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 Director of Performance Media leads our performance paid media practice and the client relationships that depend on it, with a particular focus on ecommerce and DTC brands. You will own cross-channel paid media strategy across paid social, paid search, retail media, programmatic and emerging channels, and you will lead the people who build and run it. This is a senior seat. You set the standard the work is measured against, you sit across the table from client executives, and you are accountable for whether the media investment actually moves the business.

The job does not stop at acquisition. You will connect media spend to customer economics, working in contribution margin, payback period and LTV:CAC rather than platform-reported ROAS, and you will partner with lifecycle and retention teams so the customers we buy are worth buying. When a client’s CFO asks what the marketing budget bought them, you are the person who answers.

The ideal candidate has seen this from both sides. You have led accounts at an agency and you have carried a number inside a brand, or you have worked closely enough with brand-side finance to think the way they think. You are a critical thinker who is proactive and decisive, you build teams that outlast your tenure, and you treat 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, and bringing the team with you, is pivotal to the success of this position.

Over time, this role will carry direct management responsibility for a team of growth media practitioners and is accountable for their workload, development and career growth.

The Work

• Own growth media strategy for a portfolio of ecommerce and DTC clients, and stand behind the recommendations with clear rationale

• Serve as the senior growth media voice in the client relationship, counseling marketing and executive leadership through annual planning, quarterly business reviews and budget decisions

• Frame media investment in the language of the client’s business: contribution margin, payback period, customer lifetime value and profit

• Build forecasts, scenario plans and zero-based budgets, then hold the work accountable to them

• Own cross-channel budget allocation across paid social, paid search, programmatic, retail media, and emerging channels, moving spend toward what’s working

• Partner with the Analytics team to set the measurement standard for growth media at Backbone, including incrementality testing, media mix modeling and how we reconcile both with platform reporting

• Partner with Analytics to design and read geo-lift, holdout and platform conversion-lift studies, and translate the results into media decisions clients can act on

• Directly and indirectly manage, mentor and develop a team of growth media practitioners, including workload, performance and career paths

• Hire for the practice and build the bench as the book of business grows

• Connect acquisition to retention, partnering with lifecycle, CRM and client teams so paid investment compounds after the first order

• Collaborate with Paid Social Team to direct the creative testing agenda with Backbone creative and client creative teams, including hypothesis, volume and iteration, and deliver honest reads on what won and why

• Partner with digital operations on measurement infrastructure, including server-side tracking, conversions APIs and clean data feeds into the attribution stack

• Build the playbooks, benchmarks and templates the rest of the Media team runs on for growth media clients

• Contribute to new business by scoping, pitching and presenting growth media approaches to prospective clients

• Own account health, scope and profitability alongside account leadership, and say so early when the work and the fee no longer match

• Manage platform and vendor partner relationships, and evaluate new buying and measurement tools before we put a client’s budget behind them

• Represent Backbone’s point of view on growth media in client forums, industry conversations and published work

The Essentials

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

• 10+ years of relevant experience in growth media, performance marketing or paid media, including time leading ecommerce or DTC accounts

• 3+ years managing and developing people, with direct reports

• Demonstrated ownership of media budgets at meaningful scale, with personal accountability for efficiency and profitability targets

• Experience counseling and presenting to senior client stakeholders, including finance and executive audiences

• 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, executives and strategic partners

• Ability to take a complex analysis and land it as a clear recommendation someone can decide on

• Quantitative and analytical mindset, with the ability to perform complex analyses and translate them 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

• Working fluency in customer economics, including cohort analysis, payback period and how marketing investment shows up in a P&L

• 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

• A track record of building and growing teams, not only managing them

• 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 competing client demands, 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

• Brand-side experience owning an in-house marketing budget, or agency-side leadership of large multinational accounts

• Experience reporting marketing performance and profitability to private equity sponsors or a board

• Depth in retention and lifecycle marketing, including email, SMS, loyalty and winback programs, in Klaviyo or similar

• 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

• New-business pitch experience and a hand in growing accounts organically

• Basic understanding of public relations and community management

• 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: $125,000-$145,000 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 Media: 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.