Media Buyer

HLK•St. Louis, MO

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Media Buyer executes and optimizes paid media campaigns across search, social, and programmatic platforms in support of media plans developed by the media pod. Reporting to a Media Supervisor or Director of Media Planning, the role focuses on accurate campaign activation, performance monitoring, and day-to-day optimization against defined media strategies and success metrics. The role works closely with Media Planners, Operations, Data Intelligence, creative/studio teams, and other pod members to ensure campaigns are implemented accurately, tracked and billed appropriately, and aligned with strategic intent. The Media Buyer shares actionable performance insights to inform future strategy and investment decisions. HLK describes its culture as collaborative, curious, and ambitious, with room for pod members to lead and without micromanagement.

Requirements

At least 6 years of hands-on paid media experience with a clear performance track record.
Experience managing campaigns tied to ROAS, CPA, or revenue-based KPIs.
Platform expertise with Google Ads, including Search, YouTube, and Performance Max.
Paid social platform expertise, including Meta and LinkedIn; TikTok as applicable.
Programmatic expertise, including DV360.
Strong analytical mindset and ability to connect performance data to business outcomes.
Comfort working in GA4 and navigating conversion tracking and attribution.
Experience utilizing testing strategies across creative, channels, and audiences.

Nice To Haves

Experience with multiple DSPs is preferred.
Curiosity, proactivity, and willingness to challenge both the plan and results.
Focus on business impact beyond platform metrics and a drive to improve on in-market benchmarks.

Responsibilities

Execute paid media campaigns across search, paid social (including Meta and LinkedIn), and programmatic platforms, including HLK Desk.
Activate campaigns according to approved media plans, ensuring accurate setup, targeting, budgets, and creative rotation.
Provide direction on platform-specific creative asset needs and work with creative/studio teams as needed to deliver appropriate assets.
Maintain platform hygiene, naming conventions, and documentation.
Monitor campaign performance, pacing, and delivery on an ongoing basis.
Maintain budget-pacing documentation and share it weekly with the media planning lead.
Implement optimizations based on performance trends and defined KPIs.
Maintain optimization documentation and share it as needed with the media lead and CX lead.
Flag risks, issues, and opportunities to the Media Planner or Pod Lead.
Understand the strategy and success metrics behind each media plan.
Share performance insights, learnings, and observations with the pod to inform decision-making.
Collaborate with Media Planners to ensure execution aligns with strategic intent.
Partner with Operations and Data Intelligence to ensure proper tracking, QA, and billing alignment for buys executed in the pod.
Support reconciliation and billing accuracy for executed media by interfacing with the operations lead as needed.
Adhere to operational standards, processes, and governance requirements.