Associate Media Director

Prophet•Chicago, GA

22h•Hybrid

About The Position

The Associate Media Director leads integrated media strategy and planning for a portfolio of B2B and consumer clients, with a particular focus on financial services. As the senior media strategist on assigned accounts, this role translates client business goals into commercial measures of success and develops audience, channel, and investment strategies to achieve them. The role collaborates with Strategy, Creative, Analytics, PMO, Client Leadership, and activation teams, and builds long-term relationships with senior clients. It also supervises and mentors junior media team members. The position is responsible for integrated full-funnel planning across paid, owned, and earned channels; audience and journey strategy; business-focused measurement and investment recommendations; oversight of campaign tracking and activation; and using AI-enabled tools throughout planning and reporting. It leads client conversations and proposals, manages media budgets and vendor relationships, and helps develop team practices for planning, measurement, and reporting. The role is based at a Prophet U.S. office in San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, Chicago, or Austin, with a hybrid model requiring 3+ full days in the office or at a client site.

Requirements

At least 6 years of media strategy and planning experience, primarily in an agency environment, with a track record of integrated plans delivering measurable business results.
Financial services experience is required, including familiarity with legal and compliance review processes.
Strong commercial acumen, including the ability to understand a client’s business model, connect marketing investment to revenue and growth targets, and discuss ROI.
Working knowledge of modern measurement approaches, including incrementality testing, media mix modeling, and multi-touch attribution, with experience applying them to budget decisions.
Regular use of generative AI and AI-enabled planning tools to accelerate research, analysis, and deliverables, and curiosity about the technology’s development.
Cross-channel fluency across paid social, search, programmatic, CTV and online video, audio, and content partnerships.
Sufficient platform knowledge to direct and pressure-test activation, including platforms such as LinkedIn, Meta, Google, DV360, and The Trade Desk.
Experience managing multi-million-dollar media budgets and media vendor relationships.
Fluency with media research and planning tools such as MRI-Simmons, Kantar, Pathmatics, MediaRadar, or GWI.
Experience supervising and developing junior team members.
Excellent presentation and storytelling skills, including leading conversations with senior client stakeholders.
Ability to self-start, solve problems creatively, manage multiple priorities, stay detail-oriented under pressure, and balance strategic leadership with practical execution.
Bachelor’s degree in advertising, marketing, business, or a related field, or equivalent experience.

Nice To Haves

Asset or wealth management experience.
Experience reaching financial advisors and institutional audiences through advisor-focused platforms, financial trade publications, and thought-leadership content programs.
Experience with demand generation, account-based marketing, and intent data platforms such as 6sense, Demandbase, or Bombora.
Familiarity with marketing automation and CRM platforms such as Salesforce, HubSpot, or Marketo.
Experience building or using AI assistants, agents, or automations within media planning and reporting workflows.

Responsibilities

Translate client business objectives and commercial targets into media strategies, investment frameworks, budgets, and channel allocations.
Develop integrated, full-funnel media plans across paid, owned, and earned channels, balancing brand building and near-term demand.
Lead audience strategy, segmentation, and journey development for B2B and consumer audiences.
Use research, first-party data, and AI-assisted analysis to develop audience, category, and competitive insights.
Build scenario plans and forecasts showing the expected business impact of different investment levels and channel mixes.
Define business-focused success measures and partner with Analytics on measurement frameworks connecting media to leads, pipeline, revenue, and asset growth.
Apply test-and-learn methods, including incrementality testing, lift studies, media mix modeling, and attribution, and recommend the appropriate approach for each business question.
Translate performance data into investment recommendations and explain the tradeoffs behind budget decisions.
Ensure connections between media platforms and client marketing automation and CRM systems support downstream measurement.
Oversee campaign activation and tracking, including taxonomy, tagging, and conversion tracking, in partnership with planners and activation specialists.
Use AI-powered tools for research, audience insight, competitive analysis, plan development, scenario modeling, and reporting.
Evaluate emerging AI capabilities, pilot promising tools, and guide team adoption while considering data privacy, accuracy, and client compliance.
Stay current on emerging media, platforms, and the effects of AI on audience discovery and brand research, and share relevant perspectives with teams and clients.
Lead client status meetings and present plans and results as business-focused stories to director-, VP-, and C-level stakeholders.
Understand client business models, distribution strategies, competitive landscapes, go-to-market priorities, and applicable financial services regulatory, compliance, and brand-safety considerations.
Lead development of media proposals and scopes of work, and contribute strategic thinking to new business pitches.
Manage media budgets, billing forecasts, and the profitability of media work.
Manage media vendor and publisher relationships and contracts, negotiate value, and hold partners accountable for delivery and results.
Evaluate and recommend data, technology, and media partners based on client outcomes, cost, and fit.
Supervise, mentor, and develop media planners and supervisors, coaching them on strategic thinking, business results, and effective use of AI tools.
Help establish best practices and repeatable, AI-enabled processes for planning, measurement, and reporting.