Director, Paid Media - CNBC & MS

• Compensation: USD 130000 - USD 150000 - yearly

VERSANT (Nasdaq: VSNT) is an industry-changing media and entertainment business and home to trusted brands that shape culture, inform audiences, and build lasting connections. It operates across four core markets: political news and opinion, business news and personal finance, golf, and sports and genre entertainment. These markets are served through a powerful portfolio of iconic and innovative brands, including CNBC, MS NOW, USA Network, Golf Channel, Oxygen, E!,

SYFY, and Versant's sports division USA Sports, along with complementary digital assets including Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, Golf Now and Golf Pass.

The Director, News Paid Media will lead the paid media strategy for Versant's News portfolio, supporting both CNBC and MS NOW. This highly visible role is responsible for developing and executing full-funnel paid media strategies that drive customer acquisition and engagement

As the subject matter expert for direct-to-consumer paid media, you'll partner closely with Marketing, Analytics, Research, Creative, Finance, and external agency partners to develop data-driven campaigns that maximize marketing investment and business impact. You'll also help evolve marketing measurement capabilities, attribution strategies, and marketing technology infrastructure to support long-term growth.

Why This Role Matters

Paid media plays a critical role in connecting audiences with trusted news brands. This position directly influences subscriber and audience growth by translating business objectives into measurable marketing outcomes, leveraging data, technology, and strategic partnerships to optimize performance across every stage of the customer journey.

What You'll Do

• Own the end-to-end paid media function as the team's subject matter expert, balancing strategic planning with campaign execution, reporting, optimization, budget management, and operational excellence in a lean, high-impact environment.
• Develop and lead full-funnel paid media strategies across CNBC and MS NOW, driving awareness, customer acquisition, engagement, retention, and conversion through data-informed marketing initiatives.
• Serve as the direct-to-consumer (DTC) paid media expert, developing acquisition strategies that support subscription and audience growth objectives.
• Collaborate with peer group in Owned Media to help quantify increases in audience reach, campaign frequency, and overall impact.
• Partner with internal Marketing, Analytics, Research, Creative, Product, and Finance teams to develop integrated media plans aligned with business priorities.
• Lead paid media budget planning, forecasting, financial reconciliation, and internal billing processes while ensuring efficient allocation of funds.
• Collaborate with external agency partners to translate business objectives into effective paid media strategies, oversee execution, and continuously optimize campaign performance.
• Analyze complex performance data to identify actionable insights, measure campaign effectiveness, and inform future investment decisions.
• Contribute to business development models focused on acquisition, conversion, churn, customer lifetime value (LTV), and incremental business impact.
• Help evolve the organization's marketing technology ecosystem, including mobile app attribution, web analytics, tracking infrastructure, and connected TV (CTV) measurement capabilities.
• Partner with Analytics teams to continuously improve attribution methodologies and deepen understanding of paid media's contribution to marketing and overall business performance.

What You Bring

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, Analytics, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of experience leading paid media strategy and execution, preferably within digital media, streaming, subscription, news, or direct-to-consumer businesses.
• Demonstrated expertise managing full-funnel paid media campaigns across search, social, programmatic, video, connected TV (CTV), and emerging digital channels.
• Proven experience driving customer acquisition and optimizing performance across the subscriber lifecycle, including acquisition, conversion, retention, and lifetime value (LTV).
• Strong understanding of marketing measurement, attribution methodologies, incrementality, and performance analytics.
• Experience managing significant paid media budgets, forecasting spend, and overseeing budget planning and financial reconciliation.
• Advanced analytical skills with the ability to synthesize large, complex datasets into clear insights and actionable business recommendations.
• Experience partnering with external media agencies while maintaining strategic oversight and accountability for campaign performance.
• Familiarity with marketing technology ecosystems, including mobile app attribution, web analytics, pixel implementation, and CTV measurement.
• Exceptional cross-functional collaboration skills…