Media Director Jobs

Voter Formation Project (VFP) is a 501(c)3 organization committed to increasing participation in elections using innovative, long-term, and data-driven digital communications strategies to engage, register, and mobilize new and infrequent voters of color.

VFP is seeking an innovative and experienced Media Director. The Media Director is a member of the Programs Department and will lead the media team, including Media Buyers and Media Planners, to execute Voter Formation Project’s digital marketing campaigns and programs.

The Media Director will be instrumental in ensuring that media strategies are aligned with VFP’s overarching goals. This will require the Media Director to have a strong understanding of how to execute both persuasion and direct-response advertising programs. It will also require an ability to interrogate how optimizing for traditional advertising KPIs might undercut VFP’s ability to reach its intended audience of low-propensity voters of color.

Internally, the Media Director will work with team members across the organization. Externally, the Media Director will develop strong relationships with vendors, ensuring the best possible inventory and rates, allowing Voter Formation Project to accomplish its goals to register and turn out members of under-represented communities.

As the Media Director you will:

• Proactively keep up with industry trends and technology, sharing knowledge and recommendations accordingly
• Perform other duties as assigned
• Help with media planning and buying as necessary
• Work closely with the Director of Digital Programs to develop VFP’s paid media strategy
• Work with the Data & Technology team to ensure media plans adhere to the parameters of randomized controlled trials that could be associated with the program
• Contribute positively to VFP’s culture by living up to the standards that guide how the organization operates internally
• Develop relationships with advertising vendors and other partners relevant to the execution of paid programs
• Provide oversight of media plans to ensure alignment with VFP’s strategy and goals
• Work individually with direct reports through weekly check-ins, and by establishing professional development goals and concrete steps to reach them
• Manage and track VFP’s advertising budget and credit lines, and develop processes to reconcile monthly ad spend with vendor invoices
• Keep up with the high-level performance of each program while paying close attention to results that present opportunities for further testing or strategic evaluation
• Manage a team of media buyers and planners who will help VFP reach its programmatic goals
• Facilitate relevant knowledge sharing across programs and teams
• Identify pain points in media planning, buying, and cross-team collaboration, and develop processes, documentation, or other solutions to address challenges as the organization grows

Qualifications:

• Experience running paid media programs through social platforms and DSPs
• Enthusiasm for Voter Formation Project’s mission and vision
• Energized to work in a start-up organization
• Ability to operate swiftly while ensuring that strong QA processes are in place in order to eliminate and avoid errors
• Relationship-building abilities that will allow you to form strong relationships with vendors to the benefit of VFP programs
• Strong organizational abilities, to build, refine, maintain, and document processes (we love Google Sheets)
• Interest in continuous improvement and professional development, including staying up-to-date on best practices and platform changes
• Attention to (and a love for) the details
• Understanding of the types of targeting available within each platform so that you can recommend the best possible approach with each media plan
• 6+ years of experience in digital media, with substantial knowledge of the media planning and buying roles
• Ability to operate efficiently, recognizing bottlenecks and creating and implementing process improvements
• A motivation to question “best practice” assumptions, especially those assumptions that may undermine VFP’s ability to reach and engage its intended audience

Note: Voter Formation Project is currently running a four-day work week pilot. Employees work Monday to Thursday, and the organization is closed on Friday. Additional details about the pilot may be provided in the interview process.

Compensation, Benefits, And Culture

Starting salary for the Media Director role is $110,000 per year. The start date for this position is July 17, 2023.

The Voter Formation Project does not negotiate starting salaries. All Voter Formation Project employees are formally reviewed twice annually, in December and June, for performance and compensation adjustments. New employees who are onboarded more than four months in advance of the next compensation review will receive off-cycle compensation review to ensure equitable alignment within their compensation band.

In addition to monetary compensation, the Voter Formation Project offers a generous benefits package, which includes:

• Fully paid medical and dental insurance. Vision premiums are 75% covered
• Unlimited paid vacation (all benefits-eligible employees are required to take three weeks of vacation per year)
• Parental leave and various other paid leave types
• Co-working and home office reimbursement programs

While the Voter Formation Project is an organization that works in political cycles, we whole-heartedly reject campaign culture and are focused on developing new, healthy norms for campaign work—even in-cycle.