Director, Media - Independent Consultant

Elevate is engaging a senior digital media consultant to serve as a strategic advisor and delivery partner across a portfolio of growth-focused, direct-to-consumer brands. This independent consulting engagement is designed for an operator who has built and scaled high-performing acquisition engines in-house and is now looking to apply that expertise more broadly across multiple businesses. As an advisor, you will partner with Elevate leadership and client teams to shape media strategy, advise on performance optimization, and ensure that decisions translate into measurable commercial outcomes. You will bring a clear point of view on what drives efficient, scalable growth in today's media landscapeand the credibility to influence stakeholders accordingly. This is an exciting opportunity to help us: guide strategy, inform execution, and elevate the overall standard of media thinking and performance across engagements.

Growth Strategy & Media Advisory

• Advise on full-funnel digital growth strategies across a portfolio of DTC and growth-stage brands, spanning paid social, paid search, programmatic, CTV, affiliate, and emerging channels
• Translate client growth objectives (e.g., CAC, ROAS, LTV, revenue targets) into clear media investment approaches and prioritization frameworks
• Guide the development of integrated media plans that balance efficiency, scale, and long-term customer value
• Provide perspective on evolving market dynamics, including platform changes, privacy shifts, first-party data strategy, and AI-driven optimization

Paid Media Oversight & Performance Optimization

• Provide strategic guidance on paid media execution, ensuring campaigns are aligned to performance objectives and optimized against agreed KPIs
• Establish and reinforce a disciplined testing approach across creative, audiences, bidding strategies, and conversion pathways
• Advise on performance diagnosticsidentifying drivers of success, areas of inefficiency, and opportunities for improvement
• Support portfolio-level budget planning and forecasting, ensuring alignment between investment strategy and expected outcomes

Lifecycle, Retention & Full-Funnel Integration

• Advise on how paid media integrates with CRM, lifecycle marketing, and retention strategies to maximize customer lifetime value
• Recommend approaches to segmentation, personalization, and audience strategy that improve conversion and retention outcomes
• Guide thinking on incrementality and true performance contribution across the customer journey

Measurement, Analytics & Commercial Rigor

• Partner with analytics stakeholders to inform measurement frameworks, including attribution approaches, incrementality testing, and media mix considerations
• Advise on reporting structures and performance narratives that provide clients with a clear, honest view of impact
• Support the interpretation of performance data in the context of broader business economics and growth objectives
• Champion a test-and-learn mindset grounded in data integrity and commercial accountability

Client Advisory & Growth Enablement

• Serve as a senior strategic advisor within client engagements, contributing to high-level discussions with marketing leadership and executive stakeholders
• Support key moments such as strategy sessions, business reviews, and investment planning conversations
• Bring a strong understanding of client business models, unit economics, and competitive dynamics into media recommendations
• Identify opportunities to expand the scope and impact of media and growth initiatives across client portfolios

Capability Building & Best Practices

• Advise on best practices, frameworks, and ways of working that elevate the quality and consistency of media delivery
• Advise on the evolution of Elevate's media capabilities, including tooling, testing approaches, and strategic methodologies
• Provide guidance to media practitioners as appropriate
• Support thought leadership efforts that position Elevate as a credible voice in performance media

Engagement Profile

The ideal consultant brings 710+ years of experience in digital growth marketing, with significant time spent in-house at DTC or digitally native brands. You have owned performance outcomesnot just executionand are comfortable operating at the intersection of media strategy, financial accountability, and customer growth. You are equally fluent in acquisition and retention dynamics, and you understand how media investment connects to broader business performance. You are accustomed to working autonomously, managing multiple stakeholders, and delivering high-value advisory and execution support in a consulting capacity.

Essential

• Seven to ten years of digital growth marketing experience, with a significant proportion spent in-house on the brand side at a DTC or digitally native consumer business.
• Deep, hands-on expertise in paid social (Meta in particular), paid search and at least one additional digital channel, with the ability to direct strategy and interrogate execution at a technical level.
• Proven track record of scaling paid media efficiently growing customer acquisition volume while managing CAC, ROAS and overall media spend effectiveness.
• Experience owning a meaningful media budget, including planning, forecasting, pacing and reporting against commercial KPIs.
• Broad understanding of the full customer growth funnel acquisition through to retention, re-engagement and lifetime value and how paid media connects to CRM and lifecycle marketing strategies.
• Strong financial and analytical foundation: comfortable with performance data, attribution methodologies, incrementality thinking and using insight to drive campaign and budget decisions.
• Excellent client or senior stakeholder communication skills able to present media performance and growth strategy clearly and confidently at director and CMO level.

Desirable

• Direct experience working at or closely alongside a performance marketing agency, or managing agency relationships in depth from the brand side.
• Hands-on experience with CRM, email/SMS platforms, customer data platforms (CDPs) or lifecycle marketing tools and an understanding of how they interact with paid media strategy.
• Familiarity with DTC-specific platforms and tools: Shopify and its ecosystem, subscription management, retention and loyalty mechanics.
• Experience with more advanced measurement approaches including marketing mix modelling, geo-based incrementality tests or data clean room environments.
• Category experience in verticals such as health and wellness, beauty, food and beverage, apparel or consumer technology.
• Track record of contributing to new business development, pitching or building out a media practice area.

Engagement Structure

This is an independent contractor engagement and does not constitute an employment relationship. Hourly Rate: $60-80/hour This engagement is open to all qualified candidates. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability in connection with the application process, you may contact us at HR@oneelevate.com We are proud to be an equal opportunity/veterans/disabled/ LGBT employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All employment is decided based on qualifications, merit, and business need, without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.