Manager, Precision Activation

MERGE•St. Louis, MO

12h•$77,000 - $98,000•Hybrid

About The Position

MERGE is a marketing and technology agency focused on health and wellness. The Manager, Precision Activation leads end-to-end paid social campaign execution, technical configuration, optimization, and reporting for pharmaceutical and life sciences clients. Working directly with the Associate Director of Precision Activation, the role translates client goals into full-funnel media programs for patient, caregiver, and healthcare professional audiences using accurate, privacy-compliant targeting. The role serves as the team's paid social subject matter expert, managing hands-on campaign operations across Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, Reddit, Pinterest, Snap, and X. It ensures campaigns meet MLR guidelines, FDA requirements, data privacy laws, and platform-specific healthcare advertising policies while supporting effective delivery. The position also collaborates across client, creative, strategy, analytics, and media teams, mentors junior team members, and develops operational resources for the discipline. The position prioritizes hybrid candidates in Chicago, Illinois, and may consider candidates near other MERGE hubs depending on role and team needs. U.S.-based remote candidates may also be considered if fully remote is listed as an option. Hybrid is MERGE's default approach; managers and team leaders determine in-person expectations. Team members may be required to travel to a MERGE hub for business needs. Salary range: $77,000–$98,000, based on skills, experience, qualifications, location, and other relevant factors. U.S. applicants must have work authorization that does not now or in the future require visa sponsorship.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in marketing, communications, advertising, or a related field, or equivalent work experience.
3–5 years of hands-on paid social campaign management experience, ideally in an agency environment.
Experience running paid social campaigns for pharmaceutical or life sciences brands (required).
Working knowledge of MLR review and regulatory and compliance requirements for paid media in health.
Hands-on expertise with Meta Ads Manager, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, TikTok Ads Manager, Reddit, Pinterest, Snap, and X.
Experience building full-funnel campaigns for patient and/or HCP audiences.
Strong analytical skills, including intermediate Excel skills such as XLOOKUP/VLOOKUP, pivot tables, and charts, and the ability to turn data into recommendations.
Experience managing pacing, budgets, forecasts, and invoicing across multiple campaigns.
Understanding of how paid, owned, and earned social work together.
Clear writing and presentation skills, including the ability to present performance and strategy to clients.
Strong organization and time-management skills across multiple brands and deadlines.
Integrity, attention to detail, and respect for agency processes.
U.S. work authorization that does not now or in the future require visa sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

Meta Blueprint certification and other platform certifications, such as LinkedIn, TikTok, or Reddit.
HCP targeting experience with NPI-based audiences or HCP-endemic platforms such as Doximity.
Familiarity with health data and audience partners, CRM matching, and data clean rooms.
Experience with social analytics and listening tools such as Sprinklr, Sprout Social, or Talkwalker, and with brand lift studies.
Experience with adverse event monitoring or social crisis response for a pharmaceutical brand.
Experience supporting new business pitches or writing paid social points of view.

Responsibilities

Translate brand and business objectives into full-funnel paid social strategies for patient, caregiver, and HCP audiences, in partnership with the Associate Director.
Develop data-driven audience segments using CRM and first-party data, NPI-matched HCP lists, contextual signals, and platform targeting while adhering to privacy and health-category regulations.
Recommend platforms, budget distribution, and flighting schedules, and author paid social components of media plans and points of view.
Collaborate with creative, strategy, and analytics partners to tailor ad formats and messaging to channels and audiences.
Oversee campaign setup and architecture, including account structure, taxonomy, tracking infrastructure, and pre-launch quality assurance.
Monitor campaign pacing against budgets and metrics, maintain pacing documentation, and reallocate spend to maximize results.
Run structured tests of creative assets, audiences, bidding strategies, and placements, and apply insights to improve campaigns.
Manage budget forecasting, monthly financial reconciliations, and vendor invoice processing.
Maintain campaign quality control, brand safety, and community moderation, following adverse event reporting and escalation workflows.
Ensure campaigns, targeting, and creative comply with MLR-approved guidelines, FDA requirements, data privacy laws, and platform healthcare advertising policies.
Prepare paid social specifications and documentation for MLR submission and establish deployment schedules aligned with review cycles.
Monitor changes to platform rules regarding privacy, targeting, and health categories, and communicate risks and mitigation strategies to leadership and clients.
Extract platform analytics and produce weekly, monthly, and post-campaign reports with analysis and strategic recommendations.
Collaborate with analytics teams to establish KPIs and measurement frameworks, including brand lift, conversion lift, and third-party attribution models.
Present campaign performance to clients, answer complex inquiries, and provide strategic context.
Serve as the day-to-day paid social subject matter expert for assigned client accounts.
Coordinate with media planning, analytics, strategy, creative, and account management teams to deliver integrated marketing programs.
Advise creative partners on social-first creative, technical specifications, and channel best practices.
Develop vendor and platform representative relationships to pursue beta tests, new ad formats, and platform support.
Provide paid social strategy and healthcare-category perspectives, and contribute to new business opportunities and pitches.
Mentor junior team members in partnership with team leadership.
Improve operational efficiency by creating standardized playbooks, quality-assurance protocols, and shared knowledge resources.