Associate Director, Planning

<div class="content-intro"><p>Brainlabs is the media agency built to answer one question: what's actually driving profit? Founded in 2012 by Daniel Gilbert, we were built by engineers before we were a media agency. Today, 1,000+ Brainlabbers across five continents use our proprietary agents, built on 32 media tools and over 2,500 logged experiments, to help brands connect every channel they plan and buy to one thing: the bottom line.</p></div><p><strong>So you’re interested in becoming an Associate Director of Planning? Let's dive into what that means:</strong></p> <p><strong>Role type:</strong> Full-time<br><strong>Team: </strong>Strategy &amp; Planning <br><strong>Reporting to:</strong> Director, Strategy<br><strong>Location:</strong> New York City, New York<br><strong>Compensation: </strong>We hire candidates across our US office locations and at varying levels of experience. Our posted salary ranges reflect differences in both location and experience, with final compensation determined once a candidate’s background and location are confirmed.<br><strong>Work Authorization: </strong>Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States. We are unable to provide visa sponsorship or continuation for this position.</p> <p>As an Associate Director, Planning you will be a data-driven, performance-led media planner responsible for designing and activating cross-channel media plans that drive measurable business outcomes. This role sits at the intersection of data, media, and strategy, balancing short-term goals with long-term brand and demand growth.</p> <p><strong>In this role you will:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Translate client business objectives into outcome-driven, full-funnel media strategies that connect awareness, consideration, and conversion</li> <li>Lead the development of comprehensive cross-channel media plans, including audience strategy, campaign-level budgeting, flighting, and investment allocation</li> <li>Use performance data to inform planning decisions, diagnose issues, and drive optimization, incorporating historical performance, testing results, and learning agendas into future strategies</li> <li>Design robust audience strategies leveraging first-party data, platform-native audiences, and second-/third-party data sources</li> <li>Operate with a test-and-learn mindset, setting clear hypotheses and building structured testing roadmaps in partnership with data and client teams</li> <li>Bring a performance lens to innovation, incorporating emerging media opportunities, new formats, and AI-enabled tools to improve efficiency and effectiveness in planning</li> <li>Partner cross-functionally to ensure tight integration between