Director of Paid Media & Performance Marketing

Medela•McHenry, IL

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

Medela LLC is seeking a Director of Paid Media and Performance Marketing to lead their global paid media strategy, owning media investment and performance across North America and priority focus markets. This leadership role is responsible for driving customer acquisition, demand generation, brand awareness, and profitable growth through innovative media strategies and data-driven decision making. The ideal candidate will have deep, hands-on experience across the entire paid media lifecycle—strategy, planning, execution, buying, measurement, and optimization—and enjoys balancing strategic leadership with hands-on involvement to maximize performance. The role is based in McHenry, IL, with a hybrid work arrangement (three days on-site, two days home office).

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Business Administration, or a related field required.
8+ years of progressive experience in paid media, digital marketing, media strategy, or performance marketing.
3+ years of people leadership experience required.
Demonstrated success developing and executing multi-channel paid media strategies.
Strong North American paid media leadership experience with demonstrated success operating in matrixed organizations.
Experience managing significant paid media budgets and optimizing investment performance.
Proven success managing media agencies and strategic vendor relationships.
Demonstrated experience leading media agency RFPs, agency evaluations, partner selection processes, and contract negotiations.
Strong expertise across Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, DV360, YouTube, programmatic advertising, retail media, and emerging digital channels.
Experience utilizing analytics to optimize campaign performance and media investments.
Experience within healthcare, medical device, consumer products, or FMCG industries.
Experience working within regulated environments preferred.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree preferred.
Professional certifications in Google Ads, Meta Blueprint, Google Analytics, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, DV360, or related advertising platforms preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead Paid Media Strategy: Define, develop, and continuously evolve the company's global paid media strategy aligned with business objectives, commercial priorities, and brand strategy.
Own global paid media investment strategy while providing governance and strategic leadership across priority markets.
Develop annual paid media strategies and investment plans that support customer acquisition, demand generation, product launches, revenue growth, and market share objectives.
Identify emerging media opportunities, advertising technologies, and innovative channels that strengthen competitive advantage.
Establish paid media governance, channel standards, measurement methodologies, agency operating models, and best practices across markets.
Serve as the company's paid media subject matter expert and trusted advisor to senior leadership.
Drive Performance Marketing: Lead performance across the entire customer journey—from awareness and engagement through acquisition, conversion, retention, and customer lifetime value.
Develop sophisticated audience strategies utilizing first-party data, CRM insights, remarketing, retention audiences, lookalike modeling, and lifecycle marketing.
Continuously optimize targeting, creative, bidding strategies, channel mix, and budget allocation to maximize performance and return on advertising spend.
Champion testing, experimentation, and continuous improvement across all paid media programs.
Lead Agency Partnerships: Serve as the strategic owner of the company's global media agency relationship.
Establish campaign objectives, KPIs, governance processes, and performance expectations.
Conduct regular business reviews and hold agency partners accountable for delivering measurable business outcomes.
Lead agency RFPs, evaluations, partner selection, onboarding, and contract negotiations.
Provide informed direction and challenge agency recommendations through your own expertise across paid media strategy, planning, execution, measurement, and optimization.
Manage Media Investments: Own North American paid media budget allocation and investment strategy across all paid channels.
Optimize media investments to maximize customer acquisition, revenue growth, and marketing effectiveness.
Partner with Finance on forecasting, investment planning, and business case development.
Recommend investment adjustments based on campaign performance, commercial priorities, and market conditions.
Analytics & Measurement: Partner with Digital Analytics & Insights to establish scalable reporting, dashboards, and KPI frameworks.
Analyze campaign performance and customer behavior to identify actionable business opportunities.
Present performance insights and investment recommendations to executive leadership.
Champion a culture of accountability, measurement, and data-driven decision making.
Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner closely with Commercial Excellence, Brand Marketing, CRM, eCommerce (Amazon), Sales Leadership, Revenue Management, Finance, and Insights & Analytics.
Ensure paid media investments support integrated product launches, commercial initiatives, revenue growth, customer acquisition, and profitability.
Evaluate new advertising technologies and media platforms that improve performance and efficiency.
Ensure compliance with company policies, privacy regulations, and brand standards.
People Leadership: Lead, coach, and develop members of the paid media team.
Establish departmental priorities, objectives, and performance expectations.
Foster a collaborative, innovative, commercially focused, and data-driven culture.
Support hiring, onboarding, succession planning, and professional development.