Director, Connected Commerce and Media (Hybrid - Atlanta, GA)

Our Customer is an American multinational beverage corporation headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Their many interests include the manufacturing, retailing, and marketing of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. They are passionate about beverages around the world, with around 200 brands and 700,000+ employees across the company and bottling partners. They take deliberate action to nurture an inclusive culture that is grounded in their company purpose, to refresh the world and make a difference. They believe their culture is one of the reasons their company continues to thrive after 130+ years.

We are seeking a Director on a contract basis who will support the Customer’s business needs. This role is Hybrid (3 days in office, 2 days remote)

NOTE: Candidates must have their own laptops, the customer is not providing laptops to contractors at this time

Details:

• Great marketing begins with human insights: understanding what consumers want, connecting our brands to meaningful occasions, and making it easier for consumers and shoppers to choose The Client portfolio wherever and however they transact.
• As Director, Connected Commerce and Media, you will partner with Brand, Human Insights, Front Line Marketing, Commercial, Customer and Content teams to build a holistic, transaction-driving media strategy across top retail, commerce, foodservice and emerging commerce ecosystems. This role owns the “action to transaction” portion of the end-to-end marketing model, ensuring the right audience receives the right message at the right moment to drive measurable purchase, revenue growth, household penetration, brand equity, and customer conversion.
• The ideal candidate has deep expertise in retail media networks, shoppable media, audience strategy and decisioning, clean rooms, marketing mix modeling/attribution, incrementality measurement, data analytics, and AI-enabled optimization. This leader will possess familiarity with omnichannel planning and activation in order to effectively translate business objectives into connected commerce big bets, govern investment across retail media partners, manage external agencies and vendors, and build repeatable capabilities that improve performance across the portfolio.

Responsibilities:

• Connected Commerce Strategy & End-to-End Media Planning
• Lead customer connected commerce/ retail media strategy and plan development across retail, eCommerce marketplace, delivery/FSA and foodservice ecosystems as part of the end-to-end marketing model.
• Translate brand objectives, commercial priorities, customer opportunities, and company strategic vision into actionable transaction-driving plans and measurable investment recommendations.
• Own the portfolio approach to shoppable and conversion media, ensuring plans connect brand demand creation to purchase behavior and transaction outcomes in retail.
• Partner with Customer Leadership teams to embed commerce media into Joint Business Planning, customer growth strategies, and annual planning moments.

Data-Driven Audience Planning & Insights

• Leverage consumer, shopper, customer, bottler, and business data to determine who to engage, where to reach them, which messaging should be prioritized, and how to optimize across the path to purchase.
• Apply advanced analytics including look-alike modeling, propensity scoring, segmentation, occasion-based targeting, first-party data, customer data, and unified data platform capabilities to refine audience strategy.
• Develop scalable commerce audience products and transaction-driving segments that can be activated across RMNs, programmatic, CTV, search, social, loyalty, and delivery platforms.
• Guide clean room, data collaboration, identity resolution, and privacy-compliant audience activation strategies with retailers, platforms, and agency partners.

Retail Media & Platform Governance

• Provide subject matter expertise and thought leadership on retail media networks, shoppable media, conversion media, paid search, social commerce, programmatic commerce, CTV commerce, and emerging transaction-driving channels.
• Establish RMN and commerce media investment governance, including partner scorecards, performance benchmarks, measurement requirements, test-and-learn priorities, and portfolio allocation recommendations.
• Partner with agency and investment teams to optimize buying practices, standardize planning inputs, and improve transparency, efficiency, and accountability across commerce and RMN investments.

Measurement & Business Impact

• Assess program results and deliver post-program reviews that convert learnings into future planning actions, investment shifts, creative improvements, and partner negotiation opportunities.
• Build measurement frameworks that connect impressions, engagement, search, clicks, conversion signals, transactions, revenue, brand equity, shopper behavior, and advocacy across the full path to purchase.
• Lead and unlock incrementality opportunities measured through test-and-learn plans, geo-tests, conversion lift, MMM/eMMM integration, attribution, and bespoke research where appropriate.
• Coordinate custom research with internal teams, agency partners, customers, suppliers, and analytics partners to measure ROI/ROAS across revenue growth, volume delivery, household penetration, brand equity, and shopper engagement.

Automation & Performance Optimization

• Leverage AI-enabled planning, forecasting, bidding, creative optimization, audience modeling, scenario planning, and budget allocation to improve media effectiveness and transaction growth.
• Identify opportunities to automate reporting, decisioning, and optimization routines while ensuring brand safety and that marketplace accountability remains clear.
• Test emerging capabilities such as dynamic creative optimization, agentic media workflows, predictive commerce signals, and real-time performance optimization across relevant channels.
• Partner Stewardship, Capability Building & Cross-Functional Leadership
• Develop strategies and activate programs with external media agencies, RMNs, commerce platforms, vendors, technology providers, and serve as the day-to-day contact for key deliverables and decisions.
• Identify innovative partnerships and programs that create differentiated go-to-market activity and inspire consumers and shoppers to choose The Client products.
• Navigate large cross-functional stakeholder groups across Client with the ability to use data, storytelling, and clear recommendations to influence action and outcomes.
• Build connected commerce capability across Brand, Customer, IMX, Agency, Finance, Legal, Bottler, and Commercial teams through playbooks, best practices, training, governance, and recurring performance reviews.
• Prioritize and problem-solve across multiple business and marketing challenges while managing timelines, budgets, dependencies, agency resources, and executive stakeholder expectations.

Qualifications & Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in marketing, Business, Communications, Analytics, or related field; advanced degree a plus.
• 8+ years of experience in marketing, media, connections planning, commerce media, retail media, data-driven marketing, or marketing technology.
• Advanced knowledge of retail media networks and commerce platforms, including how they plan, buy, measure, report, and optimize campaigns.
• Strong strategy development and media planning experience across online and offline channels, including digital display, mobile, video, programmatic, CTV/OTT, paid search, paid social, and shoppable media.
• Strong analytical capability with understanding of attribution, incrementality, MMM/eMMM, test design, dashboards, competitive reporting, and performance optimization.
• Experience using first-party data, customer data, clean rooms, segmentation, identity solutions, audience planning tools, and privacy-compliant activation approaches preferred.
• Ability to translate business briefs and customer objectives into media strategy, investment recommendations, measurement plans, and clear agency briefs.
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate partners, negotiate value, identify innovation opportunities, and manage agency/vendor relationships.
• Detail-oriented, commercially minded, and comfortable operating in ambiguity while balancing brand-building, customer growth, and transaction-driving outcomes.
• Exceptional communication, project management, stakeholder management, and executive storytelling skills.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, especially PowerPoint and Excel; experience with analytics, visualization, or media planning platforms a plus.

We offer a competitive salary range for this position. Most candidates who join our team are hired at the median of this range, ensuring fair and equitable compensation based on experience and qualifications.

Contractor benefits are available through our 3rd Party Employer of Record (Available upon completion of waiting period for eligible engagements) Benefits include: Medical, Dental, Vision, 401k.

An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.