Hybrid Director, Paid Media Strategy – Performance

at Sutter Health

• Job title: Director, Paid Media Strategy – Performance
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Lead
• Salary: $183,643 - $293,841 per year
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Location requirements: Hybrid, Sacramento, United States

About the role

• Director of Paid Media Strategy at Sutter Health leading development of integrated media strategies. Collaborating with marketing to drive brand performance through effective media planning and optimization.

Responsibilities

• Leads the development and implementation of integrated media strategies across priority channels aligned to enterprise brand and growth priorities.
• Translates marketing and business goals into clear media objectives, channel roles, and investment recommendations using a full-funnel approach.
• Drives audience-first planning, ensuring media strategies leverage segmentation, insights and channel best practices to deliver relevance, reach and performance.
• Monitors media trends, platform innovation, and consumer behavior shifts; recommends new approaches and pilot opportunities to improve effectiveness and efficiency.
• Directs the development of annual and campaign-level media plans in partnership with internal stakeholders and agency teams, including channel mix, targeting approach, flighting, and pacing.
• Oversees end-to-end media activation processes, ensuring timely execution, strong quality control, and alignment to brand and creative standards.
• Drives optimization of in-flight campaigns through performance monitoring, testing, and continuous improvements across channels to maximize Return on Investment and outcomes.
• Partners with media buying teams and/or agencies to support cost efficiency, value delivery, and strong stewardship of budgets and commitments.
• Manages media budgets with strong fiscal discipline and agility, including forecasting, pacing and reallocating investments as needed based on performance, business priorities and market dynamics.
• Defines success metrics and measurement plans for media efforts, including leading and lagging indicators across brand and performance outcomes.
• Partners with the analytics and insights teams to leverage advanced measurement approaches (e.g., media mix modeling), translating learnings into investment recommendations, channel strategy refinements, and future media planning improvements.
• Develops and socializes performance dashboards and reporting outputs that communicate campaign performance, learnings, and optimization actions to cross-functional partners.
• Supports ongoing improvement of measurement practices, including attribution, incrementality approaches, and standardized reporting structures where applicable.
• Ensures media learns are documented, shared, and incorporated into future planning cycles to strengthen effectiveness over time.
• Serves as a key partner to marketing leadership to ensure aligned planning, consistent messaging, and strong creative/media integration.
• Provides clear direction and feedback to internal teams and external agencies to ensure media recommendations are aligned, strategic, and executable.
• Builds strong relationships across marketing and enterprise partners to improve planning speed, alignment, and business impact.

Requirements

• Bachelor's: degree in a relevant field
• 12 years recent relevant experience
• Deep knowledge of paid media channels and buying approaches across digital, social, search/search engine marketing, video, display, audio, and emerging platforms.
• Strong ability to develop strategic, executable media plans grounded in business objectives, customer insights, and channel roles.
• Demonstrated experience using performance data, analytics and insights to optimize campaigns and improve results.
• Working knowledge of measurement methodologies, reporting best practices and media effectiveness frameworks (e.g., attribution, MMx concepts, incrementality testing concepts).
• Strong acumen in audience strategy, segmentation application, targeting and personalization approaches.
• Experience leading agencies and partners with clear direction, strong briefing, and accountable operating rhythms.
• Strong project management and prioritization skills; ability to manage multiple campaigns and stakeholders simultaneously.
• Excellent interpersonal influence skills with the ability to align cross-functional partners and drive progress without direct authority.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and driving change; agile mindset with a bias toward testing, learning, and improving.
• Strong communication and presentation skills, including the ability to translate complex performance insights into clear recommendations.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint; familiarity with key media platforms and reporting environments.

Benefits

• Yes