Paid Media Lead

Ciena•Baltimore, ON

About The Position

As the global leader in high-speed connectivity, Ciena is committed to a people-first approach. Our teams enjoy a culture focused on prioritizing a flexible work environment that empowers individual growth, well-being, and belonging. We’re a technology company that leads with our humanity—driving our business priorities alongside meaningful social, community, and societal impact. The Paid Media Lead is a role within the Digital Marketing team at Ciena. This role is responsible for defining and executing the end-to-end strategy for programmatic display and paid placements in key trade publications, with video activation across channels such as YouTube where appropriate. This role owns planning, activation, optimization, measurement, and budget allocation, supporting global programs across regions. You’ll operate as both strategist and hands-on practitioner, translating marketing objectives into scalable, high-performing media programs. This role brings discipline and accountability to how we invest in both programmatic and premium trade media. You’ll shape where and how we show up in the market—and make sure those investments actually perform.

Requirements

5–8+ years of paid media experience with direct ownership of paid media budget
Bachelor's degree in marketing, business, or related field.
Strong command of DSPs, audience strategies, and measurement frameworks
Strong knowledge and expertise of advertising platforms (Google Adwords, Zoominfo Marketing, etc)
Working knowledge of YouTube buying and measurement
Experience in keyword and contextual targeting and audience targeting techniques, with the ability to derive actionable insights from complex datasets.
Experience with publisher-direct and trade publication media buys
Strong financial and analytical mindset
Comfortable operating at both strategic and executional levels
Clear communicator who can push back on ineffective or low-value media buys
Experience in B2B, enterprise, or long buying-cycle environments preferred
Ability to effectively communicate, engage, and work well with internal clients
Proven aptitude in a high velocity environment
Ability to reprioritize multiple projects as deadlines and objectives change
Ideal candidate can understand and translate technical concepts accurately to a non-technical audience
Works proactively and always thinks ahead
Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to “think outside of the box”

Responsibilities

Own the programmatic display strategy across awareness, consideration, and demand programs, including video activation across channels such as YouTube and Connected TV
Plan, launch, and manage campaigns across Demand Side Platforms (e.g., DV360, Google Adwords, YouTube), including audience strategy, inventory selection and media mix decisions
Define and execute media buy strategy for priority trade publications, including site selection, sponsorships, high-impact placements, and contextual alignment
Own the paid media budget, including planning, allocation, forecasting, pacing, and performance-based reallocation
Develop and continuously refine targeting strategies (first- and third-party data, contextual, intent, ABM, retargeting) across display, trade media, and video environments
Support and guide display and video media strategy across regions, ensuring consistency in approach while allowing for local nuance
Define and execute media buy strategy for priority trade publications, as well as video placements across YouTube and Connected TV
Lead negotiations with publishers, platforms, and vendors to maximize value, audience quality, and performance within budget constraints
Leverage ZoomInfo Marketing to support audience strategy, account-based targeting, and activation across programmatic
Drive ongoing optimization across bids, budgets, pacing, creative rotation, frequency, and reach
Partner closely with analytics, web, and content teams to ensure strong measurement, attribution, landing-page performance and lead conversion.
Translate performance data into clear insights and recommendations for stakeholders—what’s working, what’s not, and what to do next
Manage agency, vendor and publisher/platform relationships, holding them accountable to transparency, budget discipline, and results
Stay ahead of industry shifts (privacy, cookies, identity, AI-driven optimization) and proactively evolve the programmatic approach
Apply strong project management skills to prioritize and manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment, ensuring deadlines and business goals are met.
Maintain meticulous attention to detail while managing shifting priorities and ensuring the quality of deliverables.