Director of Earned Media

Reports to: Managing Director

Sensis is seeking an experienced, dynamic and motivated marketing technology leader to join our senior management team. 

The Director of Earned Media will oversee our agency’s PR and social media services practice, leading a team of public relations, social media, and content marketing professionals in delivering cutting-edge earned media solutions to our growing roster of clients. We are looking for an entrepreneur and seasoned business person who knows how to run and grow an agency, if not more, than a pure technologist.
 
Sensis is a unique agency – we got our start building websites in 1998, but have grown into a full service advertising agency providing a unique cross-cultural approach to reaching the diverse marketplace. We executed our first social media campaign for L.A. County Department of Public Health in 2007, and have led numerous integrated marketing campaigns with PR elements through outside partners.  Our unique agency model focuses on integration of ethnic markets (e.g. Hispanic, African-American, Asian and “general markets”) and marketing capabilities (creative, paid media, earned media strategy, and technology).
 
Our earned media practice consists of a team of 3.5 professionals executing PR and social media programs for 10 different clients in the higher education, government, beverage, software, utility and non-profit space.
 
What We Are Looking For
Although we have started our fledging earned media practice, we are looking to optimize and scale this high potential business to the next level. The Director will focus on the following key areas:

• Optimizing staffing, both onsite and through contract teams to respond appropriately to existing and incoming work of varying budget and priority levels
• Manage the P&L for the earned media practice with responsibility for performance (both growth and profitability)
• Aggressively grow the business through a combination of cultivating existing clients, rolodex, networking, new business RFPs and vision
• Implement best-in-class processes to improve how we operate, from the nuts-and-bolts of executing effective PR and social media programs for clients to working internally with Account, Creative, Media and Strategy team members, etc.

 
All sides of our earned media team – 1 social media manager, 1 PR/social media manager, and 1 content writer - would report into this position for leadership and guidance.  We currently have a contract PR professional serving as the interim Director of Earned Media.
 
The ideal candidate will be a Senior-level individual who has exposure, understanding and experience in across the PR, social media, and advertising, both in general and multicultural markets and able to share their experiences to the maximum benefit of our team and customers. 


Qualifications
The executive must have an entrepreneurial spirit, exhibit a high degree of leadership, and be a strong contributor to an aggressive growth plan.  The ideal candidate will possess the following:

• BS Degree in Computer Science or similar field (MS is highly desirable)
• Experience with a PR/Social Media/Digital agency or hands-on experience running their own PR agency or practice
• 8+ years of senior level PR operations and management experience
• Experience in multicultural markets – ideally across Hispanic, African-American and Asian markets
• Strong media relationships – across mainstream and ethnic media
• Strong digital influencer relationships – including bloggers, social media personalities, etc.
• Hands on experience working with social and traditional media monitoring tools (e.g. Cision, Radian6), social media workflow tools (e.g. HootSuite)
• Comfort and experience in business development and client interaction
• Managed and scaled a small team into a mid-sized team
• Positive, enthusiastic attitude with great teamwork and interpersonal skills, reflecting the ability to interact with cross- departmental groups
• Ability to work under pressure and solve problems using an analytical approach; decisive, fast moving; quick and constructive resolutions of conflicts; and a can-do mentality

 
Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead Earned Media practice
• Actively manage a P&L for our earned media practice
• Traveling to client meetings and new business pitches, in and around Southern California, Washington, DC, and Atlanta, GA
• Be a role model, a mentor and a coach
• Ongoing, effective communication among the organization on systems performance (both good and bad)
  • With the Creative team as it relates to creative department challenges
  • With the internal Tech/PM team as it relates to opportunities for improvement
  • With the Account team as it relates to overall client deliverables/goals
  • With the Business Development team as it relates to new opportunities
  • With Management as far as ‘big picture’ thinking
• Model infrastructure growth and create plans for meeting that growth

 
Please submit resume, cover letter, portfolio if required and answer all questions in our online interface for consideration.

About Sensis

Sensis is a cross-cultural marketing agency driving behavior change. Moving beyond cultural boxes, we create useful, digitally relevant content to drive consumer action. Ads don't work. Content does. Because people experience content. To change behavior, you need to engage people first-through useful, digitally relevant means. These are the tools we use to build engagement, spark motivation and drive action among the cultures our clients look to influence. Along with our integrated advertising services, Sensis offerings include specialty practices SensisHealth, SensisChallenges and SensisCMO.
In addition to a competitive compensation package, we offer a generous amount of paid time off (PTO), paid holidays, health/dental/vision insurance, a 401(k) plan, along with other benefits.