Vice President, Paid Media & Digital Strategy

Avōq•Washington, DC

1d•$200,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Avoq is seeking a Vice President to serve as a senior member of the AIP team, providing leadership and mentorship to strategists and leading client work for Fortune 100 companies, global brands, universities, foundations, and coalitions. The role may be based in the Washington, D.C., New York, Asbury Park, New Jersey, or Chicago office. The Vice President serves as a senior paid media advisor across client accounts, owning strategic direction, recommendation quality, and senior client relationships. The role leads integrated media strategies grounded in audience intelligence and oversees planning, activation, optimization, reporting, budgets, measurement, and client delivery. It also manages and develops media teams, partners with account and practice leadership on staffing and profitability, and leads paid media strategy for new business and account growth. The position collaborates with research, analytics, insights, creative, organic social, and account strategy colleagues. It evaluates emerging channels, AI-enabled tools, advertising policies, targeting and measurement changes, and develops practical recommendations and testing approaches for clients, including public affairs and advocacy campaigns.

Requirements

12+ years of experience in paid media, digital strategy, or integrated media planning, with progressive responsibility and substantial agency experience managing multiple clients and competing priorities.
5+ years of direct people management experience, including managing managers or senior media leads and developing high-performing teams.
Demonstrated ability to independently lead complex client engagements, advise senior stakeholders, manage escalations, and earn trust through strategic counsel and reliable delivery.
Experience developing and overseeing multimillion-dollar media programs, allocating investment across channels, and aligning plans with client objectives and measurable outcomes.
Deep expertise across paid social, search, programmatic, and video, with experience integrating CTV and streaming, digital audio, and publisher partnerships.
Prior hands-on campaign execution experience and current platform fluency sufficient to evaluate plans, troubleshoot issues, and guide activation teams; experience leading delivery through others is essential.
Strong understanding of audience research, segmentation, advanced targeting, media measurement, attribution, and optimization, including limitations of platform-reported results.
Experience partnering on scopes, staffing, resource planning, and financial management, with an understanding of how delivery decisions affect account profitability.
Record of contributing to new business wins and account growth through proposals, presentations, and recommendations.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including translating technical concepts and performance data into clear guidance for nontechnical audiences.
Fluency with analytics, visualization, and reporting platforms.
Bachelor’s degree in advertising, marketing, business, or a related field, or equivalent relevant professional experience.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with offline media integration.
Experience in public affairs, issue advocacy, corporate reputation, or campaigns reaching policymakers and policy influencers is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Serve as senior paid media advisor across a portfolio of client accounts, owning strategic direction, recommendation quality, and senior client relationships.
Lead investment discussions and manage escalations with account and practice leadership.
Lead integrated media strategies based on audience intelligence, defining objectives, channel roles, budgets, and measurement plans.
Guide investment across paid social, search, programmatic display and native, online video, CTV and streaming, digital audio, and publisher partnerships; integrate offline media where relevant.
Oversee planning, activation, optimization, and reporting through account teams; review major plans and deliverables, challenge assumptions, diagnose performance issues, and provide hands-on guidance as needed.
Partner with insights and analytics colleagues to establish KPIs and measurement frameworks, assess results, and translate findings and data limitations into client recommendations.
Manage and coach teams, senior media leads, and strategists; set goals, provide feedback, lead performance conversations, and support hiring, development, and advancement.
Partner with account and practice leadership on scopes of work, staffing, resource allocation, and account profitability.
Ensure accurate management of media budgets, pacing, forecasts, and reconciliations, and address delivery or scope risks early.
Lead paid media strategy for new business and expansion opportunities, including discovery, proposals, investment recommendations, and pitch presentations.
Build relationships with media platforms, publishers, and technology partners to evaluate inventory, targeting, pricing, and measurement approaches.
Strengthen planning standards, quality assurance, workflows, and knowledge sharing across the practice.
Evaluate emerging channels, AI-enabled tools, and changes in targeting, privacy, measurement, and advertising policies.
Develop practical points of view and testing recommendations relevant to clients, including public affairs and advocacy campaigns.