Media Manager, Brand Marketing and Integrated Campaigns

Heart & Stroke is dedicated to promoting health and saving lives, and they are seeking a Media Manager to lead media strategy and execution for integrated marketing and fundraising campaigns. This role focuses on optimizing media investments and collaborating with various teams to ensure effective campaign delivery.

Responsibilities:

• Develop media strategy across integrated campaigns, including always-on paid search, digital acquisition, lead generation, and emerging media opportunities
• Provide media counsel and recommendations to Brand team based on the overarching brand and campaign strategy
• Partner with external and internal stakeholders to translate campaign strategy into effective media plans, including channel mix, phasing, and investment approach
• Identify and assess new media opportunities, including in-kind media, partnerships, and innovative placements that extend impact within budget constraints
• Ensure media planning accounts for increased layering of products and campaigns to avoid cannibalization and inefficiencies
• Provide guidance and oversight to the Media Coordinator supporting trafficking, reporting, and performance monitoring
• Contribute to the development of scalable media processes and best practices to support the current scope and complexity of the Foundation’s media activity
• Support continuous improvement of media workflows, tools, and reporting
• Serve as the day-to-day media lead with external media agencies, providing clear briefs, direction, oversight, and performance accountability across multiple concurrent campaigns
• Oversee end-to-end execution of media plans, including trafficking readiness, creative and landing page dependencies, QA, and in-platform setup, ensuring accuracy, quality, and adherence to timelines and budgets
• Lead ongoing monitoring, testing, targeting, and optimization, particularly for always-on and performance-driven channels, establishing a clear optimization cadence with the agency and ensuring actions are implemented in-flight
• Work closely with Analytics to review performance, interpret results, and translate insights into clear media actions and recommendations for in-flight and future campaigns
• Implement real-time optimizations and contingency plans based on performance, market conditions, and emerging insights, in partnership with key stakeholders and the media agency
• Manage media budgets across campaigns, ensuring efficient allocation of spend and clear visibility into working media vs. fees
• Track, evaluate, and report on media performance against objectives, targets, and KPIs
• Support forecasting and planning by providing media performance insights and recommendations
• Ensure media activity supports overall acquisition, fundraising, and brand performance goals within constrained budgets
• Maintain regular governance with the Integrated Agency Team (IAT) to ensure alignment, transparency, and delivery against agreed timelines, deliverables, and KPIs
• Define and manage agency deliverables (briefs, media plans, launch checklists, optimization recommendations, and reporting), ensuring on-time/in-full delivery and clear documentation of decisions and next steps
• Collaborate closely with the Brand team, as well as Fundraising, Analytics, Communications, and Digital teams to support integrated campaign delivery
• Support Corporate and Partnership teams on media-related opportunities and negotiations
• Ensure cross-functional teams are informed and aligned on media strategy, in-flight performance, risks, and learnings through regular updates and post-campaign summaries

Requirements:

• 6–8 years of progressive experience in media planning, execution, and optimization, with a strong focus on digital and performance media
• Hands‑on experience managing always‑on media programs (e.g., paid search, digital acquisition) alongside time‑bound integrated campaigns
• Proven experience managing external media agency partners, including briefing, performance oversight, optimization direction, and budget accountability
• Experience working within integrated marketing environments, partnering closely with Brand, Sales, Analytics, Communications, and Digital teams
• Demonstrated experience operating within tight budgets and complex campaign portfolios, balancing efficiency with performance outcomes
• Experience supporting acquisition, fundraising, or lead generation objectives through paid media preferred
• University Degree in Marketing or Business preferred
• Strong appreciation and understanding of the key principles of successful marketing, communications and advertising business development and execution
• Excellent understanding of the media landscape, including digital, performance, and emerging media channels
• Ability to translate campaign objectives into executable media plans and optimization strategies
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret performance data and apply insights to improve results
• High attention to detail and operational rigor across trafficking, optimization, and reporting
• Strong agency management skills, including the ability to write clear briefs, set expectations, manage deliverables, and hold partners accountable to performance and quality standards
• Effective communicator with the ability to collaborate cross functionally and influence without direct authority
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, delivery-focused environment while managing multiple concurrent campaigns and priorities
• Understanding of the Not-for-profit/charity category is a plus