About the role
ABOUT THE ROLE
We are looking for a Senior Director, Media to lead integrated media strategy and planning for a portfolio of B2B and consumer clients, with a particular focus on financial services. You'll be the senior media strategist on your accounts: starting from each client's business goals, defining what success looks like in commercial terms, and building the audience, channel, and investment strategy to get there.
This is a player-coach role. You'll set direction and lead the team, and you'll also be hands-on: building plans, running the analysis, and presenting the work yourself. The right person thinks like a business advisor first: someone who can explain to a CMO or head of distribution how media is moving the numbers they care about, who uses AI-powered tools to work faster and smarter, and who builds a team that does the same.
YOUR DAY TO DAY
Client Leadership
- Serve as the senior media voice on your accounts, leading status meetings and presenting plans and results as clear business stories for director-, VP-, and C-level stakeholders
- Build long-term relationships with senior clients as a trusted advisor on how media drives their business
- Understand each client's business model, distribution strategy, competitive landscape, and go-to-market priorities, including the regulatory, compliance, and brand-safety considerations (e.g., FINRA and SEC marketing rules) that shape media for financial services brands
Media Strategy & Planning (hands-on)
- Translate client business objectives and commercial targets (e.g., asset growth and net flows, advisor engagement, new accounts, qualified pipeline) into clear media strategies, investment frameworks, and budget and channel allocations
- Develop integrated, full-funnel media plans across paid, owned, and earned channels that balance long-term brand building with near-term demand
- Lead audience strategy, segmentation, and journey development across complex decision-makers, including B2B buying committees, financial advisors and intermediaries, institutional investors, and consumers
- Build scenario plans and forecasts that show clients the expected business impact of different investment levels and channel mixes
- Use AI-powered tools across the planning workflow to reduce manual work and create more time for strategic thinking
Measurement & Business Impact
- Define success up front in business terms, and build measurement frameworks that connect media investment to leads, pipeline, revenue, and asset growth
- Bring a test-and-learn mindset to every account, applying incrementality testing, lift studies, media mix modeling, and attribution
- Turn performance data into investment recommendations and help clients understand the tradeoffs behind each decision
Team Leadership
- Supervise, mentor, and develop media directors, supervisors, and planners, coaching them to think strategically, connect their work to client business results, and use AI tools effectively
- Work alongside the team on day-to-day deliverables, modeling the quality and rigor you expect
- Help establish best practices and repeatable, AI-enabled processes for planning, measurement, and reporting
Business Growth
- Spot opportunities to expand our work with existing clients and partner with Client Leadership to pursue them
- Lead the development of proposals and scopes of work, and contribute strategic thinking to new business pitches
- Manage media budgets, billing forecasts, vendor relationships, and the profitability of media work
WHAT YOU BRING
- 10+ years of media strategy and planning experience, primarily in an agency environment, with a track record of integrated plans that delivered measurable business results
- Financial services experience is required; asset or wealth management experience is strongly preferred. You understand how firms market to financial advisors, intermediaries, institutional investors, and individual investors
- Strong commercial acumen: you can read a client's business model, connect marketing investment to revenue and growth targets, and talk about ROI with confidence
- A player-coach mindset: you're as comfortable building a plan yourself as you are leading the team that delivers it
- Working knowledge of modern measurement approaches, including incrementality testing, media mix modeling, and multi-touch attribution
- Cross-channel fluency across paid social, search, programmatic, CTV and online video, audio, and content partnerships
- Experience managing multi-million-dollar media budgets and leading and developing teams
- Comfort with AI-powered workflows and curiosity about where the technology is headed
- Excellent presentation and storytelling skills; you're at your best leading conversations with senior client stakeholders
- Bachelor's degree in advertising, marketing, business, or a related field, or equivalent experience
Nice to have: experience reaching financial advisors and institutional audiences; experience growing client relationships or supporting new business; familiarity with ABM, intent data (e.g., 6sense, Bombora), and CRM platforms (e.g., Salesforce, Marketo).
Location: Any Prophet U.S. office: San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, Chicago, or Austin (Hybrid working model: 3+ full days in office/at client site)
Salary: $160,000 - 190,000 commensurate with experience
Prophet is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. All employment, promotion, and evaluation decisions are based on qualifications, merit and business need.