Associate Director, Integrated Media

Overview

Go Fish is seeking an Associate Director, Integrated Media to lead integrated media strategy, client partnership, performance, and team development across a portfolio of complex accounts.

In this role, you’ll provide senior strategic oversight across media planning, investment, activation, optimization, and measurement. You’ll work closely with client and agency leadership to connect media strategy to broader business goals, guide high-impact decisions, and ensure teams are delivering thoughtful, integrated, and measurable solutions.

You’ll also play a critical role in developing Managers and Sr. Managers, strengthening department processes, and raising the quality and consistency of work across the Integrated Media team. This role is ideal for a proven media leader who can balance strategic vision, client influence, portfolio health, team leadership, operational excellence, and agency growth.

What You’ll Do

Strategic Media Leadership

• Set the strategic direction for integrated media across a portfolio of complex clients and business challenges
• Translate client business priorities, audience needs, market conditions, competitive dynamics, and performance data into clear media investment strategies
• Guide teams in developing integrated plans across paid search, paid social, programmatic, display, video, streaming, direct media, traditional media, and emerging channels
• Ensure media strategies reflect the full customer journey and clearly define the role of each channel, audience, message, and investment
• Challenge teams to connect platform and channel recommendations to broader marketing and business outcomes
• Oversee annual planning, major campaign planning, portfolio investment strategy, and long-term media roadmaps
• Guide the development of KPI frameworks, testing strategies, measurement plans, and investment priorities
• Evaluate strategic tradeoffs across growth, efficiency, scale, reach, frequency, brand impact, and measurable business performance
• Provide senior-level review and direction on complex media plans, presentations, and strategic recommendations
• Ensure media strategies remain adaptable to changes in client priorities, market conditions, consumer behavior, technology, and performance
• Establish a consistent standard for strategic quality across assigned accounts and teams

Portfolio Performance & Business Impact

• Oversee the performance, strategic health, and delivery quality of a portfolio of accounts
• Ensure teams are proactively managing toward client business goals, not only platform or campaign metrics
• Identify portfolio-wide trends, risks, opportunities, and areas requiring senior intervention
• Guide teams through complex performance challenges and high-stakes investment decisions
• Evaluate whether media programs are delivering meaningful business impact and recommend strategic shifts when needed
• Oversee budget allocation, reallocation, scaling decisions, and performance recovery strategies
• Ensure optimization and testing approaches are supported by clear hypotheses, measurable objectives, and actionable learning agendas
• Establish expectations for proactive account management, performance communication, and strategic evolution
• Monitor client confidence, account health, delivery quality, and team effectiveness across the portfolio
• Identify opportunities to expand agency capabilities, increase media investment, or deepen client relationships
• Partner with agency leadership on client retention, recovery, and growth strategies
• Escalate significant performance, financial, operational, or relationship risks with clear context and recommended solutions

Measurement, Insights & Decision-Making

• Define expectations for how teams measure, analyze, and communicate media performance
• Ensure reporting and analysis connect media activity to client business outcomes and strategic priorities
• Guide teams in moving beyond descriptive reporting toward meaningful interpretation and decision-making
• Evaluate the appropriate use of attribution, incrementality, lift studies, marketing mix modeling, business data, and platform reporting
• Partner with analytics and measurement leaders to improve tracking, reporting systems, data quality, and performance visibility
• Help clients understand the strengths, limitations, and appropriate applications of available measurement approaches
• Guide the development of KPI frameworks, benchmarks, forecasting models, and performance targets
• Ensure test results and account learnings are documented, shared, and applied across the portfolio
• Identify measurement gaps and champion solutions that improve confidence in media decision-making
• Connect media investment to lead quality, customer acquisition, revenue, sales, brand impact, or other relevant business outcomes
• Use portfolio insights to influence broader agency approaches, best practices, and strategic recommendations

Executive Client Partnership

• Serve as a senior strategic media partner to client executives and key decision-makers
• Lead high-level conversations related to business goals, media investment, performance, market opportunity, and long-term planning
• Build a deep understanding of client industries, business models, customer journeys, competitive environments, and growth priorities
• Influence client decisions through clear strategic recommendations, data, market context, and sound business judgment
• Guide clients through performance challenges, organizational changes, market shifts, and changes in consumer or platform behavior
• Communicate complex media concepts, risks, and tradeoffs in clear and accessible business language
• Establish realistic expectations and provide transparent guidance on what media can and cannot accomplish
• Build client confidence through proactive leadership, strategic foresight, accountability, and consistent follow-through
• Partner with Client Strategy and agency leadership to align media recommendations with broader business and marketing priorities
• Lead or support sensitive client conversations, performance recovery plans, and relationship-management efforts
• Identify and advance opportunities to expand the agency relationship, introduce new capabilities, or increase strategic value
• Represent the Integrated Media team in executive-level client meetings, annual planning sessions, and business reviews

Integrated Agency Leadership

• Lead cross-functional collaboration across Integrated Media, Client Strategy, analytics, creative, organic, web, and other agency disciplines
• Ensure integrated teams operate against a shared business and audience strategy
• Bring together the appropriate expertise to solve complex client, performance, and operational challenges
• Influence broader agency strategy by contributing media insights, market intelligence, and client needs
• Ensure media recommendations are informed by creative, messaging, customer experience, landing-page, measurement, and organic considerations
• Resolve cross-functional ownership, communication, quality, and workflow gaps
• Establish clarity around roles, responsibilities, decision-making, and accountability across major initiatives
• Represent Integrated Media in leadership, planning, staffing, and operational discussions
• Strengthen collaboration and knowledge-sharing across disciplines
• Advocate for integrated solutions that improve both client outcomes and agency delivery
• Help evolve how Integrated Media works with other departments as agency capabilities and client needs change

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, coach, and develop Sr. Managers, Managers, and other assigned team members
• Establish clear expectations for strategic leadership, client ownership, performance management, and people development
• Help Sr. Managers and Managers strengthen their judgment, delegation, coaching, communication, and decision-making
• Hold team leaders accountable for the quality, performance, and health of their accounts and teams
• Provide ongoing feedback, coaching, and development planning
• Support performance reviews, succession planning, promotion readiness, and career-path decisions
• Identify high-potential talent and create opportunities for expanded responsibility and visibility
• Address performance or leadership gaps directly and constructively
• Ensure work is delegated effectively across teams based on account needs, capacity, strengths, and development goals
• Monitor team workload, utilization, morale, and resourcing across the portfolio
• Partner with department leadership on staffing plans, hiring needs, team structure, and organizational development
• Support onboarding, training, and continued education across Integrated Media
• Build a culture of accountability, strategic curiosity, collaboration, inclusivity, and continuous improvement
• Develop future leaders who can independently manage complex clients, teams, and business challenges

Operational Excellence & Scalability

• Establish and reinforce consistent standards for planning, activation, quality assurance, optimization, reporting, and client communication
• Ensure teams follow the appropriate governance, documentation, approval, and risk-management processes
• Identify recurring operational, quality, staffing, or communication issues and implement scalable solutions
• Guide the development and adoption of department playbooks, templates, workflows, and best practices
• Improve how teams manage budgets, timelines, staffing, deliverables, reporting, and account documentation
• Partner with department and agency leadership to improve resource planning, utilization, and delivery models
• Ensure appropriate senior oversight is in place across high-risk, high-investment, or strategically important accounts
• Identify opportunities to use automation, AI, and technology to improve efficiency, accuracy, and strategic capacity
• Evaluate where processes should be standardized and where teams require flexibility
• Lead department initiatives that strengthen quality, scalability, and team effectiveness
• Ensure operational concerns and portfolio risks are communicated clearly to senior leadership
• Help the department evolve its structure and processes as client needs and agency capabilities change

Innovation, Platforms & Industry Leadership

• Help define how the Integrated Media team responds to changes in technology, platforms, consumer behavior, privacy, and measurement
• Maintain a strong understanding of the evolving media landscape and its implications for clients and the agency
• Evaluate new platforms, vendors, tools, partnerships, and capabilities based on strategic value, operational feasibility, and business impact
• Guide the adoption of automation, AI, data solutions, and emerging media opportunities
• Ensure innovation efforts have a clear strategic purpose, implementation plan, and measurement framework
• Build senior relationships with platform representatives, media partners, vendors, and technology providers
• Identify opportunities for agency partnerships, preferred relationships, pilot programs, and early access
• Lead or contribute to agency points of view, thought leadership, training, playbooks, and industry education
• Encourage teams to test new ideas while maintaining appropriate quality, governance, and client alignment
• Scale successful approaches, tools, and learnings across accounts and teams
• Represent the agency in relevant industry conversations, client education, pitches, and external opportunities
• Help build the reputation and market differentiation of the Integrated Media practice

Agency Growth & New Business

• Partner with Growth, Client Strategy, and agency leadership on new-business opportunities
• Lead or oversee the development of media strategy for pitches, proposals, and competitive reviews
• Translate prospect goals and business challenges into differentiated integrated media approaches
• Ensure new-business recommendations are strategically sound, operationally feasible, and financially responsible
• Present media strategy and agency capabilities to prospective clients and senior stakeholders
• Identify opportunities to expand existing client relationships through additional channels, services, or strategic initiatives
• Support scope development, staffing assumptions, investment recommendations, and implementation planning
• Bring relevant industry trends, client insights, platform capabilities, and case studies into growth efforts
• Help refine the agency’s Integrated Media methodology, positioning, and go-to-market story
• Contribute to sustainable agency growth while protecting delivery quality and team capacity

What You Bring

• 7–9 years of experience in media, marketing, advertising, analytics, or a related field
• Significant agency experience leading complex clients, integrated media programs, and cross-functional teams
• Proven success developing and overseeing cross-channel media strategies tied to business outcomes
• Strong knowledge across multiple media channels, with deep expertise in one or more areas
• Demonstrated ability to oversee large or complex media portfolios, budgets, and investment strategies
• Experience serving as a senior strategic partner to client leaders and executive stakeholders
• Strong business acumen and the ability to understand client financial, operational, and growth priorities
• Experience leading Managers, Sr. Managers, or other people leaders
• Proven ability to coach leaders, address performance concerns, and build high-performing teams
• Experience overseeing account health, client retention, staffing, capacity, and operational quality
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to guide decisions through data, insights, and business context
• Experience navigating complex performance, client, staffing, and organizational challenges
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and executive communication skills
• Ability to influence decisions across clients, teams, disciplines, and senior leadership
• Strong professional judgment, accountability, integrity, and composure
• Ability to balance strategic vision with operational and executional realities
• A collaborative, proactive, and solutions-oriented leadership style

What Success Looks Like

• Assigned clients have clear, differentiated, and integrated media strategies aligned with their business priorities
• Portfolio performance, client confidence, and delivery quality are managed proactively
• Significant account risks are identified early and addressed with clear leadership and action plans
• Clients view you as a trusted senior advisor who influences business and investment decisions
• Sr. Managers and Managers demonstrate stronger leadership, judgment, accountability, and strategic ownership
• Integrated Media teams operate with clear standards, consistent quality, and strong cross-functional collaboration
• Reporting and measurement approaches improve client understanding and support better decision-making
• Portfolio staffing, capacity, and team-development needs are anticipated and addressed
• Successful approaches, learnings, processes, and innovations are scaled across the department
• New-business and account-growth opportunities are supported by differentiated and credible media strategies
• Your leadership contributes to stronger client retention, team performance, agency growth, and market reputation
• The Integrated Media practice continues to evolve in response to changing client needs, technology, and consumer behavior

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience overseeing multiple people leaders or a large, multidisciplinary media team
• Experience managing significant media portfolios across brand and performance objectives
• Experience across paid search, paid social, programmatic, display, video, CTV, streaming audio, direct media, and traditional media
• Experience with advanced measurement approaches, including attribution, incrementality, lift studies, or marketing mix modeling
• Experience evaluating or implementing media technology, automation, AI, reporting, or workflow solutions
• Experience developing department structures, staffing models, training programs, or operational frameworks
• Experience leading new-business pitches, proposals, and executive presentations
• Experience supporting account recovery, client retention, or complex relationship-management efforts
• Experience developing agency thought leadership, methodologies, or market-facing points of view
• Familiarity with internal financial management, scope development, utilization, and profitability considerations
• Relevant media and platform certifications