Director of Channel Strategy

Dixon Schwabl + Company•Town of Victor, NY

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Channel Strategy leads how brands show up across earned, owned, shared, and paid channels—ensuring PR, Social, and Paid Media operate as a unified, high-performing function. In this role, you’ll guide the teams responsible for channel execution while setting the strategic direction that connects brand narratives to audience behavior and business outcomes. You’ll partner closely with Brand Leadership, Creative, Content, and Analytics to translate goals into integrated, channel-native plans. Success in this role looks like clarity and consistency across channel strategy, stronger collaboration across teams, and measurable improvements in performance. You’ll strengthen standards, evolve frameworks, and coach teams to deliver thoughtful, effective channel strategies—while fostering an inclusive culture rooted in curiosity, community, and continuous learning.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in channel strategy, PR, social, paid media, or integrated communications—agency or in-house.
Experience leading PR, Social, and/or Paid Media teams, with accountability for people leadership and performance.
Ability to connect earned, owned, shared, and paid channels into unified, insight-driven strategies.
Comfort working with digital analytics and performance data to inform channel optimization decisions.
Ability to synthesize complex ideas into clear, compelling stories for clients and internal partners.
Strong facilitation skills for leading planning sessions and cross-functional alignment.
Experience guiding integrated campaigns from strategy through execution and optimization.

Nice To Haves

Experience integrating influencer or creator strategies into channel plans.
Familiarity with tools like GA4, Looker, Google Data Studio, Power BI, Sprout, Hootsuite, Ads Managers, Jira, and Lucid.
Experience developing test-and-learn roadmaps and operationalizing channel experimentation frameworks.
Background creating or improving governance systems, taxonomies, or channel standards.
Experience evaluating or implementing AI or marketing-tech solutions to improve strategic and operational output.

Responsibilities

Partner with Brand Leadership to translate business objectives into integrated channel strategies spanning PR, Social, and Paid Media.
Serve as the channel strategy lead in client conversations, clearly articulating how each channel contributes to awareness, consideration, conversion, and loyalty.
Present insights, recommendations, and performance narratives that support informed decision-making.
Maintain strong alignment with cross-functional partners as priorities, budgets, or market conditions evolve.
Develop sequenced channel plans that outline activation flows, amplification pathways (e.g., PR ? social ? paid), and budget considerations.
Define channel-level KPIs and ensure measurement frameworks are in place prior to launch.
Lead integrated planning rhythms—including briefings, reviews, calendars, and journey mapping—to keep teams aligned and execution on track.
Create and maintain channel playbooks, briefs, and workflows that support efficient, consistent delivery.
Set strategic “rules of the road” for channel execution using audience insights, research, and performance data.
Translate brand narratives into channel-native approaches by defining tone, hooks, calls-to-action, formats, and platform considerations.
Monitor audience behavior, competitive landscapes, and emerging platforms to inform where to invest, experiment, or adjust.
Integrate influencer and creator strategies into channel plans when appropriate.
Partner with Analytics to interpret performance results and recommend optimizations across PR, Social, and Paid Media.
Maintain and evolve standards for tagging, naming, accessibility, and compliance to ensure quality and consistency.
Collaborate with internal teams to evaluate and adopt tools, technology, and AI-enabled solutions that improve workflows and insight generation.
Champion responsible use of emerging technology within channel teams.
Lead the PR, Social, and Paid Media teams, providing clarity in roles, priorities, and expectations.
Foster an inclusive, supportive team culture grounded in DS+CO’s values of Curiosity, Community, and Courage.
Hold biweekly 1:1s, support workload planning, and guide team members through goal-setting and professional development.
Deliver timely, constructive feedback and support growth in strategic thinking, collaboration, and craft.
Identify resourcing needs and future capabilities required to support team and agency growth.