Director, Paid Strategy and Planning

Company Description

With a history that dates back over 80 years, Starcom is a global communications planning and media leader. We are an agency still grounded in our founding principle that people are at center of all we do. Each day, we apply this belief to harness the transformative power of data and technology to inspire and move people and business forward. With more than 7,000 employees in over 100 offices around the world, Starcom partners with the world's leading marketers and brands, including Bank of America, Best Buy, Kellogg Company, McDonald's, Novartis, Samsung, Visa and more.

This role at Starcom will serve as a member of Publicis Groupe's strategic internal agency, Constellation.

Constellation serves as an internal-facing brand formed by a collective of Publicis Groupe agencies to address our client's creative, data, strategy, media, and technology requirements. Team members collaborate across agencies while functioning as sub-divisions within their respective brands to provide dedicated support for the client. By acting as a unified interface, Constellation eliminates operational silos and presents a single service entity and primary point of contact for the client.

Overview

The Director, Paid Strategy & Planning serves as a senior media expert, providing departmental and client leadership while enhancing the visibility of the media practice. This person manages a media team and ensures that media strategies and deliverables meet or exceed client expectations, deliver value, and uphold our quality standards. The role includes guiding tactical and strategic media planning, mentoring staff, driving digital and traditional media initiatives, and supporting new business efforts. The Media Director may also collaborate with other key agencies as needed.

Responsibilities

• Develops forward-thinking, innovative, cross-channel media strategies, including traditional and digital media, to improve client marketing effectiveness and drive business growth.
• Advises clients and internal teams on media opportunities, including local media campaign planning.
• Serves as client team lead on medium to large media accounts, managing $10M+ in total media spend.
• Conceives, negotiates, and presents cross-platform or large-scale media proposals to clients.
• Responsible for upselling services and contributing to business development efforts.
• Guides and supervises a media team of 10+ employees, including hiring, training, coaching, staffing, and performance evaluation.
• Attends and represents clients at industry events, helping to build industry relationships and thought leadership.
• Contributes to client-specific POVs and overall media strategy documentation.
• Demonstrates tactical media planning experience across channels.
• Applies working knowledge of media planning tools (e.g., Pathmatics, Vivix, Kantar, MRI, Comscore) and activation platforms such as Prisma, Meta, and AdWords.
• Experience with traditional media including linear TV and OOH is preferred.

Qualifications

• Retail media network experience is a plus
• 7–10 years of media planning and buying experience, with at least 4 years in digital/interactive marketing and advertising.
• Demonstrated experience in both traditional and digital media, tactical planning, and local media campaign execution.
• Proven leadership and team management experience.
• Bachelor’s degree (BA/BS) from a four-year, accredited college or university.

Additional Information

The Power of One starts with our people! To do powerful things, we offer powerful resources. Our best-in-class wellness and benefits offerings include:

Paid Family Care for parents and caregivers for 12 weeks or moreMonetary assistance and support for Adoption, Surrogacy and FertilityMonetary assistance and support for pet adoptionEmployee Assistance Programs and Health/Wellness/Comfort reimbursements to help you invest in your future and work/life balanceTuition AssistancePaid time off that includes Flexible Time off Vacation, Annual Sick Days, Volunteer Days, Holiday and Identity days, and moreMatching Gifts programsFlexible working arrangements'Work Your World’ Program encouraging employees to work from anywhere Publicis Groupe has an office for up to 6 weeks a year (based upon eligibility)Business Resource Groups that support multiple affinities and alliances

The benefits offerings listed are available to eligible U.S. Based employees, are reviewed on an annual basis, and are governed by the terms of the applicable plan documents.

We also offer medical and voluntary benefits to our freelancers and temporary employees. Voluntary benefit options include supplemental medical insurance, transportation, and parking benefits, legal benefits, pet insurance, and auto and home insurance. You must be actively employed for 90 consecutive calendar days in order to be eligible for Publicis medical and voluntary benefits.

Starcom is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our employment decisions are made without regard to actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, disability, medical condition as defined by applicable state law, genetic information, marital status, military service and veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws and ordinances.

If you require accommodation or assistance with the application or onboarding process specifically, please contact [email protected].

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Compensation Range: USD $121,315.00 - USD $174,300.00/Annually. This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on the skills, qualifications, and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position, and the Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. Temporary roles may be eligible to participate in our freelancer/temporary employee medical plan through a third-party benefits administration system once certain criteria have been met. For regular roles, the Company will offer medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401k, and paid time off. The Company anticipates the application deadline for this job posting will be 10/15/2026.