Associate Director, Paid Media

Location: New York

Job Title

Associate Director, Paid Media

About The Position | Major Goals and Objectives and Location Requirements

The Associate Director will manage a team of specialists tasked with managing branded content distribution and social advertising campaigns from launch to completion, with a focus on Health and Finance advertisers.

The successful candidate is an experienced people manager, builds strong working relationships with internal business partners, frequently re-evaluates processes and optimizes them to improve efficiency and outcomes, is well-versed in digital advertising platforms with a focus on social and SEM, understands how to optimize campaigns for various KPIs (on-page engagement, conversion, audience composition), and is effective at balancing campaign performance with cost efficiency.

Schedule

Requirements

Hybrid 3x a week- (New York)

In-office Expectations:
This position is hybrid in-office, with the ability to work remotely for up to 2 days per week.

About The Team | The Team and/or Brand

People Inc, the largest digital publisher in America, is seeking an Associate Director to join the Paid Media team. The Paid Media team supports People Inc’s digital ad sales business, leveraging a variety of advertising platforms to deliver +$100M annual revenue.

About The Position’s Contributions Weight % Accountabilities, Actions, and Expected Measurable Results

• 30%:
  Oversee day-to-day operations of team of 2-5 specialists ensuring full delivery of our contractual obligations while delivering on performance KPIs and managing monthly spend in line with budgets
• 15%:
  Train and develop team members, expanding their knowledge base and skillset to further professional development and improve quality of output
• 10%:
  Partner with Account Strategy, Revenue Operations, and Ad Operations leadership to streamline operations and eliminate process gaps
• 10%:
  Provide strategic oversight of monthly pacing of revenue, spend, and margins, ensuring clear visibility and actionable insights
• 10%:
  Provide regular and actionable feedback to team members to foster their growth and career paths
• 5%:
  Identify team needs and provide recommendations to address bottlenecks
• 5%:
  Provide pre-sale planning support to Sales and Account Strategy to ensure media plans are operationally and economically viable before being presented to clients
• 5%:
  Establish new processes to elevate the team’s execution and deliver improved performance for our clients and expanded margins for our business
• 5%:
  Proactively anticipate leadership needs and provide actionable insights to enable effective decision making
• 5%:
  Independently respond to client and stakeholder communications with clarity, accuracy, and accountability

The Role ’s

Minimum Qualifications and

Job Requirements Education

B.A. in marketing, business, communications, or related field preferred, but additional relevant experience can substitute on a year-for-year basis.

Experience

• 10+ years of professional experience in digital advertising
• 6+ years executing SEM, Social and/or Native advertising platforms
• 3+ years as a people manager

Specific Knowledge, Skills, Certifications and Abilities

• Strong communication and presentation skills, with a knack for distilling complex data to draw and surface concise, actionable insights
• Competency in applied math and algebraic problem‑solving to derive and validate media metrics
• Proven quantitative analytical abilities
• High proficiency in Excel
• Experience with analytics & BI platforms
• Motivated self‑starter with a collaborative and entrepreneurial spirit
• Thrive in a fast‑paced environment, with multiple demands and shifting priorities
• Experience in Pharmaceutical advertising preferred

Travel Required

N/A

EEO Statement & Accommodations

It is the policy of People Inc. to provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.

In addition,…