Director of Integrated Media Strategy

Hunter Marketing
· Columbus, Ohio Full-time
· Reports to Chief Media Officer

The future of media isn't bought. It's built.

Media has changed. Audiences have changed. Communities have changed. What hasn't: the organizations that understand people better than anyone else win.

We don't buy media to fill impressions or spend budgets. We buy it as a business tool — chosen by audience, behavior, and opportunity, not by cost. As one of Ohio's fastest-growing independent agencies, Hunter manages more than $9 million a year in integrated media across healthcare, government, public service, education, consumer brands, nonprofit, and professional services.

We're looking for a leader to help define what the next generation of media strategy looks like — not simply execute it.

The role

This isn't a buying job. It's a leadership seat at the strategy table. You'll guide multimillion-dollar investments, advise executives and boards, and shape how a diverse client portfolio thinks about media. You think in people, not channels — you know the work isn't television versus digital, it's finding the moments that actually move behavior. You'll own integrated strategy end to end and make Hunter one of the Midwest's most respected independent media practices.

What you'll do

Lead integrated media strategy. Build annual strategies and investment plans that connect client business objectives to measurable outcomes. Ground every recommendation in research, data, and human behavior — and find the opportunities competitors overlook. You'll work fluently across the full landscape: broadcast, cable, and connected TV; radio and streaming audio; out-of-home and transit; print and cinema; paid search, paid social, programmatic, display, native, online video, and digital audio;

retail media; sports, sponsorship, and experiential partnerships; and AI-powered targeting and emerging platforms.

Advise clients as their trusted media partner. Lead executive presentations. Simplify complex decisions, translate data into business intelligence, challenge assumptions with confidence, and build long-term partnerships that surface new growth.

Own the marketplace and its relationships. Negotiate partnerships, not just rates, and create value beyond discounts. Build and maintain relationships across television and radio groups, publishers, streaming and sports organizations, out-of-home and digital providers, technology partners, and research firms — so that when something shifts in media, Hunter already knows.

Turn performance into growth. Set measurement and attribution frameworks, analyze campaign performance against business goals, build executive-level reporting, and drive continuous optimization. Our clients care about growth, not impressions.

Help build the practice. Mentor the next generation of media talent, partner across strategy, creative, production, analytics, and leadership, lead media strategy in new-business pitches, and represent Hunter at industry and community events.

What you bring

• 8+ years of progressive experience in media strategy, planning, buying, or integrated communications.
• Deep command of both traditional and digital media ecosystems.
• A track record managing multimillion-dollar media investments.
• Outstanding presentation and storytelling skills, and the confidence to advise senior decision-makers.
• Exceptional negotiation ability and strong relationships across Ohio's media landscape — or the drive to build them fast.
• Data-driven judgment balanced with creativity and business intuition.
• Relentless curiosity about what's next.

Experience in government or public-sector communications, healthcare, economic development, higher education, consumer marketing, sports marketing, sponsorship strategy, audience research, political or issue advocacy, or AI and marketing technology.

What success looks like in year one

You'll help lead more than $9 million in annual media investments, become a trusted advisor to Hunter's largest accounts, expand our media relationships across Ohio and the Midwest, introduce partnerships that differentiate our clients, and strengthen the connective tissue between strategy, creative, media, and analytics.

Why…