Role OverviewMediaAlpha (NYSE: MAX) operates the world's largest insurance advertising marketplace, connecting leading carriers and agents with high-intent insurance shoppers at scale. Our owned-and-operated media properties are a cornerstone of our business, and we're building the paid media function that will drive transformational growth.
We're looking for a Senior Director of Paid Media to lead that effort. Reporting into the VP of Growth Marketing, this is a high-impact, high-ownership role: you'll set the strategy, own the budget, and build the team. You are first and foremost a paid social expert - specifically Meta - but you think like an investment manager across every channel you touch. You know how creative drives downstream lead quality, not just click-through rate, and you're excited about using AI to produce and test creative at a scale most teams only dream about.
This role isn't about managing agency relationships or reporting on what happened last week. It's about building a best-in-class paid media capability from the ground up, inside the company that powers more insurance advertising than anyone else on the planet.
Responsibilities- Own the full paid media strategy across social, search, native, display, and retargeting, with Meta as your primary channel and proving ground
- Set channel-level investment strategies, budget allocation frameworks, scaling criteria, and ROI guardrails across the portfolio
- Define the strategic direction for paid media, aligning it with MediaAlpha's broader growth strategy
- Ensure positive ROI across all paid media investment; own performance accountability end-to-end
- Hire, lead, coach, and develop a team of channel-specific analysts (paid social, paid search, native/display, etc.)
- Translate campaign performance into clear, executive-ready narratives that connect channel metrics to business outcomes: cost per lead, revenue per lead, GP contribution, and margin
- Partner directly with cross-functional leadership, extending your influence beyond the paid media team
- Leverage AI tooling (both off-the-shelf and custom-built) to accelerate creative production and UGC video at scale
- Build and run a high-velocity creative testing engine across static, video, and UGC formats, with a clear methodology for learning and scaling winners
- Understand how ad creative affects downstream quality and conversion, and use that lens to guide every creative and targeting decision
- Ensure all paid media activity complies with applicable laws, regulations, and platform policies - including TCPA and state-specific advertising requirements relevant to the insurance vertical
Requirements- You have personally managed $1M+ per month in Meta ad spend. This is a hard floor, not a preference; you've done this hands-on, not just at a strategic level
- A proven track record running profitable, ROI-positive paid media in the lead generation space. eCommerce or brand-building backgrounds are not the right fit for this role
- Experience working in a performance-first environment where every dollar of spend is expected to earn its place
- A genuine command of what makes paid social work: creative diagnosis, audience strategy, bidding mechanics, and the ability to distinguish a creative problem from a targeting problem from a measurement problem
- Experience running ads across search, display, native, and retargeting platforms - even if Meta is your primary channel
- Experience building or scaling a paid media team, including hiring and developing junior channel specialists
- Genuine enthusiasm for using AI tools to accelerate creative production at scale
- A strong understanding of how ad creative, landing page experience, and lead intent interact to drive downstream quality, not just top-of-funnel volume
- Experience in the insurance vertical or adjacent regulated categories (financial services, health, legal) is strongly preferred.
- Familiarity with lead gen compliance requirements, including TCPA, state-level advertising rules, and platform-specific policy constraints is strongly preferred
Compensation & Benefits
We are excited to offer a competitive base pay range of $156,000 - $220,000 per year for this position, based on experience and qualifications. But that's not all - as a valued member of our team, you will also have access to an array of top-notch benefits, including:
- Annual bonus program and participation in our Restricted Stock Unit program
- 100% Employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance for you, your dependents, and spouse or registered domestic partner
- 100% employer-paid long-term disability and life insurance
- 401(k) retirement plan with matching contributions to help you plan for your future
- Open Paid Time Off policy with a birthday day off, 13 holidays, and 5 Recharge days
- Professional development reimbursement
- Cell Phone, Wellness, and Internet expense reimbursement, along with a subscription to the Calm App
- 100% fully paid parental leave for team members up to 22 weeks for the primary caregiver and 12 weeks for the secondary caregiver
- Dog-friendly offices (LA and AZ) along with a $300 pet adoption reimbursement
