Digital Paid Ad Accounts Strategist

Cold Spark Media•Pittsburgh, PA

About The Position

We are seeking a high-level Digital Paid Ad Accounts Strategist to serve as the senior client-facing lead for digital advertising programs across political campaigns, public affairs initiatives, and advocacy organizations. This role will work directly with our in-house digital ad buying team to plan, execute, and report on six-figure digital media programs across platforms, including Meta, Google/YouTube, CTV/OTT, programmatic display, and emerging channels. This position is ideal for a strategic communicator who understands how paid media works in practice, can translate client goals into actionable media plans, and thrives at the intersection of strategy, creative execution, and operational excellence. While this role is not hands-on in-platform buying, it requires deep fluency in paid digital advertising and the ability to coordinate closely with media buyers to ensure precision, performance, and accountability.

Requirements

5+ years of experience in paid digital advertising within political campaigns, public affairs, advocacy, or a fast-paced agency environment.
Proven experience coordinating and overseeing six-figure digital ad buys across major platforms.
Strong understanding of digital advertising strategy, platform capabilities, targeting approaches, and performance metrics.
Demonstrated ability to manage client relationships, present confidently, and communicate complex information clearly.
Highly organized, detail-oriented, and comfortable managing multiple priorities under tight deadlines.
Demonstrated experience in political and public affairs copywriting and messaging.
Creative thinker with strong strategic judgment and the ability to balance innovation with disciplined execution.
Experience working closely with media buyers, vendors, and internal teams to execute complex digital programs.

Nice To Haves

You anticipate client questions before they’re asked and solve problems before they escalate.
You are extremely organized, have a strong attention to detail, and are good at managing numbers.
You bring a collaborative, steady presence to both client conversations and internal teams.
You’re equally comfortable understanding the ins and outs of digital media buying as you are with copywriting and outlining creative direction for static and video messaging
You can derive actionable insights from not only the performance of the ad buy, but also the political and public affairs climate our clients are operating in.

Responsibilities

Client Leadership & Strategic Planning Serve as the primary client-facing lead for paid digital advertising accounts, owning communication, expectations, and delivery across the lifecycle of a campaign.
Translate political, public affairs, or advocacy goals into clear paid media strategies, flighting plans, budgets, and platform mixes.
Present media plans, performance updates, and strategic recommendations to clients with clarity, confidence, and attention to detail.
Act as a trusted advisor to clients, proactively identifying opportunities, risks, and optimizations throughout a campaign.
Media Buying Coordination & Execution Work directly with the in-house digital ad buying team to coordinate media buying strategy, placements, pacing, and optimizations.
Ensure creative assets, targeting, budgets, and timelines are clearly communicated and executed accurately across platforms.
Maintain high execution standards across multiple concurrent accounts, often with fast-moving timelines and evolving priorities.
Troubleshoot campaign issues collaboratively with buyers, vendors, and internal stakeholders to keep programs on track.
Creative & Messaging Oversight Partner with creative, copy, and strategy teams to ensure paid media creative aligns with platform best practices, campaign goals, and client messaging.
Provide strategic feedback on ad creative, formats, and messaging angles to improve performance and engagement.
Maintain strong attention to detail across creative approvals, compliance considerations, and platform requirements.
Reporting, Analysis & Optimization Oversee campaign reporting and performance analysis, ensuring clients receive clear, accurate, and actionable insights.
Interpret performance data (impressions, reach, frequency, CTR, CPC, CPV, CPA, etc.) and translate results into strategic recommendations.
Ensure reporting aligns with client priorities, campaign objectives, and broader organizational KPIs.
Identify trends and learnings across accounts to inform future media strategies and best practices.
Cross-Functional Collaboration & Process Improvement Help refine workflows and processes that improve efficiency, accuracy, and scalability across paid media accounts.
Contribute to internal knowledge sharing around paid media strategy, platform changes, and industry trends.
Support leadership with insights on capacity planning, account health, and performance across the paid media portfolio.