Senior Director, Digital Media

The Sr. Director, Search & Video owns paid search, Performance Max, Local Service Ads, and YouTube/OLV strategy and investment for the organization's largest acquisition spend category, serving as the senior, hands-on-keyboard authority on these channels and the primary internal voice on their performance to the VP and, when needed, executive leadership. This is a senior individual-contributor role: it carries Director-level strategic weight, budget accountability, and executive visibility without formal supervisory responsibility, reflecting both the scale of investment in this channel and the frequency of direct executive engagement with it.

Essential Functions:

1. Own paid search, Performance Max, Local Service Ads, and YouTube/OLV strategy and investment allocation for the organization's single largest acquisition spend category
2. Set and drive the testing and innovation agenda for these channels, including emerging platform capabilities (e.g., AI Max, evolving Performance Max features), ahead of broader organizational adoption
3. Own the senior, executive-level relationship with agency for paid search and video specifically, including scope, performance accountability, and escalation 
4. Serve as the hands-on-keyboard practitioner in Google Ads, LSAs, Microsoft Ads, and YouTube, personally auditing campaign structure, conversion tracking, and keyword/query strategy
5. Serve as the primary internal voice on search/video performance to the VP and, when required, the CDO and other executive leadership, given their frequent direct engagement with this channel
6. Partner with Content Strategy on ad and video messaging, and with SEO Strategy on paid/organic query overlap
7. Informally guide platform best practices for other paid-channel owners across the team, without formal supervisory authority
8. Report investment recommendations and channel performance directly to the VP, Performance Marketing & Enrollment

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• This position does not have direct reports. It is a senior individual-contributor / expert-track role, reflecting deep platform expertise and executive visibility rather than people management.
• This role owns the day-to-day agency and vendor relationships for paid search and video, specifically

Minimum Job Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, Communications, or related field
• 10-12+ years of experience in paid search/SEM and video advertising, with deep, hands-on platform expertise
• Proven experience owning large-scale paid media budgets and being held accountable for ROI at an executive level
• Proven experience managing senior agency relationships, including scope and performance negotiation
• Comfortable operating as a senior individual contributor without formal supervisory authority

Other Skills and Abilities Qualifications:

• Deep, expert-level fluency in Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and YouTube, including emerging platform capabilities
• Strong executive presence and ability to communicate channel performance directly to senior leadership
• Strong analytical mindset with ability to translate platform-level detail into executive-level insight
• Ability to informally influence and guide other channel owners without direct authority
• Comfortable holding a senior title without a direct-report team — genuinely an individual-contributor/expert-track seat, not a people-management role
• Highly organized and adaptable in a fast-paced, performance-driven environment