Media Strategist & Partner Manager

ROLE OVERVIEW

The Media Strategist & Partner Manager is the engine behind our homebuyer media performance, ensuring our media partners are delivering, our targeting strategies stay ahead of the curve, and our clients always have a clear picture of what their media investment is doing. You'll manage the day-to-day relationships with our paid search, programmatic, and paid social partners while simultaneously driving the forward-thinking audience and channel strategy that keeps Happy Medium and our clients competitive.

This is a full-time role ideal for someone who is equally comfortable holding a vendor accountable in a QBR and building a targeting hypothesis from scratch. You thrive on being close to the data, love finding the insight hiding in a performance report, and bring the kind of curiosity that keeps a team from ever getting too comfortable with the status quo.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Partner Management & Accountability

• Serve as the day-to-day contact for our paid search (Google/Bing), programmatic display, and paid social (Meta) media partners
• Hold partners accountable to performanc, pacing, efficiency, targeting accuracy, and delivery against commitments
• Lead partner reviews with sharp questions and clear expectations; synthesize reporting into insights the broader team can act on
• Identify when a partner is underperforming and navigate those conversations constructively and directly

Homebuyer Targeting Strategy

• Stay ahead of how audiences, platforms, and data signals are evolving in the homebuyer and housing finance space
• Develop and test audience strategies across paid search, programmatic display, and paid social, including life event signals, mortgage intent data, and new-mover triggers
• Build the case for new targeting approaches and bring recommendations to leadership and clients with confidence
• Connect the dots across channels so our media ecosystem works together, not in silos

GA4 Analytics & Client Reporting

• Serve as the agency's point person on GA4 — pulling regular performance reports for clients and translating data into plain-language takeaways
• QA tracking setups to catch gaps or misfires before they become reporting problems
• Build and maintain dashboards that give clients a clear, consistent view of what's working
• Flag anomalies and trends proactively. If something looks off or an opportunity is surfacing in the data, you're the one who catches it

Team & Agency Contribution

• Use modern tools and workflows to synthesize data, surface insights, and move faster than an agency our size has any right to
• Document what's working so institutional knowledge stays with the agency, not individual people
• Contribute to client conversations — you'll know our media strategy well enough to speak to it directly

IDEAL EXPERIENCE & ATTRIBUTES

• 3–6 years of experience in paid media, with real fluency across at least two of our core channels (paid search, programmatic, paid social)
• Experience managing or collaborating closely with external media partners or vendors
• Analytically sharp — comfortable pulling meaning out of performance data and translating it into clear recommendations, including in GA4
• Strong communicator who can write a pointed email, run a tight partner review, and brief a client with confidence
• A genuine interest in real estate, homebuyer audiences, or life-stage marketing — or the hunger to become an expert fast
• Self-motivated and proactive; comfortable managing your own priorities in a fast-moving boutique environment
• Naturally curious about what's next — in media, in data, and in how our category is changing

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

• Media partners are held to clear performance standards with documented accountability processes in place within 90 days
• At least two new homebuyer targeting strategies tested and evaluated within the first six months
• Client GA4 dashboards are standardized, accurate, and delivered on a consistent reporting rhythm
• Leadership spends less time managing media partner relationships and more time on growth
• The agency's media capabilities are visibly sharper — in client results, in partner conversations, and in team confidence

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIS)

• Partner performance: 100% of media partners reviewed on a regular cadence with documented outcomes
• Targeting velocity: Minimum of 4 new audience or channel strategies proposed and tested per year
• Reporting accuracy: 100% of client GA4 reports delivered on time and free of tracking errors
• Client satisfaction: Media-related client feedback remains positive; zero surprise performance issues
• Agency leverage: CEO and client service team spend less time on media troubleshooting quarter-over-quarter

ENGAGEMENT DETAILS

• Employment Type: Full-time employee
• Hours: 40 hours per week
• Compensation: $55,000 + benefits

Pay: $55,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Health insurance
• Paid parental leave
• Paid time off
• Retirement plan

Application Question(s):

• what does media strategy mean to you and give an example of something you've implemented in a previous role to enhance a media campaign.
• what resources do you use to keep up on the latest paid media innovations and trends?
• this role will require significant self initiative - tell us how you shine with this.
• This role will be in office collaborating with the team for several full work days per week (no exceptions) - are you ok with this?
• Work Location: Hybrid remote in West Des Moines, IA 50265