Director, Demand Generation

Ascension

1d•Remote

About The Position

Ascension is seeking a digitally native and strategic Director of Demand Generation to lead paid media strategy, planning, and activation across digital-first and traditional channels in service of Ascension’s multi-market landscape. This leader will drive omnichannel media campaigns—with particular depth in CTV, paid social, and programmatic—that support patient acquisition, brand engagement, and advance our mission to provide compassionate, personalized care across the communities we serve. This role requires a full-funnel, performance-minded marketer with demonstrated expertise in both upper-funnel brand building and lower-funnel conversion-driving media, with a deep understanding of how to connect the two to deliver measurable results. Expertise in CTV, paid social, and programmatic media is essential. Healthcare experience is a plus, but not required.

Requirements

High School diploma equivalency with 5 years of applicable cumulative job specific experience required, with 2 of those years being in leadership/management OR Associate's degree/Bachelor's degree with 3 years of applicable cumulative job specific experience required, with 2 of those years being in leadership/management.

Nice To Haves

10+ years of progressive experience in media strategy and activation
Proven experience leading campaigns across CTV, paid social, and programmatic media channels
Experience managing integrated campaigns across digital and traditional channels, and across local organizations
Demonstrated success with both brand and performance marketing
Experience with platforms such as Mediatools, Prisma, or similar media planning/buying tools
Advanced understanding of marketing analytics, ad tech, and campaign tagging
Proven budget management expertise
Strong leadership and communication skills
Healthcare or regulated industry experience
Experience in matrixed or multi-location organizations
Experience partnering with creative and analytics teams to test and optimize messaging across platforms
Media agency experience highly preferred

Responsibilities

Support the development and execution of data-driven, integrated digital media strategies aligned to organizational priorities, working closely with the Senior Director, Media & Advertising.
Lead with a performance-driven mindset, while balancing performance-focused strategies with brand-building initiatives across CTV, video, and digital channels to ensure full-funnel impact.
Serve as a digital media subject matter expert within the Media Center of Excellence, helping shape testing frameworks, KPIs, and channel mix strategy.
Lead relationships with internal stakeholders in regional and service line marketing, influencing media strategy to ladder up into broader marketing strategies and ensuring strategy and execution are tightly integrated with business goals.
Oversee paid media across digital-first channels (search, social, display, video, OTT/CTV, native, programmatic) and traditional (TV, radio, OOH, print) platforms.
Own strategy, planning, and execution for connected TV (CTV), OTT, and online video placements, ensuring integration with broader media mix and performance goals.
Lead paid social media strategy across Meta, LinkedIn, YouTube, and emerging platforms, optimizing for both brand engagement and lower-funnel conversion.
Oversee programmatic media campaigns, managing DSP partners and audience strategies to deliver scalable, targeted reach.
Translate campaign objectives into audience-first, insight-driven media plans.
Provide strategic oversight to agency partners and internal media buying teams on media planning, buying, and optimizations, ensuring flawless execution.
Guide, implement, and enforce media execution processes for plan development, buy execution, trafficking, and billing across both internal and agency teams.
Manage a portfolio of campaigns, ensuring timely planning and execution across multiple concurrent projects.
Drive innovation in digital media through knowledge of:
CTV, video, and dynamic creative optimization (DCO) strategies
Audience targeting strategies including first- and third-party data approaches, with consideration for the healthcare regulatory environment
Bidding and budget optimization across biddable channels
Tagging and tracking methodologies (including UTM strategy and floodlight/tag manager deployment)
Marketing technologies, including ad servers (e.g., CM360), web analytics (Google Analytics), call tracking, and ad verification tools
Lead collaboration with analytics and digital experience teams to ensure end-to-end measurement and attribution.
Support incrementality testing, A/B creative optimization, and media mix modeling in partnership with analytics teams.
Own the media budget lifecycle, including forecasting, channel allocation, and monthly pacing.
Act as a liaison with finance stakeholders to ensure budget accuracy and stewardship.
Ensure transparency and fiscal accountability in managing multimillion-dollar budgets.
Utilize media management platforms such as Prisma, Mediatools, or similar for planning, buying, and campaign tracking.
Collaborate with procurement and finance to align on vendor and platform strategy.
Bring working knowledge of key ad platforms such as The Trade Desk, Meta Ads Manager, TikTok Ads, and DV360.
Manage and mentor a high-performing team of media specialists who execute in-house buying, promoting a culture of accountability, learning, and cross-functional partnership.
Serve as internal expert and thought leader on paid media best practices and innovation for the media Center of Excellence.
Support career development and upskilling of internal media team with a focus on digital media acumen.