Associate Director, Paid Social

We are seeking an Associate Director, Paid Social to join our Performance Media team. This role serves as the agency's paid social expert, providing strategic leadership, channel expertise, and client guidance across a diverse portfolio of healthcare and pharmaceutical brands. The Associate Director, Paid Social is responsible for developing and overseeing integrated paid social strategies that drive business outcomes while ensuring alignment with broader media, marketing, and customer experience objectives. This individual will serve as a trusted advisor to clients, collaborate closely with paid search and programmatic leaders, and help advance the agency's paid social capabilities through innovation, thought leadership, and team development. This position follows a hybrid schedule, requiring employees to be onsite Tuesday-Thursday each week in our Chicago office. Compensation Range: $115,000 - $130,000. The starting salary offer will depend on the candidate's skills, qualifications, and experience.

Responsibilities

Serve as the agency's paid social subject matter expert across client engagements and internal teams; Lead paid social strategy development for multiple clients; Oversee channel planning, activation, optimization, measurement, and reporting across paid social programs; Develop platform-specific strategies across Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, Reddit, Pinterest, X, and emerging social platforms; Establish and maintain paid social best practices, testing frameworks, operational standards, and measurement approaches; Remain hands-on in campaign setup, trafficking, optimization, and troubleshooting while providing strategic oversight; Oversee pharmaceutical platform requirements, including account verification, prescription drug advertising authorization, and resolution of ad disapprovals; Partner with Paid Search, Programmatic, Analytics, Strategy, and Client Services teams to develop integrated, full-funnel media strategies; Serve as a senior client-facing leader across assigned accounts; Present strategic recommendations, performance insights, testing roadmaps, and investment opportunities to client stakeholders; Lead audience, creative, placement, bidding, and conversion optimization strategies; Manage budget allocation, pacing, forecasting, and billing reconciliation across paid social programs; Oversee UTMs, trafficking processes, and pre-launch quality assurance checks in partnership with Analytics; Mentor, coach, and develop junior team members across the Performance Media and paid social disciplines; Maintain strong relationships with key platform and publisher partners; Support new business pitches, agency marketing efforts, and thought leadership initiatives

Requirements

6+ years of paid social planning, activation, and management experience, including significant experience within pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing; Deep expertise in Meta and LinkedIn, with experience across other relevant platforms such as TikTok, Reddit, Pinterest, X, and emerging social platforms; Demonstrated ability to act as a strategic consultant and subject matter expert for both clients and internal stakeholders; Strong understanding of audience strategy, targeting methodologies, first-party data applications, privacy considerations, and measurement approaches; Experience developing integrated strategies alongside paid search, programmatic, and analytics teams; Proven success managing complex, multi-brand, and multi-channel paid media programs; Strong client leadership, presentation, and communication skills, with the ability to translate complex platform dynamics into clear business recommendations; Experience leading and developing teams through coaching, mentorship, and performance management; Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative environment while balancing multiple priorities and stakeholders

Nice to have

Experience with pharmaceutical regulatory considerations, medical/legal review processes, and healthcare marketing best practices

Benefits

Medical, Dental and Vision coverage; 401k with Company match of 50% on the first 6%; Adoption Assistance up to $2,500 of financial assistance; Company Paid Life Insurance, Short-Term and Long-Term Disability; Short-Term Disability providing 100% of salary coverage; Paid Parental Leave for birth and non-birth parents (4 weeks); Summer Fridays; Flexible Time Off (FTO); 11 Holidays and End of Year Office Closure; Company provided Learning and Development opportunities; Free lunch Wednesdays; Wellness Program