[Hiring] Senior Director, Paid Media @MediaAlpha

Role Description

MediaAlpha (NYSE: MAX) operates the world’s largest insurance advertising marketplace, connecting leading carriers and agents with high-intent insurance shoppers at scale. 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:

• Set the strategy, own the budget, and build the team.
• First and foremost a paid social expert - specifically Meta.
• Think like an investment manager across every channel.
• Understand how creative drives downstream lead quality, not just click-through rate.
• Excited about using AI to produce and test creative at scale.
• Build a best-in-class paid media capability from the ground up.

Responsibilities

• Own the full paid media strategy across social, search, native, display, and retargeting, with Meta as your primary channel.
• 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.

Qualifications

• You have personally managed $1M+ per month in Meta ad spend.
• A proven track record running profitable, ROI-positive paid media in the lead generation space.
• 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.
• Experience running ads across search, display, native, and retargeting platforms.
• 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.
• 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.

Benefits

• Competitive base pay range of $156,000 - $220,000 per year.
• 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.
• 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.