Associate Director, Audience Strategy

Associate Director, Audience Strategy & Insights

Spark Foundry was built during the most transformative time in the history of advertising and marketing. We deliver everything a traditional media agency has to offer and have grown into one of the world's most successful agencies by helping brands evolve their marketing by leveraging identity, commerce, artificial intelligence, and more to connect with people. Transformation is part of our DNA. Spark Foundry's start-up spirit delivers high-touch approaches and a never-ending desire to challenge the status quo. Combined with Publicis Media's powerhouse soul leveraging connected data assets, advanced AI applications, and investment clout, we "Bring HEAT to Brands." No other agency possesses the expertise that we do to address today's most pressing challenges to drive business transformation through media.

Media always starts with an audience. The Associate Director, Audience Strategy & Insights supports the development and execution of audience strategy for Mattel brands and initiatives, serving as a strategic partner on audience definition, segmentation, and identity-based targeting in support of marketing and growth objectives. This role ensures audience considerations are embedded across the campaign lifecycle—from planning and activation through measurement and learning - contributing to effective, efficient, and scalable marketing outcomes across brands and markets.

Embedded within the broader Data & Analytics organization, the Associate Director operates as part of an integrated analytics and data community, with close partnership to Audience Strategy, Analytics & Insights, Media Strategy, Activation, Creative, and Marketing Technology teams. The role supports global, regional, and local stakeholders and contributes to the development of actionable audience strategies while maintaining clear guardrails between audience design and audience performance measurement.

In partnership with Analytics & Insights, this role helps translate performance insights into audience implications and recommendations, supporting the application of learnings to future audience refinement and growth strategies.

Responsibilities

Audience Strategy & Growth Enablement

• Support the development of audience strategies aligned to brand objectives, growth priorities, and marketing goals.
• Translate business and marketing questions into audience hypotheses, segmentation approaches, and targeting considerations.
• Partner with audience, data, and technology teams to support scalable, addressable audience activation.
• Contribute to building and maintaining a body of audience knowledge to inform ongoing and future planning.

Audience Informed Planning & Lifecycle Integration

• Partner with Analytics & Insights during planning to ensure audience definitions and segmentation logic are reflected in learning agendas.
• Support the integration of audience strategy into planning and activation decisions without owning performance measurement or adjudication.
• Embed audience thinking from briefing through post campaign analysis and refinement.

Identity, Segmentation & Addressability

• Support audience segmentation and growth audience development using first party, third party, and identity-based data.
• Help translate identity and data considerations into clear, actionable audience recommendations for internal teams and partners.
• Partner with data and marketing technology teams to support the operationalization of audience definitions within platforms and tools.
• Develop working knowledge of identity, addressability, and data connectivity considerations across markets.

Activation Partnership & Enablement

• Partner with Media and Activation teams to ensure audience strategies are executable within channel and platform constraints.
• Support onboarding, deployment, and reuse of audience segments in alignment with established standards and best practices.
• Coordinate with internal teams on audience needs that may require custom solutions.

Audience Learning & Insight Translation

• Interpret analytics and measurement outputs through an audience lens in partnership with Analytics & Insights teams.
• Assist in translating audience level learnings into recommendations for future audience refinement.
• Share audience insights with internal teams to influence planning, creative development, and growth opportunities.

Audience Implications & Strategic Recommendations

• Partner with Analytics & Insights to review performance outputs and identify audience level implications.
• Support the development of recommended audience actions, including refinement, expansion, suppression, or sequencing strategies.
• Communicate audience recommendations clearly to inform planning discussions and decision making.

Stakeholder Partnership & Communication

• Serve as a day-to-day audience strategy partner to internal stakeholders and agency teams.
• Support the development of clear audience narratives and materials for internal and external presentations.
• Present audience insights and recommendations with clarity and confidence to mid and senior level stakeholders.

Team Collaboration & Development

• Support Directors and team leadership in delivering high quality audience strategy outputs.
• Mentor Managers and Analysts through guidance, review, and knowledge sharing.
• Contribute to a collaborative, rigorous, and growth-oriented audience function.
• Support audience documentation, training, and best-practice adoption across teams and workflows.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in audience strategy, analytics, media, or related disciplines within a media agency, advertising agency, consulting environment, or inhouse brand role.
• Deep understanding of audience segmentation, growth audiences, digital marketing, CRM, and identity-based targeting.
• Familiarity with audience and research tools such as MRI, GWI, Epsilon, or similar platforms.
• Strong understanding of media and ad-tech ecosystems, including DSPs, CDPs, and third-party data.
• Ability to translate complex data and identity concepts into clear strategic guidance.
• Proven experience partnering cross-functionally with Analytics, Media, Activation, Creative, and Technology teams.
• Strong presentation, storytelling, and communication skills.
• Demonstrated leadership experience and ability to mentor and develop talent.
• Exceptional problem-solving, organizational, and relationship-building skills.

Tools & Platforms:

• Familiarity with audience, identity, and segmentation tools (e.g., GWI, MRI, Epsilon, or similar)
• Working knowledge of media and ad-tech platforms used for audience activation.
• Comfort interpreting outputs from analytics, measurement, and reporting platforms in partnership with Analytics teams.
• Advanced PowerPoint and Excel skills for strategic storytelling

This role does not require ownership of measurement methodologies or performance reporting platforms.

Additional information

Our Publicis Groupe motto "Viva La Différence" means we're better together, and we believe that our differences make us stronger. It means we honor and celebrate all identities, across all facets of intersectionality, and it underpins all that we do as an organization. We are focused on fostering belonging and creating equitable & inclusive experiences for all talent.

Publicis Groupe provides robust and inclusive benefit programs and policies to support the evolving and diverse needs of our talent and enable every person to grow and thrive. Our benefits package includes medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401K, as well as parental and family care leave, family forming assistance, tuition reimbursement, and flexible time off. If you require accommodation or assistance with the application or onboarding process specifically, please contact View email address on click.appcast.io.

Compensation Range: $106,780- $163,632 annually. This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on the skills, qualifications, and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position, and the Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. Temporary roles may be eligible to participate in our freelancer/temporary employee medical plan through a third-party benefits administration system once certain criteria have been met. Temporary roles may also qualify for participation in our 401(k) plan after eligibility criteria have been met. For regular roles, the Company will offer medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401k, and paid time off. The Company anticipates the application deadline for this job posting will be 05/14/2026.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.