Paid Media Manager, Growth Marketing

UNITED STATES SOCCER FEDERATION 1•Atlanta, GA

About The Position

The Paid Media Manager is a commercially driven, data-obsessed marketer responsible for driving measurable revenue growth across three core pillars: matchday ticket sales, ecommerce (merchandise and licensed product), and fan loyalty through the U.S. Soccer Insiders program. This role leads all paid media strategy, planning, execution and measurement across the Federation, translating audience insights into actionable campaigns that generate revenue, drive online sales, and deepen long-term fan relationships. Reporting to the Director, Matchday & Growth Marketing, this role works cross-functionally with the Matchday Marketing, Events, Consumer Products, Partnerships, Content and Integrated Marketing teams. This role will also partner closely with Data & Analytics to lead marketing measurements, including Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) and Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM).

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in marketing, business, or related field.
5+ years of hands-on experience planning, executing, and optimizing paid media campaigns, ideally within a ticketing, ecommerce, subscription, or sports/entertainment environment.
Deep expertise across paid media with a strong focus on digital media including paid social, paid search and programmatic platforms.
Demonstrated experience contributing to marketing measurement programs, including Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) and/or Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM).
Strong commercial acumen with a track record of connecting paid media investment to measurable revenue outcomes such as tickets sold, ecommerce revenue, ROAS, and customer lifetime value.
Experience with first-party data strategies, CRM integration with paid media (custom audiences, suppression lists), and privacy-preserving measurement tools including CAPI, enhanced conversions, and clean rooms.
Proven experience managing external agency relationships, either from a client-side marketing role or from within an agency environment with a clear understanding of how to get the best from both sides of the relationship.
Track record of holding agency partners to measurable performance standards.
Excellent analytical skills and comfortable working with performance data, interpreting statistical outputs, and translating complex findings into clear business recommendations.
Proven ability to manage significant campaign budgets with efficiency and accountability.
General knowledge of soccer
Capable of working in fast-paced and demanding environments
Must be able to connect “micro” details to the “macro” vision and mission
Proficient experience with Microsoft Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook)
Strong creative judgment – ability to write compelling briefs and critically evaluate ad creative across formats.
Experience with analytics and BI tools such as GA4 and Tableau, and strong working knowledge of ad platform reporting.
Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with proven ability to work cross-functionally across a fast-moving, multi-stakeholder organization.
Desire to work in a dynamic culture, setting high standards while managing complex stakeholders to build consensus and buy-in.

Nice To Haves

Experience working in the sports industry, particularly in live events, ticketing, or fan engagement.
Passion for soccer and a deep knowledge of the soccer landscape in the United States.
Spanish or bilingual language skills a plus.

Responsibilities

Leads and is responsible for the paid media strategy and execution for matchday ticket sales campaigns across Senior National team matches including USWNT and USMNT, marquee events including Gold Cup and Copa América qualifiers and ancillary Commercial events including Summits.
Work closely with the Matchday Marketing and Events teams to develop holistic, omni-channel paid media campaigns across the full matchday cycle and including but not limited to OOH/DOOH, CTV, radio and digital media.
Build geo-targeted, local market-specific audience strategies that move fans through the funnel from awareness to purchase, with a focus on ROAS, revenue contribution, and CPA under a CAC framework.
Monitor and optimize based on inventory levels and dynamic pricing signals to adjust campaign pacing, budget allocation, and creative messaging in real time to maximize sales velocity.
Working closely with Loyalty Marketing, responsible for paid acquisition and retention strategies for driving Insiders sign-ups and retention through digital paid media including paid social, search, and content amplification.
Employ Insiders member data and behavioral signals to build lookalike and suppression audiences that improve targeting efficiency across paid channels.
Track and report on program KPIs including enrollment growth, engagement rate, and lifetime value contribution, connecting loyalty performance to broader revenue outcomes.
Lead planning, buying, and optimization across all paid media channels including OOH/DOOH, CTV and radio, and a strong focus on digital media including video, social and search.
Partner with the Integrated Marketing team to ensure paid media campaigns are aligned with broader campaign strategy, brand messaging, and content calendars.
For brand & ATL creative, work with the Brand & Integrated Marketing team to manage logistics, deferring to them for final creative execution. Provide an account service for the VP, Brand & Integrated Marketing ensuring billing and measurement is part of the wider campaign as stated in the brief.
Lead with a content-first approach: brief internal creative and brand teams on paid creative requirements, critique and creative output, and run a rigorous testing program to identify winning formats / messages.
Manage budgets with discipline, maintaining efficient cost-per-acquisition targets across ticketing, ecommerce, and loyalty acquisition while scaling against high-performing inventory.
Drive adoption of emerging channels and technologies including AI and dynamic creative optimization (DCO).
Manage U.S. Soccer’s multi-touch attribution (MTA) strategy in partnership with Data & Analytics: define the attribution model in conjunction with the MarComms Leads & CMO, oversee implementation across ad platforms, and ensure consistent application across all revenue campaigns.
Support the development and ongoing maintenance of Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) capability with Data & Analytics, using model outputs to optimize budget allocation across channels, geographies, and campaign types.
Establish and govern an incrementality testing framework (holdout groups, geo-based experiments) to validate attribution findings and continuously improve measurement accuracy.
Implement privacy-preserving measurement solutions including Conversion API (CAPI), enhanced conversions, and clean room integrations to address signal loss from iOS privacy changes and cookie deprecation.
Develop and maintain performance dashboards covering the full funnel – paid media efficiency, ticketing revenue contribution, ecommerce conversion, and Insiders enrollment – and deliver regular reports with clear, actionable recommendations.
Serve as the primary day-to-day contact for all paid media agency partners, setting clear briefs, timelines, and performance expectations to ensure campaigns are delivered to the highest standard
Support, VP, Audience Growth, Experiences and Value on agency check-ins and performance reviews, holding partners accountable to KPIs and ensuring U.S. Soccer receives best-in-class strategic thinking, not just execution.
Support evaluation of agency output against a recommended criteria — pushing back where work falls short of the brief, and advocating internally for the resource and information agencies need to do their best work
Proactively identify gaps in agency capability and support any pitch, onboarding, or transition processes required to strengthen the partner media roster.
Foster a collaborative, high-trust working relationship with agency media teams, treating them as strategic partners while maintaining clear ownership of objectives and decisions on the U.S. Soccer side.
Act as the internal media buyer for MarComms & Commercial, ensuring alignment with Leads on briefs, processes and measurement. Understanding budgets outside of Growth Marketing will need to be approved prior to any activations with the necessary business lead.
Build strong working relationships with the Matchday Marketing, Events, Consumer Products, Integrated Marketing, and Data & Analytics teams, aligning digital campaigns to broader organizational goals.
Ensure all campaigns meet legal, regulatory, and brand compliance requirements and are delivered on time and within budget.
Stay current with platform developments, emerging channels, and industry best practice, sharing insight across the marketing team.