Director, Broadcast Media

The Director, Broadcast Investment acts as Rise’s primary voice to the marketplace on key initiatives and works closely with the Investment leadership team to ensure positive, effective outcomes among all internal teams and across all clients. This position participates in broadcast strategy development, leads strategic discussions with broadcast partners, evaluates proposals / makes recommendations for ensuring client-favorable terms and leads best practices within the team. The Director, Broadcast is responsible for assigning and managing work and ensuring that deadlines are met and overall required outcomes achieved. This position is also responsible for informing clients and Rise leadership of industry changes, happenings, consolidation or other activities that may impact broadcast investment broadly and for proactively making recommendations to address each.

The successful candidate will exercise a high degree of ethics and integrity, due in part to the oversight needed when managing client funds across large volumes of broadcast media (local and national). The Director is also expected to protect the confidential information that is part of the planning process and must be able to present plans, strategy and media options in a confident manner to groups of all sizes / all levels.

LOCATION: Chicago, 4 days in office

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead broadcast offering, and associated activation team(s), acting as Rise’s and our clients’ voice to the industry; establish and maintain strong vendor and internal / external client relationships
• Oversee development of strategic broadcast media plans / buys to ensure client business needs, campaign objectives and investment goals are met
• Be a champion for each client; manage and continually strive to find innovative solutions that build the brand while fostering the client relationship
• Be a thought-leader; proactively identify both positive and negative marketplace trends; communicate impact to Rise and our clients; make recommendations for and develop and execute strategies to address, as necessary
• Develop, direct and execute buy strategies, by client, to secure the best possible rates for our clients based on their goals, objectives and savings targets
• Utilize data (rate, spend and plan history; internal benchmarks; database; channel and sales results; and all additional relevant data) to negotiate campaigns and achieve desired outcome across all vendors; direct team re: same
• Work alongside other Rise teams, as applicable, to ensure long-term client satisfaction / retention and growth through achievement of broadcast-related goals
• Direct and manage work within team; ensure resources are best utilized in order to deliver on-time, accurate and expected results; provide guidance to team members in need of assistance in obtaining results / executing campaigns; intervene as necessary to complete tasks
• Review all buy-related paperwork (i.e., vendor, ATB, etc.) completed by team with keen attention to detail; ensure proper approvals have been received from clients and vendors prior to execution
• Manage and maintain buys based on client budgets and negotiation outcomes; socialize outcomes among appropriate team members and leadership
• Accountable for problem / error / failure resolution activities serving as escalation point and creating necessary documentation, providing objective recommendations and implementing solutions
• Own execution accuracy across all team members
• Responsible for managing a team of direct reports (remote and across all Rise locations) with accountability for all aspects of team oversight, including employee onboarding, employee training, employee performance (accountability and behavior), employee retention
• Marshall resources to optimize team structure as dictated by ongoing business need; proactively maintain talent pipeline, and identify and create a plan to address talent gaps / needs as the business and our offering evolves
• Participate in the new business process / pitches, as directed / assigned
• Work independently to achieve assigned metrics and ensure team achieves same

JOB REQUIREMENTS

Appropriate education and/or experience may be substituted on an equivalent basis

Education

• Bachelor degree (communications, marketing, advertising, or business) or a combination of an Associate’s degree and related work experience
• Ability to speak, read and write the English language

Experience

• 12+ years of experience in media, including experience in strategy / planning / buying for broadcast (traditional and digital), with the proven ability to lead across a portfolio of clients
• 7+ years in a management or supervisory role
• Proficiency in MediaOcean/Spectra and Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word); knowledge in research/data tools (SQAD, Vivvix, Nielsen, comScore, PrimeLingo, iSpot, Freewheeel etc.) required
• Working knowledge of other media a plus (i.e. digital, print, search, social, OOH, etc.)
• Exceptionally strong verbal and written business communication skills to effectively interact with media vendors, clients and all levels of the internal organization
• Superior negotiation skills with a proven track record of delivering rate savings and value to ensure client satisfaction and retention
• Ability to identify / recruit / retain talent; experience positively managing personnel issues
• Detail oriented with exceptional organizational and multi-tasking skills
• Proven ability to manage multiple, simultaneous short- and long-term projects
• Track record of demonstrating strong judgment and prioritization capabilities
• Ability to implement change quickly to support evolving / changing client initiatives

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Proven ability to develop and manage broadcast media campaigns that meet / exceed business objectives
• Influential and persuasive communicator with strong interpersonal skills; exceptional ability to grow and foster internal / external relationships
• Strong presentation / story-telling skills
• Demonstrated ability to learn and understand each client’s business; act as an extension of the client with working knowledge of issues that could influence broadcast decisions
• Display a natural curiosity as a “student of the industry” with a desire to both learn and teach, while applying knowledge for the ongoing betterment of client broadcast plans
• Ability to lead and develop a high-performing team
• Ability to identify / recruit / retain top talent; experience positively managing personnel issues
• Passion for a purpose-driven, team oriented, client-first, cross-functional culture
• Possesses a desire for excellence and a passion to succeed in a rapid-paced, deadline-committed environment where everyone is expected to be hands-on
• Demonstrated problem-solver with the ability to provide creative solutions that result in positive outcomes
• Ability to articulate a clear and compelling vision to direct and maximize the team where all roles and responsibilities are well defined, understood and managed
• Expert synthesizer of detail and information for client, peer and management consumption
• Exhibits sound business judgment to navigate through everyday client and team challenges, commanding both authority and respect
• Ability to stay calm under pressure and maintain Rise’s professional standards when dealing with clients and vendors

Travel: Up to 20% of time

Employees can be expected to be paid an annualized salary range of $115,000 - $125,000, based on variations in knowledge, skills, experience and market conditions.