuous improvement
- Translate campaign performance into meaningful business insights and actionable recommendations
- Manage budget allocation, pacing, forecasting, and billing reconciliation across paid social programs, including third-party vendor budgets and coordination with Finance
- Oversee UTMs, trafficking processes, and pre-launch quality assurance checks in partnership with Analytics to ensure accurate implementation, tracking, and measurement
Team Leadership & Development- Mentor, coach, and develop junior team members across the Performance Media and paid social disciplines
- Provide strategic guidance and quality assurance throughout campaign planning and activation processes
- Support onboarding, training, and career development initiatives
- Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning
Agency Growth & Innovation- Maintain strong relationships with key platform and publisher partners
- Support new business pitches, agency marketing efforts, and thought leadership initiatives
- Identify innovative opportunities to advance the agency's paid social capabilities and client offerings
- Stay current on evolving healthcare, pharmaceutical, social media, privacy, and measurement trends
What Makes You A Great Fit - 6+ years of paid social planning, activation, and management experience, including significant experience within pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing
- Deep expertise in Meta and LinkedIn, with experience across other relevant platforms such as TikTok, Reddit, Pinterest, X, and emerging social platforms
- Demonstrated ability to act as a strategic consultant and subject matter expert for both clients and internal stakeholders
- Strong understanding of audience strategy, targeting methodologies, first-party data applications, privacy considerations, and measurement approaches
- Experience developing integrated strategies alongside paid search, programmatic, and analytics teams
- Proven success managing complex, multi-brand, and multi-channel paid media programs
- Strong client leadership, presentation, and communication skills, with the ability to translate complex platform dynamics into clear business recommendations
- Experience leading and developing teams through coaching, mentorship, and performance management
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative environment while balancing multiple priorities and stakeholders
- Experience with pharmaceutical regulatory considerations, medical/legal review processes, and healthcare marketing best practices strongly preferred
Benefits and Perks:- Medical, Dental and Vision coverage
- 401k with Company match of 50% on the first 6%
- Adoption Assistance - Up to $2,500 of financial assistance
- Company Paid Life Insurance, Short-Term and Long-Term Disability
- Short-Term Disability providing 100% of salary coverage
- Paid Parental Leave for birth and non-birth parents (4 weeks)
- Summer Fridays
- Flexible Time Off (FTO)
- 11 Holidays and End of Year Office Closure
- Company provided Learning and Development opportunities
- Free lunch Wednesdays
- Wellness Program
Compensation Range: $115,000 - $130,000. The starting salary offer will depend on the candidate's skills, qualifications, and experience. The company reserves the right to adjust this pay range at any time.
This position follows a hybrid schedule, requiring employees to be onsite Tuesday-Thursday each week in our Chicago office. We make reasonable accommodations for employees and applicants with disabilities who require schedule accommodations.
