Fractional Media Director

POSITION SUMMARY

The Fractional Media Director serves as the senior strategic leader for Phase 3's media practice, providing integrated media strategy, senior client counsel, team leadership and guidance on emerging channels and opportunities.

This is a hands-on leadership role for an experienced agency media professional who can move comfortably between high-level strategy, client conversations, team development and campaign oversight. The Media Director will lead strategy across a diverse portfolio of B2B and B2C clients while helping the internal media team strengthen its strategic capabilities and deliver increasingly proactive recommendations.

The ideal candidate brings broad experience across paid social, paid search, programmatic, display, CTV, digital audio, out-of-home and other media channels along with proficiency in website tracking across Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Google Tag Manager (GTM). Experience with consumer brands and retail media networks such as Amazon Ads, Walmart Connect and Kroger Precision Marketing is highly desirable.

FRACTIONAL ENGAGEMENT STRUCTURE

This is an ongoing fractional leadership engagement requiring approximately 4-5 hours per week/ 20 hours per month. The Fractional Media Director will function as an integrated member of the Phase 3 team and senior leader of the media practice.

The role offers flexibility in how hours are structured but requires consistent weekly availability for the media team, key client meetings, strategic planning sessions and new business opportunities, with 2-3 internal team meetings scheduled per week (not exceeding 2 hours total), monthly reporting calls with clients and the remaining time being used on-call, as needed.

Work will be primarily remote with in-person participation at Phase 3's Atlanta office and client meetings when valuable.

The initial engagement is expected to be six months, with the opportunity to extend or expand the engagement based on business needs and growth of the media practice.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Media Strategy & Client Leadership

• Provide senior strategic oversight across paid social, paid search, programmatic, display, CTV, digital audio, out-of-home, metasearch, retail media and emerging channels.
• Serve as Phase 3's senior media advisor for key client relationships.
• Lead integrated media strategies connecting client business objectives, audiences, channels, investment and measurement.
• Guide annual, quarterly and campaign-specific media planning for key accounts.
• Evaluate channel mix, audience strategy, investment levels, KPIs and testing opportunities.
• Translate campaign performance and marketplace changes into actionable strategic recommendations.
• Lead or participate in strategic planning sessions, major presentations, quarterly business reviews and other senior-level client conversations.
• Proactively identify opportunities to improve performance, test new approaches and expand client media programs.

Team Leadership & Development

• Provide strategic leadership, coaching and mentorship to Phase 3's internal media team.
• Develop team capabilities in integrated media strategy, planning, optimization, analytics and client communication.
• Establish clear roles and accountability across internal team members and specialized external media resources.
• Conduct regular account and strategy reviews and help team members move beyond performance reporting to meaningful insights and recommendations.
• Identify skill gaps and recommend training, tools or specialist support.
• Support agency leadership in assessing media capacity, staffing needs and longer-term organizational structure.

Media Innovation & Performance

• Stay current on changes in media technology, advertising platforms, consumer behavior, privacy, measurement and AI-enabled media buying.
• Help expand Phase 3's capabilities in retail media, including Amazon Ads, Walmart Connect, Kroger Precision Marketing and other relevant networks.
• Evaluate emerging platforms and develop disciplined approaches to testing new channels.
• Provide senior oversight of campaign performance, optimization, budget pacing and investment strategy.
• Ensure media reporting clearly communicates what happened, why it happened and what actions should be taken.
• Establish consistent standards for media planning, QA, optimization, reporting and measurement.

Growth & New Business

• Partner with agency leadership, account teams and Sales to identify organic growth opportunities within existing client relationships.
• Participate in new-business discovery, media strategy development, pitches and presentations.
• Help develop media scopes, staffing approaches, management fees and investment recommendations.
• Strengthen Phase 3's media capabilities, case studies and strategic points of view.
• Support the long-term growth and evolution of the media practice.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Minimum of 10 years of progressive media experience, with significant experience in an advertising, media, digital or integrated agency environment.
• Recent practical, hands-on experience in advertising platforms including Google, Meta and LinkedIn.
• Previous experience in a Media Director, Group Media Director, VP of Media, Head of Media or comparable senior leadership role.
• Demonstrated experience developing integrated media strategies across multiple channels and platforms.
• Strong working knowledge of paid social, paid search, programmatic, display, CTV, digital audio and out-of-home.
• Strong understanding of audience strategy, media planning, measurement, attribution and performance analytics.
• Experience managing significant media investments and providing senior-level client counsel.
• Demonstrated experience managing, mentoring and developing media professionals.
• Experience directing specialized internal and external media resources.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation and client communication skills.
• Strong commercial judgment and understanding of agency scope, staffing, client service and account profitability.
• Ability to provide consistent leadership, availability and accountability within a fractional structure.

Preferred

• Experience with CPG and consumer brands.
• Experience with retail media networks such as Amazon Ads, Walmart Connect and Kroger Precision Marketing.
• Experience with hospitality, travel or multi-location businesses.
• Experience with B2B media strategy and account-based marketing.
• Experience helping build or expand an agency media practice.
• Experience supporting agency new business and organic account growth.

Successful Profile

• A senior strategist who sees the client's broader business challenge rather than media as a collection of individual platforms.
• A confident client leader who can establish credibility with senior marketing executives.
• A proactive thinker who brings forward recommendations and opportunities before being asked.
• A collaborative leader who stays close enough to campaign execution to guide decisions, troubleshoot challenges and strengthen outcomes.
• A strong coach who develops team members rather than simply taking over their work.
• Broad media expertise combined with the judgment to know when specialized expertise is needed.
• Strong analytical instincts and the ability to translate performance data into meaningful business recommendations.
• Commercially minded, collaborative and comfortable operating within a lean team.
• Committed to developing people while helping build a more sophisticated, proactive and scalable media practice.