Associate Director, Media Buying

Bully Pulpit International•Washington, DC

8d•Hybrid

About The Position

Bully Pulpit International (BPI) is an outcomes agency comprised of strategists, data scientists, and artists with diverse backgrounds in politics, brands, and government. We communicate without barriers and measure what matters, operating with over 400 team members across six countries and thirteen offices. BPI applies its unique expertise in strategic communications, public affairs, research, and digital marketing to develop sophisticated, customized strategies that drive change for both American and European clients. In this role, the Associate Director, Media Buying will be a core contributor to team priorities, articulating the strategic value, operational rigor, and rationale behind media activation goals to the broader media team. This position will also involve developing and promoting BPI’s agency-wide approach to buying strategy, platform best practices, and technical execution. Furthermore, the role includes conducting analysis of programmatic inventory and vendor research to ensure BPI negotiates and executes highly effective, innovative, and market-leading media activations that deliver measurable impact for clients.

Requirements

Proven hands-on experience in programmatic and social media buying, preferably in an agency environment, with a track record of successful campaigns for at least 4 years.
Experience working across some of our client verticals, including public affairs, strategic communications, advocacy and political campaigns.
Proven experience in audience planning and forecasting for clients.
Strong leadership, direct team management, and training skills.
Exceptional communication and problem-solving abilities.
Hands-on experience running campaigns across all digital ad formats in multiple DSPs, including The Trade Desk, DV360, Yahoo and Amazon.
Ability to oversee ad operations and trafficking in Google Campaign Manager.
Familiarity with ad tech platforms and partners, tools, and emerging industry trends.
Excellent analytical and strategic thinking capabilities.
Demonstrated ability to meet and exceed client performance targets.
A passion for mentoring and developing team members.

Responsibilities

Act as a core contributor to team priorities, effectively communicating the strategic value, operational rigor, and "why" behind media activation goals to the broader media team.
Develop, articulate, and evangelize BPI’s agency-wide approach to buying strategy, platform best practices, and technical execution.
Conduct analysis into programmatic inventory and vendor research to ensure BPI negotiates and executes highly effective, innovative, and market-leading media activations that drive measurable impact for clients.
Run most mid-spend clients + campaigns independently.
Oversee flawless media execution on campaigns.
Work efficiently across numerous client teams by communicating effectively, setting and meeting expectations, securing buy-in, and creatively solving problems.
Manage and supervise campaigns hands-on across multiple verticals, channels and all major buying platforms, including Google Ads, YouTube, Meta, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Reddit, TikTok, The Trade Desk and DV360.
Contribute to client reports by analyzing platform metrics, provide actionable insights, and make smart optimizations to influence performance.
Identify areas for team-wide workflow and process improvements, and work with senior leaders to implement them.
Contribute to decisions on new tech and tools for the team to adopt and help effectively onboard them to the team.
Act as senior-level agency point of contact with selected ad tech partners, inventory suppliers, and data providers.
Act as a main point-of-contact within the team to manage client and account team requests – i.e., budget changes, campaign flighting, and audience recommendations.
Work closely with creative and insights team on execution of challenging media placements and implementation of campaign measurement.
Delegate appropriately and collaborate with media planners to support plan development.
Eligible after 6 months to lead a group of and directly manage Media Buyers, Senior Media Buyers, Media Managers, and Media Supervisors.
Act as a mentor to junior team members across your accounts.
Attract, retain, and improve talent on the Buying team through effective management, mentorship, and training.