Director of Media - Merrell

Wolverine Worldwide•Rockford, MI

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Merrell is seeking a Director of Media to play a critical role in bringing its new global brand platform, 'It Starts Outside,' to life. This leader will translate brand ambition into smart, modern media strategies that connect with people at scale, shaping how Merrell appears across paid, owned, and emerging channels. The role involves ensuring messages land with relevance, consistency, and impact across geographies and audiences. This is an opportunity to build and evolve a global media ecosystem at an inflection point where performance, brand storytelling, data-driven decision-making, and cultural relevance converge. Merrell offers the chance to orchestrate meaningful reach and build an enduring global brand presence for media leaders energized by growth, innovation, and connection.

Requirements

8+ years in media, digital marketing, or integrated marketing leadership roles.
Proven experience managing both performance marketing and brand media investment.
Strong understanding of full-funnel media strategy and channel roles.
Deep expertise in performance channels (search, social, display, affiliates) and familiarity with brand/upper-funnel media.
Experience with modern measurement approaches (MMM, incrementality, attribution).
Demonstrated leadership of teams and agencies.
Experience managing complexity in fast-paced, high growth environments.

Responsibilities

Own the holistic media strategy across the full funnel, balancing performance efficiency with brand-building impact.
Define annual and quarterly media investment frameworks, including budget allocation across channels, funnel stages, and markets.
Lead channel mix optimization, ensuring the right balance between lower-funnel conversion and upper-funnel demand generation.
Establish a clear media role for brand vs. performance, aligned to business goals and growth horizons.
Partner with Brand leadership to ensure media amplifies platform storytelling.
Oversee performance channels including paid search, paid social, affiliates, display, and emerging platforms.
Drive ROAS, CAC efficiency, and revenue growth, while ensuring spend is incremental and not over-optimized.
Lead testing and optimization roadmap across audiences, creative, landing experiences, and platforms.
Identify and scale new growth levers across digital acquisition channels.
Lead strategy and execution of upper-funnel and brand media investments (video, partnerships, sponsorships, cultural platforms, etc.).
Ensure brand media is measurable and accountable, with clear contribution to awareness, consideration, and future demand.
Partner with Brand and Creative teams to align media with platform storytelling and cultural relevance.
Build frameworks that connect brand investment to downstream performance outcomes.
Own a modern measurement framework that goes beyond last-click (MMM, incrementality testing, brand lift, attribution).
Define clear KPIs across short- and long-term effectiveness (e.g., ROAS + brand health metrics).
Translate data into actionable insights for senior leadership, enabling better investment decisions.
Partner with Analytics and Finance to ensure media investment is tied to commercial outcomes and forecasting.
Lead and develop a high-performing integrated media team across performance and brand disciplines.
Manage agency partners across media planning, buying, and analytics, ensuring accountability and strategic alignment.
Foster a culture of testing, learning, and continuous optimization across the full funnel.
Partner with Brand, Creative, eCommerce, CRM, Product, and Finance teams to ensure media is fully integrated into go-to-market planning.
Align media strategy with product launches, seasonal moments, and commercial priorities.
Ensure consistency across channels, connecting media, messaging, and customer experience.