Senior Director, Media and Advertising

Details

• Department: Demand Marketing
• Schedule: Full time
• Location: Remote
  
  

Benefits

Paid time off (PTO)

Various health insurance options & wellness plans

Retirement benefits including employer match plans

Long-term & short-term disability

Employee assistance programs (EAP)

Parental leave & adoption assistance

Tuition reimbursement

Ways to give back to your community

Benefit options and eligibility vary by position. Compensation varies based on factors including, but not limited to, experience, skills, education, performance and salary range at the time of the offer.

Responsibilities

The Senior Director of Media & Advertising is a highly strategic and financially impactful role, overseeing a multi-million dollar media budget. This leader will plan and optimize marketing investments across paid digital media, SEM, programmatic advertising, paid social, and traditional media, ensuring an integrated and performance-oriented approach.

The ideal candidate is a forward-thinking media executive with deep expertise in digital and traditional media, performance marketing, and emerging media trends. This position requires strong leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and the ability to shape Ascension’s future media strategy and platforms.

Key Responsibilities

Media Strategy & Leadership

• Develop, lead, and execute a data-driven, demand-focused media strategy across digital, SEM, paid social, programmatic, display, and traditional media.
• Oversee and optimize a multi-million dollar media budget, ensuring financial accountability, ROI-driven decision-making, and alignment with business goals.
• Monitor emerging media trends and industry shifts, integrating AI-driven insights and automation to enhance media effectiveness.
• Champion media innovation, leveraging advanced measurement techniques, media mix modeling, and multi-touch attribution to improve performance.
  
  

Performance-Based Digital Media & SEM

• Lead Ascension’s SEM strategy, implementing advanced keyword bidding, audience targeting, and conversion optimization techniques.
• Oversee demand forecasting, ROI measurement, and paid search optimization, ensuring maximum efficiency and impact.
• Partner with digital agencies to refine performance-based search strategies and implement best-in-class SEM practices.
  
  

Programmatic & Paid Social Media

• Oversee programmatic media strategy for both performance and awareness, leveraging multiple formats and audience targeting strategies.
• Design and manage Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) strategies and platforms to enhance ad performance.
• Lead paid social media strategy, ensuring campaigns are optimized for engagement, conversion, and cost-efficiency.
  
  

Agency & Vendor Management

• Lead high-value agency partnerships responsible for SEM, programmatic, and paid social, ensuring best-in-class media execution and performance optimization.
• Manage an in-house team of media buyers responsible for traditional media channels, including TV, print, radio, and out-of-home.
• Build and manage relationships with leading media and adtech platform partners, focusing on innovation and AI-driven strategies.
  
  

Performance Tracking, Reporting & Systems

• Partner with the Marketing Science team to establish advanced measurement frameworks, dashboards, and KPIs to monitor and optimize media performance.
• Strengthen cross-channel attribution models and predictive analytics to improve investment efficiency and reporting transparency.
• Oversee media technology and data integration, ensuring scalability and automation in media operations.
  
  

Budget Management & Fiscal Accountability

• Oversee Multi-Million Dollars+ in paid media investments, ensuring effective allocation, cost efficiencies, and measurable ROI.
• Work closely with finance, leadership, and procurement to track spending and optimize budget planning.
• Drive budget transparency and reporting across all media channels.
  
  

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Market Integration

• Build strong partnerships with market-level marketing teams, aligning national and local media strategies to drive scalability and performance.
• Work closely with brand, content, digital, and analytics teams to ensure media efforts support broader marketing objectives.
• Serve as a key strategic advisor to senior marketing and business leaders, influencing Ascension’s long-term media vision.
• Support locally funded media purchases.
  
  

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead and mentor a team of media strategists and agency partners, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and performance excellence.
• Establish best-in-class media frameworks and processes to scale and optimize campaigns across all paid channels.
  
  

Requirements

Education:

• High School diploma equivalency with 5 years of applicable cumulative job specific experience required, with 2 of those years being in leadership/management OR Associate's degree/Bachelor's degree with 3 years of applicable cumulative job specific experience required, with 2 of those years being in leadership/management.
  
  

Additional Preferences

• 10 to 15+ years of experience in media leadership roles, with proven expertise in digital, brand, and performance marketing.
• Demonstrated success managing large-scale media budgets and optimizing investments for business impact.
• Deep expertise in media measurement, media mix modeling, and AI-driven analytics.
• Strong understanding of SEO, SEM, programmatic, paid social, and omnichannel media strategies.
• Experience leading national-to-local media alignment and market collaboration.
• Strong stakeholder management, strategic thinking, and cross-functional leadership skills.
• Experience managing high-performing teams and agency partnerships.
• Experience in healthcare, pharmaceutical, hospitality, or financial services industries
  
  

Skills & Expertise

Media & Advertising Skills

• Digital Media Strategy: Expertise in designing full-funnel media strategies that drive business impact.
• Media Buying & Optimization: Strong command of programmatic, paid social, display, SEM, and traditional media buying.
• Audience Targeting & Personalization: Ability to leverage first-party data, audience segmentation, and dynamic targeting.
• Paid & Social Media: Proven expertise in developing and optimizing paid social campaigns across platforms.
• SEO & SEM Strategy: Proficiency in search engine marketing and optimization techniques to enhance discoverability.
  
  

Analytics & Measurement

• Advanced Measurement & Reporting: Experience with media mix modeling, attribution, and AI-driven analytics.
• Performance Tracking & KPIs: Ability to define, track, and optimize media performance using data-driven insights.
• Cross-Channel Attribution: Understanding of multi-touch attribution models and holistic measurement frameworks.
  
  

Marketing & Media Technology & Operations

• Media Research & Planning: Experience with Comscore, MRI-Simmons, Nielsen, and Vivvix planning tools.
• Ad Tech & Data Integration: Experience with CDPs, DMPs, DSPs, ad exchanges, and marketing automation tools (e.g., The Trade Desk).
• MarTech Platforms: Proficiency in Google Analytics, Salesforce, and social media management tools.
• Process & Workflow Optimization: Ability to scale media operations with technology, automation, and streamlined reporting.
  
  

As Senior Director of Media & Advertising, you will own one of the most financially significant and strategically important areas within Ascension’s marketing organization. This is a high-impact leadership role responsible for shaping the future of healthcare marketing through media innovation, performance-driven strategies, and operational excellence.

If you are a visionary media leader looking to drive meaningful impact in healthcare, we invite you to apply.

#GMDx #growth

Why Join Our Team

Ascension associates are key to our commitment of transforming healthcare and providing care to all, especially those most in need. Join us and help us drive impact through reimagining how we can deliver a people-centered healthcare experience and creating the solutions to do it. Explore career opportunities across our ministry locations and within our corporate headquarters.

Ascension is a leading non-profit, faith-based national health system made up of over 134,000 associates and 2,600 sites of care, including more than 140 hospitals and 40 senior living communities in 19 states.

Our Mission, Vision and Values encompass everything we do at Ascension. Every associate is empowered to give back, volunteer and make a positive impact in their community. Ascension careers are more than jobs; they are opportunities to enhance your life and the lives of the people around you.

Equal Employment Opportunity Employer

Ascension provides Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) to all associates and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex/gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, lactation, breastfeeding, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, all as defined by applicable law, and any other legally protected status or characteristic in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws.

For further information, view the EEO Know Your Rights (English) poster or EEO Know Your Rights (Spanish) poster.

As a military friendly organization, Ascension promotes career flexibility and offers many benefits to help support the well-being of our military families, spouses, veterans and reservists. Our associates are empowered to apply their military experience and unique perspective to their civilian career with Ascension.

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