Senior Growth Media Manager

Hybrid — Denver or Carbondale, CO | 2 days per week in office required

At Backbone, we live by the mantra that passion drives results. We partner with leading lifestyle brands to drive growth through integrated marketing and strategic communications. We work with brands we believe in and pair our teammates with brands matching their interests and expertise. When you join our team of smart, driven marketers, you’ll become part of an extended work family, drawn together by a passion for the outdoors and doing great work for great brands.

The Job

The Senior Growth Media Manager is a client-facing specialist role within our Media team with a particular focus on ecommerce and DTC clients. The Senior Growth Media Manager will develop, implement, measure and optimize cross-channel paid media strategies across paid social, paid search, retail media, programmatic and emerging channels. They’ll own the media strategies that support clients’ overarching business goals, build forecasts and scenario plans, and measure results against them using incrementality testing and media mix modeling rather than last-click reporting. Ideally, all this will result in profitable acquisition, retention and loyalty of customers, ultimately driving ecommerce revenue growth for Backbone’s clients.

The ideal Senior Growth Media Manager candidate is a critical thinker who is proactive and decisive, brings an analytical mindset and a proven track record in growth media for ecommerce and DTC brands, and treats AI-driven buying tools as something to steer rather than something to trust blindly. Signal keeps degrading, platforms keep consolidating and automation keeps absorbing the manual work. Staying ahead of that shift is pivotal to the success of this position.

As a Senior Manager, this role will be responsible for mentoring and training team members but will not have direct management responsibilities.

The Work

• Lead strategic media recommendations with supporting rationale

• Show command over management of client relationships

• Develop, present and execute full-funnel, cross-channel media strategies and plans that hit ecommerce performance targets

• Apply expertise to collaborate with channel teams across paid social and paid search

• Own cross-channel budget allocation and forecasting, using media mix modeling and incrementality read-outs to move spend toward what earns it

• Partner with analytics team to run incrementality tests, including geo-lift, holdout and platform conversion-lift studies, and translate the results into media decisions

• Partner with client creative teams or Backbone creative on testing frameworks (hypothesis, volume, iteration) and deliver clear reads on what won and why

• Manage buy stewardship, analyze campaigns and recommend tactical changes to maximize campaign performance

• Collaborate with digital operations to ensure measurement infrastructure is in place, including server-side tracking, conversions APIs and clean data feeds into the attribution stack

• Confidently collaborate with internal teams across channels, analytics, trafficking, and finance

• Manage day-to-day plan changes and maintenance of media plans

• Successfully manages, tracks and balances client budgets and cash on hand

• Respond to client requests, compiling appropriate data and analysis

• Analyzes research to develop strategies and tactics

• Oversee and train junior staff

The Essentials

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

• 4-7 years of relevant experience in growth media, performance marketing or paid media

• Hands-on experience with at least one ecommerce measurement platform: Triple Whale, Prescient AI, Northbeam, Rockerbox, Haus, Measured, or similar.

Your Capabilities

• Strong written and verbal communication skills with peers, clients, and strategic partners

• Quantitative and analytical mindset, with the ability to perform complex analyses and translate into actionable strategies

• Comprehensive knowledge of digital media and growth marketing strategies for direct-to-consumer businesses

• Comprehensive knowledge of growth marketing measurement and key metrics, including CAC, MER, ROAS, iROAS, contribution margin and LTV:CAC

• Comprehensive knowledge of attribution, incrementality testing and media mix modeling, including how to reconcile platform-reported results with MMM and lift studies

• Strong understanding of zero-based performance budgeting using the metrics above

• Experience with data visualization and storytelling

• Proficient in digital media platforms, metrics, capabilities, ad formats and operations, including AI-driven campaign types

• Comfort working with first-party data: server-side tracking, conversions APIs, and Shopify or CDP data flows

• Proactive use of AI tools along with excellent judgement regarding AI delegation

• Certifications for Google Ads, Google Analytics (GA4) and Meta Blueprint

• Demonstrated ability to prioritize requests, multi-task and meet tight deadlines

• Comprehensive working knowledge of Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets

• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint)
  
  

The Extra Mile

• Programmatic and CTV experience with The Trade Desk or Google DV360

• Experience with Amazon Ads and Amazon DSP, or other retail media networks such as Walmart Connect, Instacart or Target Roundel

• Experience with affiliate, creator and influencer paid amplification

• Knowledgeable in SEM and SEO, including how AI search surfaces are changing organic discovery

• Experience managing and/or optimizing a Shopify storefront, including CRO and post-click testing

• Basic understanding of public relations, community management and lifecycle or retention marketing

• Understanding of Backbone’s core values

• A love of the outdoors

• A sense of humor
  
  

Be you, on our team. We seek to build an inclusive team and culture that values diverse lived experiences, backgrounds and skill sets.

Salary: $75,000-$90,000 annually plus benefits, depending on experience

Comprehensive Benefits:

· Medical coverage (including Employer 100% paid option)

· Dental coverage

· 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 workplace — 2 days per week in office

About Backbone: We are the country’s leading active lifestyle media agency. For 29 years, Backbone has partnered with brands big and small to develop and execute effective, integrated media strategies. With offices in Carbondale and Denver, Colorado, Backbone has been consistently included on Outside Magazine’s “Best Places to Work” list.

Please no phone calls regarding job inquiries.

Backbone provides equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.