Associate Director, Retail Media Search

WPP Media•New York, NY

2h•$75,000 - $180,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Associate Director, Commerce Search will lead retail media search strategy and activation for a beauty-focused client portfolio, with an emphasis on specialty retailers and department stores. The role calls for strong retail media expertise and an understanding of how beauty, luxury, fashion, and other retail-driven brands engage consumers across retailers such as Ulta Beauty, Sephora, Macy’s, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdale’s. The position translates retailer, consumer, product, inventory, and performance insights into search and commerce activation strategies. It leads campaign strategy and execution, keyword and optimization approaches, retail media investments, and collaboration with clients, retailers, and internal teams to drive measurable business results. The Associate Director also manages and develops a team and helps clients navigate the evolving retail media landscape. WPP Media is WPP’s AI-driven media operating unit, bringing together media, data, and partnerships through WPP Open and Open Intelligence. The company describes a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. Benefits may vary by office and country.

Requirements

At least 5 years of retail media, commerce search, paid ecommerce, or biddable performance media experience, including substantial hands-on retail search experience.
Hands-on experience managing retail media or search campaigns and optimizing toward business and performance objectives.
Experience working with specialty retailers and/or department stores.
Experience across retail media and commerce platforms such as Amazon Ads, Criteo, Walmart Connect, Pacvue, and Skai, or comparable platforms.
Strong understanding of how inventory, profitability, product availability, promotions, forecasting, and demand influence commerce media decisions.
Ability to connect campaign performance to retail and commercial outcomes, beyond media metrics.
Strong client-facing communication and presentation skills.
Experience managing and developing direct reports.
Ability to work effectively across clients, retailer partners, platform partners, and internal teams.
Entrepreneurial mindset, with a bias toward action, problem-solving, and continuous improvement.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting beauty, cosmetics, luxury, fashion, or another category strongly connected to specialty and department-store retail is strongly preferred.
Beauty retailer experience is especially relevant.

Responsibilities

Lead search and retail media strategy and activation across multiple retailer environments.
Own keyword strategy, campaign setup, bidding, budgeting, optimization, testing, and performance reporting.
Apply knowledge of specialty and department-store commerce to help brands grow across retailer partners.
Translate inventory, product availability, demand, profitability, promotions, and seasonality into media recommendations.
Build relationships with client stakeholders, retailer media partners, and internal teams.
Identify opportunities to connect retail search with the broader commerce and media ecosystem.
Analyze performance data, identify trends, and provide clear, actionable recommendations.
Lead cross-channel testing and optimization strategies.
Manage and develop direct reports, strengthening their activation expertise and strategic capabilities.
Stay current on retail media platforms, ad products, technology, and measurement.
Oversee campaign operations, including trafficking, billing and reconciliation, and data integrity.