Vice President, Digital Marketing & Trade Media
About The Position
HDMZ is a leading life science communications and growth accelerator, partnering with innovative biotech, biopharma, medical device, and digital health companies to help them enter new markets, establish new categories, and challenge the status quo. Guided by our mission to "Create the Future Faster," we combine evidence, insights, and imagination to solve our clients' most complex communications challenges and fuel their growth. Our team is united by a shared passion for the power of science, a commitment to putting people first, and a curiosity that drives us to keep learning and improving. Recognized as a Great Place to Work, HDMZ offers an inspiring, inclusive environment where employees build meaningful careers while helping shape the future of life sciences. HDMZ is looking for a hands-on people leader to run and modernize our digital marketing and trade media function. This person will build and manage the team; rethink how the work gets done by building a scalable department embedding AI into planning, buying, and reporting workflows; and personally own the quality of every digital marketing and trade media buy we build, execute, and report on for clients. This is a working leadership role, equal parts team builder, operator, and hands-on media strategist for someone who has spent their career on the life science side of digital marketing and trade media.
Requirements
- 10+ years of progressive experience in digital marketing and trade media planning/buying, including direct, hands-on experience within the life science, diagnostics, medtech, biotech, or scientific/laboratory sectors.
- Demonstrated success building, managing, and developing a team. Direct people management experience is required, not just project or vendor management.
- Track record of introducing new tools, technology, or AI-driven workflows into a marketing or media function, with measurable gains in efficiency or output quality.
- Deep working knowledge of the trade media and scientific publisher landscape (trade journals, conference media, scientific digital properties) alongside modern digital/programmatic buying.
- Strong analytical skills and comfort owning performance reporting, budgets, and ROI conversations with clients and leadership.
- Bachelor's degree in marketing, communications, business, or a related field.
Nice To Haves
- Agency-side experience, ideally within a life science, healthcare, or scientific/B2B marketing agency.
- Experience presenting directly to clients and senior stakeholders.
- MBA or advanced degree.
Responsibilities
- Accountable and owns end-to-end strategy, planning, negotiation, and execution of digital marketing and trade media buys for life science clients — across scientific/trade publications, programmatic and digital display, life science-specific digital properties, conference and event media, email/database buys, paid search and social, and emerging channels.
- Translate client business and brand objectives into channel strategy, audience targeting, and budget allocation that reaches our Client’s scientific/technical audiences.
- Serve as the senior point of accountability for media performance from pacing, optimization, and course-correction throughout every campaign.
- Identify and pursue opportunities to grow the digital marketing and trade media practice within existing client relationships by expanding scope, budget, and revenue as clients see results.
- Partner with new business and account leadership to shape digital marketing and trade media capabilities into pitches and proposals, contributing directly to new client acquisition.
- Scale the department's capabilities and capacity in step with client demand by evaluating when to add headcount, expand channel expertise, or extend service offerings to capture new client opportunities.
- Recruit, hire, and develop a team of digital marketing strategists, media planners/buyers, and analysts by identifying the specific skill sets the function needs as the practice grows.
- Manage performance, career development, and workload across the team; set clear standards for quality and accountability.
- Build a scalable staffing and resourcing model that keeps pace with client demand across multiple life science accounts.
- Build and maintain reporting frameworks and dashboards that give clients and internal leadership a clear, credible view of performance, spend, and ROI.
- Present strategy, results, and recommendations directly to clients as a senior, trusted voice in the room.
- Partner closely with creative, strategy, and account leadership to ensure media strategy is fully integrated with broader campaign and brand plans.
- Own relationships and rate negotiations with publishers, ad networks, and media partners serving scientific and clinical audiences.
- Stay ahead of the evolving trade media and life science publisher landscape, bringing new channels and partners to clients before competitors do.
- Audit current digital marketing and trade media workflows from planning, buying, trafficking, and reporting, and identify where AI tools and automation can improve speed, accuracy, and margin.
- Evaluate, pilot, and roll out AI-powered platforms for media planning, audience/channel research, campaign optimization, and reporting; lead change management so the team adopts new tools effectively.
- Establish repeatable, documented processes and playbooks so the function scales without sacrificing quality.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
