Social Listening & Monitoring Manager

About Athena

Athena is a creative place for leaders, risk-takers, creative thinkers and boundary-pushers. We partner with organizations looking to transform their presence, reputation, and performance. For over ten years, we’ve delivered business insights, marketing strategies, and brand activations for leading organizations in industries ranging from telecommunications to major league sports.

Our people make Athena, Athena. They’re what help set us apart from traditional ad agencies and consultancies. As a Philadelphia Inquirer Top Workplace for three years running, we take pride in fostering a work environment where passion meets excellence. Our people are solutions-oriented individuals who eagerly roll up their sleeves to make work that works while sharing a couple of laughs along the way.

Athena is looking for a Social Listening & Monitoring Manager to join the Optimization & Reporting Team. The Manager is responsible for the success of a Fortune 50 brand’s 24x7 social media listening and crisis alerting execution, as well as supporting the client with social trend analysis management.

This role leads the Corporate Communications real-time monitoring program, driving real-time understanding and situational awareness of the issues impacting the client’s business and brand on a day-to-day basis. The Manager is accountable for organizing key topics and priorities, managing resourcing and schedules, overseeing quality, and ensuring consistent delivery across a complex, fast-moving environment.

The Manager serves as a primary point of contact for senior client stakeholders, exercises independent judgment in escalations and issue resolution, and takes ownership for workstream outcomes—including evenings, weekends, and periodic on-call escalation coverage. This role is ideal for a highly organized, strategic operator who thrives in high-visibility environments and understands the impact of social and digital media on large organizations.

Real-Time Monitoring Program Leadership (70%)

• Lead day-to-day execution of the real-time monitoring program, ensuring consistent, high-quality 24/7 social listening and alerting coverage
• Manage the overall day-to-day client relationship with the client, serving as a trusted escalation point and strategic partner
• Serve as the primary operational owner for workflows, including monitoring priorities, alert thresholds, escalation protocols, and issue-level coordination
• Act as a senior escalation partner during high-priority or emerging issues, exercising independent judgment to assess severity, triage response, and support timely escalation to leadership and client stakeholders when required
• Coordinate real‑time incident response across internal and international analysts and cross‑functional teams, ensuring rapid communication, situational awareness, and continuity during evenings, weekends, and major moments
• Partner closely with program leadership (Client and Athena leadership) to maintain alignment on expectations, response standards, and evolving business risks
• Own advanced scheduling and long-range planning, including escalation calendars and coverage plans, ensuring always-on readiness and smooth handoffs across shifts
• Proactively communicate availability, coverage plans, and escalation schedules to clients and internal stakeholders
• Opportunity to provide direct people management, coaching, and performance guidance for team members

Escalation Governance & Coverage Planning (20%)

• Own escalation governance, including documentation of escalation criteria, playbooks, severity definitions, and client-approved response frameworks
• Serve as day-to-day owner of listening infrastructure for clients, including alert rules, topic configuration, automation monitoring, and issue troubleshooting
• Continuously optimize monitoring frameworks to improve signal detection, reduce noise, and align alerts to evolving business and reputational risks
• Oversee request intake for new alerts, topics, or dashboards related specifically to real-time monitoring needs, prioritizing based on risk and business value
• Maintain and moderate Teams channels to ensure…