Senior Director, Paid Media

MediaAlpha (NYSE: MAX) operates the world’s largest insurance advertising marketplace, connecting leading carriers and agents with high-intent insurance shoppers at scale. Our owned-and-operated media properties are a cornerstone of our business, and we’re building the paid media function that will drive transformational growth.

We’re looking for a Senior Director of Paid Media to lead that effort. Reporting into the VP of Growth Marketing, this is a high-impact, high-ownership role: you’ll set the strategy, own the budget, and build the team. You are first and foremost a paid social expert - specifically Meta - but you think like an investment manager across every channel you touch. You know how creative drives downstream lead quality, not just click-through rate, and you’re excited about using AI to produce and test creative at a scale most teams only dream about.

This role isn’t about managing agency relationships or reporting on what happened last week. It’s about building a best-in-class paid media capability from the ground up, inside the company that powers more insurance advertising than anyone else on the planet.

Responsibilities

• Own the full paid media strategy across social, search, native, display, and retargeting, with Meta as your primary channel and proving ground
• Set channel-level investment strategies, budget allocation frameworks, scaling criteria, and ROI guardrails across the portfolio
• Define the strategic direction for paid media, aligning it with MediaAlpha’s broader growth strategy
• Ensure positive ROI across all paid media investment; own performance accountability end-to-end
• Hire, lead, coach, and develop a team of channel-specific analysts (paid social, paid search, native/display, etc.)
• Translate campaign performance into clear, executive-ready narratives that connect channel metrics to business outcomes: cost per lead, revenue per lead, GP contribution, and margin
• Partner directly with cross-functional leadership, extending your influence beyond the paid media team
• Leverage AI tooling (both off-the-shelf and custom-built) to accelerate creative production and UGC video at scale
• Build and run a high-velocity creative testing engine across static, video, and UGC formats, with a clear methodology for learning and scaling winners
• Understand how ad creative affects downstream quality and conversion, and use that lens to guide every creative and targeting decision
• Ensure all paid media activity complies with applicable laws, regulations, and platform policies — including TCPA and state-specific advertising requirements relevant to the insurance vertical

Requirements

• You have personally managed $1M+ per month in Meta ad spend.  This is a hard floor, not a preference; you’ve done this hands-on, not just at a strategic level
• A proven track record running profitable, ROI-positive paid media in the lead generation space. eCommerce or brand-building backgrounds are not the right fit for this role
• Experience working in a performance-first environment where every dollar of spend is expected to earn its place
• A genuine command of what makes paid social work: creative diagnosis, audience strategy, bidding mechanics, and the ability to distinguish a creative problem from a targeting problem from a measurement problem
• Experience running ads across search, display, native, and retargeting platforms - even if Meta is your primary channel
• Experience building or scaling a paid media team, including hiring and developing junior channel specialists
• Genuine enthusiasm for using AI tools to accelerate creative production at scale
• A strong understanding of how ad creative, landing page experience, and lead intent interact to drive downstream quality, not just top-of-funnel volume
• Experience in the insurance vertical or adjacent regulated categories (financial services, health, legal) is strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with lead gen compliance requirements, including TCPA, state-level advertising rules, and platform-specific policy constraints is strongly preferred

Compensation & Benefits

We are excited to offer a competitive base pay range of $156,000 - $220,000 per year for this position, based on experience and qualifications. But that's not all - as a valued member of our team, you will also have access to an array of top-notch benefits, including:

• Annual bonus program and participation in our Restricted Stock Unit program
• 100% Employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance for you, your dependents, and spouse or registered domestic partner
• 100% employer-paid long-term disability and life insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan with matching contributions to help you plan for your future
• Open Paid Time Off policy with a birthday day off, 13 holidays, and 5 Recharge days
• Professional development reimbursement
• Cell Phone, Wellness, and Internet expense reimbursement, along with a subscription to the Calm App
• 100% fully paid parental leave for team members up to 22 weeks for the primary caregiver and 12 weeks for the secondary caregiver 
• Dog-friendly offices (LA and AZ) along with a $300 pet adoption reimbursement 

MediaAlpha is committed to fostering, cultivating, and maintaining a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our philosophy and actions are built on the premise that as an employer and citizens of our communities, we can create opportunities for lasting change. 

MediaAlpha will consider qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with state and local "Fair Chance" laws. We are also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans in our application process. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please contact us at peopleops@mediaalpha.com or (213) 316-6256.