Senior Director, Paid Media

Vail Resorts • Remo, VA

10d • $210,000 - $245,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Director of Paid Media is responsible for defining and leading the enterprise vision for brand and performance marketing as a strategic driver of profitable growth across Vail Resorts. This leader will oversee the strategy, planning, execution, measurement, and continuous optimization of one of the company's largest marketing investments while shaping how paid media, customer data, AI, and advanced analytics work together to accelerate business performance. Reporting to the Vice President of Omni-Channel Marketing, this role leads a high-performing team of paid media and advertising operations professionals while partnering closely with Analytics, CRM, Brand Marketing, Product, Technology, Finance, and executive leadership to influence enterprise growth strategy. Success in this role requires balancing operational excellence with long-term transformation, modernizing paid media through automation, AI, experimentation, and first-party data activation. Paid media is one of Vail Resorts' most strategic growth capabilities. We are building a next-generation marketing organization that combines first-party customer data, AI, advanced measurement, automation, and creative excellence to deliver personalized guest experiences and profitable growth at scale. We are seeking a leader excited to shape what modern marketing looks like over the next decade.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Communications or a related degree
• 10+ years experience in Paid Media with a commercial and consumer focus: Paid Media Operations, AdTech, Media Strategy, etc.
• 7+ years experience managing and developing marketing teams, including leading teams successfully through change and a proven track record of building high performing teams
• Forward-thinking leader who has experience re-imagining current operations to achieve greater impact; strong executive communication skills to drive results through influence
• High emotional intelligence, openness to change, and the willingness to merge ideas to bring forward the best solutions
• Deep understanding of experimentation, test and learn, statistical analysis (e.g., incrementality testing, Marketing Mix modeling, etc)
• Experience planning/buying on a Demand Side Platform (DSP) / digital media trading desk, working various customer data and activation strategies (e.g, 1st party, 3rd party, etc), as well as programmatic buying experience
• Experience with media analytics & research
• Experience with Ad Serving Software with Dynamic Creative Optimization
• Familiarity with The Trade Desk, Adobe Analytics, Innovid, Google, Meta Ads and other walled garden ecosystems, Amperity, Adobe Analytics, Tableau, Microsoft Excel/Powerpoint, etc.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the long-term enterprise paid media vision, positioning paid media as a strategic driver of profitable growth, customer acquisition, retention, and lifetime value.
• Develop enterprise investment strategies that maximize business outcomes across the full guest lifecycle through disciplined portfolio management, forecasting, experimentation, and optimization.
• Lead the transformation of paid media through AI, automation, machine learning, and emerging technologies, fundamentally improving campaign planning, creative production, optimization, operational efficiency, and measurement.
• Support and further establish industry-leading measurement capabilities including incrementality testing, marketing mix modeling, attribution, forecasting, causal inference, experimentation, and lifetime value optimization to improve investment decisions. Lead new analytical approaches to optimization and attribution, furthering our efforts on robust incrementality testing, while also leading more advanced modeling work around the total marketing and media mix.
• Define and evolve the enterprise advertising technology roadmap, ensuring best-in-class capabilities across media platforms, automation, identity, measurement, creative technology, and AI.
• Build, coach, and inspire a high-performing organization by developing talent, fostering innovation, driving accountability, and leading the team successfully through ongoing transformation.
• Lead enterprise media planning, buying, and optimization across all paid channels, ensuring operational excellence while continuously improving efficiency, effectiveness, and scalability.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to executive leadership on marketing investment, growth strategy, media performance, and future marketing capabilities through strong analytical rigor and compelling business storytelling.
• Build a modern creative optimization capability leveraging AI-enabled creative production, dynamic creative optimization, structured experimentation, and rapid learning to maximize campaign effectiveness.
• Be self-aware and emotionally intelligent to convey and exemplify the Vail Resorts standard of leadership. Consistently be looking to develop oneself as a leader and continually improve themselves and their peers through candid feedback and continual self-evaluation. Be consistently focused on unlocking the potential of their employees.
• Build strategic partnerships with agencies, technology vendors, and industry partners to continuously improve capabilities, accelerate innovation, and maximize return on investment.

Benefits

• Ski/Mountain Perks! Free passes for employees, employee discounted lift tickets for friends and family AND free ski lessons
• MORE employee discounts on lodging, food, gear, and mountain shuttles
• 401(k) Retirement Plan
• Employee Assistance Program
• Excellent training and professional development
• Health Insurance; Medical Insurance, Dental Insurance, and Vision Insurance plans (for eligible seasonal employees after working 500 hours)
• Free ski passes for dependents
• Critical Illness and Accident plans

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director