Denver, CO or Carbondale, CO

About Backbone

At Backbone, we live by the mantra that passion drives results. We align our clients with our team members’ interests, bridging the gap between work and play while keeping an eye on the elusive work/life harmony. As the country’s leading active lifestyle marketing agency, Backbone has the unique opportunity to help brands like YETI, Smartwool, Big Green Egg, and many others to balance brand goals with e-commerce objectives. For 29 years, Backbone has partnered with both renowned and emerging brands to develop and execute effective, integrated media strategies — and has been consistently included on Outside Magazine’s “Best Places to Work” list.

The Job

The Media Director will lead Backbone’s brand media efforts, translating brand and business objectives into innovative media strategies that connect with audiences. This role sits at the intersection of brand strategy, creative, and paid media, ensuring that who we reach, what we say, and where we say it all ladder up to a cohesive plan that drives brand growth.

The Media Director will guide the strategic planning process from audience definition to channel architecture, partnering closely with the client, channel leads and creative teams to bring brand campaigns to life across Connected TV (CTV), Linear TV, Out-of-Home (OOH), Audio, Direct Partnership, and other brand-building environments.

This person approaches their work with an entrepreneurial spirit, driving growth for clients and the agency. They are a strategic thinker and team leader who connects vision with execution — someone who provides candid feedback, develops emerging leaders, and inspires innovative thinking that moves brands forward.

The Work

• Lead the development of integrated media strategies that bridge brand positioning, creative storytelling, and media execution — ensuring all media efforts serve the broader brand narrative and business objectives.
• Partner with client, creative, and strategy leadership to define audience strategies: who we need to reach, what we want them to feel or do, and how media can most effectively deliver that message.
• Oversee the translation of strategic insights into channel plans and media architectures across linear TV, CTV, OOH, radio, streaming audio, direct partnerships, and emerging platforms.
• Develop and refine agency processes for strategic planning, brand media planning, buying, briefing, QA, measurement, optimization, and reporting ensuring consistency and excellence across all brand media efforts.
• Champion collaboration between media and creative teams to ensure storytelling, placement, and context work together to maximize brand impact.
• Provide senior-level strategic counsel to clients, connecting consumer insights, category trends, and brand strategy to paid media recommendations.
• Partner with analytics, account, and creative teams to ensure all media recommendations are brand-aligned, data-informed, and measurable.
• Maintain and grow relationships with media vendors, networks, publishers, and partners, ensuring Backbone has access to preferred rates, added value, and innovative opportunities.
• Manage and mentor a group of brand Media Strategists, cultivating the next generation of leaders through feedback, goal-setting, and hands-on coaching.
• Collaborate closely with Media Directors and Senior Directors from other disciplines (Programmatic, Paid Social, Search, PR, Influencer, Strategy, etc.) to ensure channel integration and unified measurement.
• Oversee budgeting, forecasting, and resource planning for a group of clients and Media Strategists using Forecast and Harvest, ensuring efficiency and profitability.
• Lead media investment negotiations and ensure financial accuracy in billing and reconciliation.
• Support new business efforts by developing media recommendations, staffing plans, and case studies.
• Actively drive innovation and test-and-learn approaches to emerging media formats and measurement methodologies.

Leadership Impact

• Inspire big-picture, strategic thinking within the team while ensuring clarity in execution and accountability for results.
• Operationalize media strategy processes to facilitate high-functioning strategic planning across teams.
• Champion an entrepreneurial, solution-oriented mindset, identifying new opportunities for agency growth and client success.
• Serve as a coach and mentor, fostering professional development and empowering team members to take ownership of their work.
• Deliver direct, constructive feedback that strengthens performance, alignment, and collaboration across teams.
• Forecast and manage team hours and staffing needs based on client scopes and fees, monitoring utilization and pacing in Harvest to optimize performance.
• Act as a change catalyst, bringing fresh ideas and leading the evolution of Backbone’s brand media offering.
• Represent Backbone externally through networking and industry events, elevating the agency’s presence in the brand media landscape.

The Essentials

• Bachelor’s degree.
• 8+ years of experience in media planning and buying, with deep experience in brand media channels (TV, CTV, OOH, Audio, Direct Partnerships, Sponsorships, Paid Event Activations, Content Integration, etc.).
• At least 3 years in a leadership or management role with experience developing and motivating high-performing teams.
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically, lead collaboratively, and drive change in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong command of measurement tools and frameworks for brand media (reach/frequency, MMM, brand lift, awareness studies, etc.).
• Exceptional writing, communication, negotiation, story-telling, and presentation skills.
• Proven success in fostering innovation and elevating team and agency performance through leadership and feedback.
• Detail-oriented, organized, and comfortable managing multiple complex projects simultaneously.

The Extra Mile

• Experience in outdoor and active lifestyle brands, and tourism clients.
• Working knowledge of digital and performance media channels to ensure cross-channel fluency.
• Working knowledge and experience with Retail Media and Cooperative Advertising.
• Familiarity with attribution and cross-channel measurement tools.
• A natural curiosity and sense of humor.
• Passion for the outdoors and an active lifestyle.

Salary & Benefits

• Salary: 
  • $100,000-$120,000 and up, depending on experience.
       *higher salary band and Sr. Director position considered based on experience          and fit.
    
    
• Benefits:
  • Medical
  • Dental & vision coverage
  • 401(k) match
  • Wellness benefit
  • Home office stipend
  • Professional development/education assistance
  • Paid volunteer hours
  • Parental leave
  • Flexible schedule
  • Company-wide offsites
  • Hybrid/office workplace