The Director, Paid Media & Search Strategy serves as Gartner Conference Marketing's internal authority on paid media strategy, audience development, search strategy, channel planning, measurement, and platform best practices across search, social, video, display, programmatic, and emerging channels.
This role bridges marketing strategy, agency partnership, and campaign execution by translating business objectives into effective media strategies, guiding audience and channel decisions, evaluating agency recommendations, driving innovation, and ensuring paid media investments deliver measurable business impact.
This role owns the expertise, judgment, and strategic guidance that informs how paid media and search are leveraged to drive audience engagement, registration growth, and business outcomes.
What You Will Do:Paid Media Strategy Leadership
- Develop paid media strategies aligned with business objectives, marketing goals, and growth priorities.
- Define channel recommendations across Google Search, Google Display Network, YouTube, Performance Max, Microsoft Ads, LinkedIn, programmatic media, and emerging platforms.
- Guide investment strategies, budget allocation decisions, and optimization priorities across channels, audiences, and campaign objectives.
- Lead test-and-learn initiatives designed to improve campaign effectiveness and uncover new opportunities.
Audience & Targeting Strategy
- Own audience strategy across paid media programs, translating ICPs, sales priorities, and marketing objectives into actionable targeting and segmentation approaches.
- Partner with Sales and Marketing leadership to refine audience prioritization and optimize performance across customer, prospect, account, industry, and buying group segments.
Platform Expertise & Governance
- Serve as Gartner Conference Marketing's internal subject matter expert across paid media platforms and advertising technologies.
- Establish governance, best practices, measurement standards, and strategic guidance while educating stakeholders on platform capabilities, limitations, and emerging trends.
- Partner closely with Marketing Operations to ensure campaign execution aligns with strategic intent, audience strategy, measurement standards, and established best practices.
- Evaluate new platform capabilities and opportunities that can improve marketing performance and efficiency.
Search Strategy & Organic Visibility
- Provide strategic leadership across organic search, paid search, Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), and emerging AI-driven search experiences.
- Partner with SEO resources to develop search visibility strategies that align with business objectives and audience priorities.
- Ensure alignment between SEO, paid search, content, and audience targeting strategies.
- Evaluate how evolving search behavior and AI-driven discovery impact Gartner's acquisition strategy.
Agency & Vendor Leadership
- Evaluate, challenge, approve, or reject agency and vendor recommendations based on business objectives and industry best practices.
- Serve as the organization's internal authority for assessing external recommendations and strategic direction.
- Hold agencies and partners accountable for strategic quality, innovation, operational excellence, and performance outcomes.
Team Leadership & Capability Development
- Manage and develop the SEO function, providing strategic direction, coaching, and professional development.
- Foster collaboration across Paid Media, SEO, Marketing Operations, Analytics, Sales, and Marketing teams while building organizational expertise in acquisition strategy and emerging search channels.
Performance Governance & Optimization
- Define measurement frameworks, KPIs, dashboards, and reporting requirements in partnership with Analytics teams.
- Partner with Analytics, CRM, and Marketing Operations teams to improve attribution, audience targeting, performance visibility, and measurement approaches.
- Analyze performance trends and translate insights into strategic recommendations related to audience refinement, channel optimization, and budget allocation.
- Drive continuous testing, optimization, and periodic reviews of campaign structure, targeting, measurement frameworks, and reporting approaches.
Innovation & Capability Development
- Evaluate emerging platforms, technologies, and acquisition opportunities, including Meta, AEO, AI-driven search experiences, and future advertising innovations.
- Lead testing strategies and drive adoption of opportunities that improve performance and organizational capability.
- Lead regular reviews with Gartner marketing experts and research teams to assess emerging trends, audience behaviors, platform evolution, and opportunities impacting paid media, search, and acquisition strategies.
What You Will Need:- 10+ years of progressive experience in paid media, digital marketing, performance marketing, media strategy, or related disciplines.
- Demonstrated expertise across search, paid social, video, display, and programmatic advertising channels.
- Experience developing audience strategies and targeting approaches in complex B2B organizations.
- Experience managing agency relationships, influencing senior stakeholders, and evaluating strategic recommendations.
- Strong understanding of measurement methodologies, attribution concepts, and campaign performance evaluation.
- Experience leading or partnering closely with SEO functions.
Preferred Qualifications- Experience operating within a Center of Excellence model supporting multiple business units or stakeholder groups.
- Deep expertise across Google Ads, Performance Max, YouTube, LinkedIn, Microsoft Ads, and programmatic platforms.
- Experience managing significant media investments and budget allocation decisions.
- Experience in B2B marketing, event marketing, demand generation, or information-services environments.
Ready to grow your career with Gartner? Join us.
Gartner believes in fair and equitable pay. A reasonable estimate of the base salary range for this role is 120,000 USD - 167,000 USD. Please note that actual salaries may vary within the range, or be above or below the range, based on factors including, but not limited to, education, training, experience, professional achievement, business need, and location. In addition to base salary, employees will participate in either an annual bonus plan based on company and individual performance, or a role-based, uncapped sales incentive plan. Our talent acquisition team will provide the specific opportunity on our bonus or incentive programs to eligible candidates. We also offer market leading benefit programs including generous PTO, a 401k match up to $7,200 per year, the opportunity to purchase company stock at a discount, and more.
Job Requisition ID:111301
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