Finn Partners
Global integrated marketing communications agency
Associate Media Director - Performance
About the job
- A Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
- At least 5 years of media, performance marketing, or advertising agency experience.
- Proven experience developing and executing performance media strategies across multiple channels.
- Strong hands-on knowledge of paid search, paid social, and/or programmatic media.
- Experience managing significant client budgets and making investment decisions based on performance and business objectives.
- Strong understanding of the full marketing funnel and how channels work together to drive awareness, consideration, leads, and conversions.
- Strong analytical skills and the ability to translate campaign data into actionable insights.
- Experience developing measurement frameworks, key performance indicators, and performance reporting.
- Experience using data and audience insights to inform targeting, optimisation, and media strategy.
- Strong client management and presentation skills.
- Leadership experience, including mentoring and developing junior team members.
- Experience with new business pitches and proposal development.
- Strong understanding of major self-serve media platforms, including Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
- Experience using GPT or artificial intelligence tools to improve quality, accuracy, and speed of work.
- Proficiency with reporting and dashboard platforms, including Ninjacat and Funnel, or similar tools.
- Familiarity with artificial intelligence tools including Gemini, OpenAI, Copilot, and Claude, for planning, research, and reporting workflows.
- Strong working knowledge of Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, and other paid media platforms.
- Experience with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager.
- Experience with Google Campaign Manager and/or other ad serving and measurement platforms.
- Strong understanding of attribution, conversion tracking, and digital measurement.
- Experience with Account-Based Marketing and audience targeting strategies.
- Strong proficiency in Google Workspace, particularly Sheets, Docs, and Slides.
- Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.
- Ability to conduct critical analysis and identify meaningful insights.
- Strong written, verbal, and visual communication skills.
- Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.
- Solid project management and organisational skills.
- High accuracy and attention to detail.
- Ability to manage multiple accounts, priorities, and deadlines.
- Ability to build relationships and collaborate effectively across teams.
- Ability to rally teams around new solutions and ways of working.
- Lead performance media strategy and planning across multiple client accounts, ensuring activity aligns with business and marketing objectives.
- Develop full-funnel performance strategies across paid search, paid social, programmatic, and other digital channels.
- Own the development and presentation of media plans, forecasts, budgets, and performance recommendations.
- Oversee end-to-end management of paid media campaigns from planning and activation through optimisation and reporting.
- Provide strategic direction across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, and programmatic platforms.
- Lead campaign optimisation using performance data, audience insights, and business outcomes.
- Establish and monitor key performance indicators, measurement frameworks, and reporting approaches aligned with client objectives.
- Analyse campaign performance and turn data into insights, recommendations, and actions for clients.
- Act as a senior performance media lead in client meetings, presentations, and new business pitches.
- Build client relationships and provide proactive strategic guidance on performance media.
- Collaborate with brand media team members to develop integrated strategies aligning brand and performance media channels and tactics.
- Collaborate with Account, Strategy, Creative, and Analytics teams to develop integrated campaigns.
- Mentor and manage performance media specialists, providing coaching, feedback, and professional development support.
- Manage performance reviews, goal setting, and career development for team members.
- Ensure campaigns and deliverables are accurate, on strategy, and delivered on time.
- Stay current with developments across platforms, technology, audience targeting, measurement, and performance media.
- Support new business through strategic ideation, media planning, scoping, proposal development, and presentations.
- Champion artificial intelligence and emerging technologies to improve work quality, efficiency, and effectiveness.
- Experience with programmatic platforms and/or demand-side platforms.
- A curious, proactive approach and enthusiasm for emerging media technologies and trends.
About the company
Finn Partners is a global integrated marketing and communications agency with 18 offices across three continents and more than 700 colleagues. It delivers a range of services that help brands communicate with audiences through coordinated PR, marketing, digital, and strategic communications programs. The core product is integrated campaigns that combine media relations, content, events, digital tactics, and stakeholder engagement into a single, cohesive effort managed across regions and disciplines. Finn Partners differentiates itself through its collaborative, “new agency” model that blends a 60-year legacy in the industry with speed and energy from today’s hi-tech world, a culture focused on “amazing” work and workplace communities, and a track record of rapid growth, recognition, and awards. The company’s goal is to create meaningful, impactful communications work for clients while building a positive, inclusive workplace and contributing to the communities it serves.
Company Size
501-1,000
Company Stage
N/A
Total Funding
N/A
Headquarters
Chicago, Illinois
Founded
2011
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- 2026 Minneapolis, Columbus, and Hyderabad openings expand revenue capture in fast-growing hubs.
- Honner's July 2026 acquisition plugs FINN into Australia's AU$4.5 trillion superannuation market.
- Textron Aviation and AIristotle wins signal stronger new-business momentum in 2025-2026.
What critics are saying
- 2024 Southern District of New York qui tam case still names Finn Partners Inc.
- 2026 workforce data shows a 5% decline since 2023, signaling margin pressure.
- Independent agencies face talent churn; losing senior rainmakers like Marty McDonald hurts client retention.
What makes Finn Partners unique
- 2025-09 AIristotle gives FINN proprietary algorithm-focused communications tooling.
- 2026 acquisitions add Honner's Australian financial-services bench and RICE's Southeast Asia reach.
- 2026 Midwest and Hyderabad expansions show global independent scale across travel, health, and GCCs.
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Benefits
Flexible Work Hours
Company News
FINN Partners has opened a new office in Columbus, Ohio, appointing Marty McDonald as managing partner and Midwest deputy. The move expands the independent marketing and communications agency's US presence into one of the Midwest's fastest-growing business hubs. McDonald will lead the Columbus office whilst supporting regional growth, working alongside Dan Pooley, founding managing partner and Midwest lead. She will also join FINN's global travel leadership team. Previously, McDonald spent over two decades at Fahlgren Mortine, most recently as the agency's first female president. In her new role, she will focus on B2B and B2C organisations, particularly in domestic tourism, economic development, healthcare, and logistics sectors. The downtown Columbus office is set to open in September 2026. FINN Partners now operates 38 offices globally with more than 1,300 professionals.
FINN Partners has appointed Udit Joshi as Partner to lead its expanded Hyderabad office. The move strengthens the agency's presence in the Indian city, which is becoming increasingly important for Global Capability Centres in pharmaceuticals, life sciences, medtech, and technology. Joshi will oversee an integrated offering spanning corporate communications, executive positioning, employer branding, public affairs, and digital engagement. The office will support organisations navigating communications between India's scientific talent and international markets, particularly the US. Managing Partner Aman Gupta noted that Hyderabad combines an established pharmaceutical ecosystem with substantial technology and engineering capabilities. The city's GCCs are evolving beyond operational support to lead global research, development, and innovation. The expanded operation connects clients with FINN Partners' expertise across India, the US, and its network of over 37 offices globally.
FINN Partners has acquired Honner, a Sydney-based financial and corporate communications agency with 25 employees. The deal establishes FINN's presence in Australia and expands its Asia Pacific footprint to approximately 250 professionals across 37 global offices. Honner will operate as "Honner, A FINN Partners Company". Founder Philippa Honner joins FINN as managing partner and APAC financial services practice leader. The acquisition targets Australia's growing investment sector, particularly its AU$4.5 trillion superannuation market — one of the world's largest retirement savings pools, projected to reach AU$8.3 trillion in the early 2030s. FINN APAC now generates approximately $19 million in fees, representing nearly 10% of the firm's global revenue. The deal follows FINN's recent acquisition of RICE Communications and builds on its established Australian client base including the Art Gallery of New South Wales and Destination New South Wales.
FINN Partners and WifOR Institute have launched "From Cost to Catalyst", a global initiative designed to help governments and industry quantify health spending as an economic investment rather than a budgetary burden. The partnership was unveiled at the World Health Assembly in Geneva. The initiative combines WifOR Institute's health economics expertise with FINN Partners' communications capabilities to provide economic impact modelling, policy platforms and stakeholder engagement strategies. Services include quantifying health's contribution to workforce participation and translating evidence into policy influence. The partnership addresses a growing policy gap across Europe and beyond, where evidence supporting health investment exists but remains disconnected from budget decision-makers. The timing coincides with increased momentum in countries like France to integrate health into fiscal planning and ongoing EU health technology assessment reforms.
NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ - FINN Partners today announced the launch of AIristotle(TM), a proprietary new AI platform that addresses an important missing link in most communications strategies: understanding and aligning with the algorithms that serve as information gatekeepers.