Director of Paid Media

Confidential Search

Ad Culture is conducting a confidential search on behalf of an established digital marketing agency for an experienced Director of Paid Media .

This is a senior departmental leadership opportunity for someone who has built their career in performance marketing and is ready to take ownership of a growing paid media function.

The Director will be responsible for the overall performance, development and evolution of the Paid Media department, including team leadership, client performance oversight, operational excellence, strategic direction and the continued development of the agency's paid media capabilities.

This is primarily a leadership and strategic oversight position rather than a hands‑on media buying role.

The successful candidate will combine deep paid media expertise with strong people leadership and an operational mindset. They should understand today's major advertising platforms while also staying closely connected to emerging developments in automation, AI, measurement, privacy and advertising technology.

The Opportunity

The Director of Paid Media will have significant ownership over how the department operates and evolves.

You will lead and develop a team of paid media professionals, maintain visibility across a diverse portfolio of client accounts, establish strong operating standards and ensure that clients receive proactive, commercially minded paid media strategy.

You will also play an important role in identifying new capabilities, technologies and service opportunities that strengthen the agency's paid media offering.

Key Responsibilities

Department Leadership

- Lead,



coach and develop a team of paid media professionals.
- Establish clear performance expectations and accountability across the department.
- Support team members in developing stronger strategic, analytical and client-facing capabilities.
- Provide guidance and escalation support on complex accounts.
- Create an environment that encourages ownership, continuous improvement and high-quality work.
- Identify opportunities to improve team structure, capabilities and ways of working.

Client Performance & Budget Oversight

- Maintain senior-level visibility across paid media client performance.
- Ensure client budgets are managed responsibly and paced appropriately.
- Review account performance and identify potential risks before they become significant issues.
- Work with team members to develop corrective strategies for accounts that are not meeting performance expectations.
- Identify opportunities to responsibly scale successful campaigns and client investments.
- Ensure performance reporting leads to clear insights, recommendations and next steps.

Operations & Quality

- Establish effective departmental processes, documentation and quality-control standards.
- Create a consistent operating cadence for reviewing account health, priorities and departmental performance.




- Maintain solid standards around campaign planning, forecasting, budgeting and reporting.
- Improve workflows and processes to increase quality, consistency and team efficiency.
- Ensure appropriate oversight is maintained across a growing and varied client portfolio.

Strategy & Innovation

- Stay current on developments across paid media platforms, advertising technology, AI, automation, privacy and measurement.
- Evaluate emerging tools, platforms and strategies and determine where they can create meaningful value.
- Translate new capabilities into practical strategies and repeatable processes.
- Encourage structured testing and experimentation across audiences, creative, bidding strategies, campaign structures, landing pages and media mix.
- Help evolve the agency's paid media products, capabilities and service offerings.
- Challenge the team to continuously improve rather than rely on established approaches.

Client Growth & Retention

- Maintain visibility into the overall health of key paid media client relationships.
- Support senior-level client conversations where strategic leadership is required.
- Ensure clients receive proactive strategic recommendations rather than purely campaign maintenance.
- Identify opportunities to expand successful programs through additional investment, platforms or strategies.
- Collaborate with account leadership and other digital disciplines to identify broader client opportunities.
- Support strong client retention through consistent performance, communication and strategic direction.

Skills & Capabilities

The ideal candi

📌 Director of Paid Media (Toronto)
🏢 The Influence Agency
📍 Toronto