Contract Associate Director, Media Creative

Overview The Associate Director of Media Creative sits at the intersection of paid media, accounts, and creative teams to ensure cross‑team alignment. The person in this role will serve as a liaison between teams, developing best practices to ensure that paid media campaigns are fully integrated across paid media strategy, creative development, and client relationship management. The role spans client engagements, including the agency and Blue State’s growing political practice. Responsibilities Drive cross‑team alignment by interfacing with accounts, creative, and media teams to develop and refine creative strategy in lockstep with paid media plans and goals, facilitating creative production, delivery, and project management across teams. Serve as a liaison to internal discipline teams to develop, document, and refine a high‑functioning cross‑team paid media practice at Blue State. Lead client relationships in service of creative collaboration and development—ensuring alignment of goals, creative execution, and timelines, and escalating issues to senior team members as needed. Communicate clearly and consistently across internal process documentation and dissemination, and bring strong presentation skills to share learnings across the agency. Train and equip teammates by facilitating onboarding and ongoing training for accounts and creative leads on best practices and processes for managing paid media accounts. Manage projects with rigor by creating clear project plans that integrate creative and paid media goals, working closely with creative leads to manage scope and client objectives, facilitating internal and client meetings (and follow‑ups), and overseeing final approval of deliverables before they reach clients. Translate creative briefs into actionable steps, plans, budgets, and timelines across channels and teams. Estimate work accurately for the paid media team and other creative processes—projecting hours and a clear sense of lift from other disciplines. Support team and business growth by contributing to team development, business development efforts, and case studies. Balance priorities across multiple projects, managing your own time and others’ with exemplary attention to detail and organization. Qualifications 8+ years of experience leading paid media campaigns and creative production processes of varying sizes and budgets, ideally including political or advocacy work. Expert understanding of paid media strategy, planning, and execution, paired with strong fluency in creative development and production workflows. Ability to oversee a paid media program throughout its lifespan—from developing initial budgets and timelines in the proposal process, to aligning strategy and creative production, to reporting back to clients on optimizations and performance. Excellent project management chops: creating clear project plans that integrate creative and paid media goals, managing scope alongside creative leads, and facilitating internal and client meetings without dropping a thread. Mastered client relationship building and management in service of creative collaboration—diplomatic, solution‑oriented, and able to elevate issues appropriately. Clear and consistent communication in internal process documentation and presentation of learnings across the agency. Track record of training and leveling up colleagues on paid media best practices and processes. Rapid and accurate estimation of projects, hours, and lift required from other disciplines. Exemplary attention to detail and organization, balancing multiple priorities and managing your own time and others’ well. Thoughtful, organized teammate who adapts to new situations, solves problems on the fly, and communicates proactively. Benefits Salary range: $65–$85 per hour, commensurate with experience. Hybrid model with flexible in‑office attendance for U.S. staff near the New York or Washington, D.C. offices. EEO Statement At Blue State, diversity is a necessity, not a nice‑to‑have. We encourage people from underrepresented communities—including women, people of color, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, and individuals with disabilities—to apply. We welcome anyone who can bring unique perspectives to our client teams. #J-18808-Ljbffr Blue State