Freelance, Associate Director, Media Planning

About DEPT®: DEPT® is a highly acclaimed global Growth Invention company built specifically to help the world’s most ambitious enterprise brands grow faster. Operating at the absolute cutting edge where marketing technology and creative data intersect, our squad of 4,000+ specialists delivers integrated digital engineering across Brand, Media, Experience, Commerce, and CRM. As a B Corp-certified company, DEPT® balances high-velocity execution for marquee partners—including Google, Lufthansa, Coach, eBay, and OpenAI—with an elite, values-driven corporate workspace footprint.

Position Overview

We are seeking a high-agency, strategic Freelance Associate Director of Media Planning to steer the connection architecture and media strategy for our most ambitious accounts. In this pivotal contract leadership track, you will design how top-tier brands show up across the entire consumer lifecycle ecosystem—not merely where they advertise. Acting as a trusted growth consultant, you will merge qualitative human insights with hard quantitative performance telemetry to link communications, creative copy, digital content, and conversion commerce into a single connected system that drives immediate customer action and long-term brand equity.

Key Responsibilities

• End-to-End Connection Strategy: Define and architect omni-channel media frameworks grounded in rich audience behavior, cultural trends, and data insights to connect touchpoints into a unified marketing system.
• Full-Funnel Media Orchestration: Construct integrated 360-degree marketing ecosystems that balance paid, owned, earned, and shared channels to ensure cohesive consumer experiences across platforms.
• Client Account Advisory: Partner directly alongside senior enterprise clients as a strategic growth consultant, diagnosing business pain points and identifying new market acquisition opportunities beyond media spend.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Lead and align diverse multi-disciplinary squads (spanning Strategy, Creative Copywriting, Media Buying, Data Analytics, and Technical Development) to deliver holistic, experience-led solutions.
• Holistic Measurement Frameworks: Design complex media evaluation systems that tie ad exposure and customer engagement directly to business metrics, moving beyond siloed channel attribution to advanced effectiveness stories.
• New Business & Mentorship: Drive technical pitch strategies for upcoming accounts, author industry thought leadership pieces, and mentor junior strategists to instill rigorous systems thinking.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• 5–7 years of verified professional experience in omni-channel media strategy, connection planning, or integrated marketing communications (IMC) within high-growth agency environments.
• Deep master-level command over advanced media research, trend planning, and audience profiling data engines (specifically GWI, MRI, ComScore, Pathmatics, or similar analytics suites).
• Proven tracking history leading large-scale B2C and B2B enterprise client accounts and managing 360-degree high-stakes corporate sponsorship campaigns.
• Strong data-driven analytical mindset blended with intuitive creative judgment, capable of backing bold marketing campaigns with robust numbers.
• Excellent verbal presentation and storytelling mechanics, with the polished capacity to navigate complex multi-agency (IAT) stakeholder environments.
• Timezone & Operational Mandate: Absolute availability and operational infrastructure to work consistently aligned with the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT).
• Location Context: 100% remote-first contractor flexibility open to qualified media strategists operating within the United States.

What We Offer

• Hourly Compensation Range: $90 – $120 USD per hour (Contract hourly estimate is calibrated flexibly based on your technical media planning depth, localized market coordinates, and verified portfolio experience).
• The exceptional runway to build digital growth innovations for iconic market leaders like Google and OpenAI.
• A remote-first, inclusive, and barrier-free freelance collaboration model optimized for task autonomy.
• Streamlined application evaluation and milestone routing handled securely through Greenhouse ATS infrastructure channels.