Head of Media to build, lead, and grow our media department. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can set the vision, develop a strong team, and deliver smart, effective media solutions for our clients.
The Head of Media will lead the department's media strategy, people, and operations while remaining actively involved in planning, buying, campaign performance, and client work. They will establish the processes and capabilities needed to deliver excellent work, foster collaboration across the agency, and identify opportunities to grow our media offering. The ideal candidate is a strategic thinker, team builder, and doer who thrives in a growing agency environment and wants to help shape what media looks like at L|A. This position reports to the President.
ResponsibilitiesDepartment Leadership & Growth- Lead and develop the media department, including team structure, capabilities, workflows, and future growth.
- Manage, mentor, and develop media team members, establishing clear expectations, providing direction, and supporting professional growth. Set priorities and allocate resources to deliver high-quality work across clients.
- Establish best practices for media planning, buying, measurement, reporting, and optimization.
- Identify opportunities to strengthen media capabilities, improve efficiency, and expand the agency's offering.
- Build strong relationships with media partners, platforms, and vendors.
Media Strategy & Execution- Develop integrated media strategies across digital and traditional channels, grounded in client objectives, audience insights, and measurable outcomes.
- Oversee media planning, buying, campaign execution, and optimization while remaining hands-on with key accounts and complex initiatives.
- Lead strategic recommendations, investment decisions, negotiations, and media point of view.
- Oversee budgets, forecasting, pacing, reporting, and financial reconciliation.
- Translate research and performance data into actionable insights and recommendations.
- Stay ahead of media trends, emerging platforms, and new opportunities to improve campaign effectiveness.
Client & Agency Partnership- Partner with account leadership to align media strategy with client business and marketing objectives.
- Lead client presentations, strategic discussions, and media performance reviews.
- Collaborate with account, strategy, creative, and project management teams to develop integrated solutions.
- Contribute to new business pitches, agency brainstorms, and client growth opportunities.
- Bring inclusive audience thinking and diverse perspectives into media strategy and investment decisions.
Skills & Qualifications- 15+ years of media planning and buying experience across digital and traditional channels.
- Bachelor's degree.
- Experience leading teams, developing talent, and managing media strategy across multiple clients.
- A track record of building capabilities, improving processes, or growing a media function.
- Strong hands-on expertise in paid social, paid search, programmatic, and digital video, with an understanding of traditional channels including broadcast, audio, print, and out-of-home.
- Strong analytical and financial skills, including budget management, forecasting, measurement, and optimization.
- Proven negotiation skills and the ability to translate data into meaningful insights and recommendations.
- Excellent communication, presentation, and client relationship skills.
- Strong organizational skills and the ability to balance department leadership with hands-on execution.
- An entrepreneurial mindset, sound business judgment, and comfort building in a growing agency environment.
(Important: We suggest you read the following sentence while listening to one of the following songs: Aretha Franklin's "Respect", Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" and/or Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful.")
