Associate Director, Planning
Brainlabs
| Company | Brainlabs |
| Category | Operations & Admin |
| Location | United States |
| Remote | On-site (inferred) |
| Employment | Not stated |
| Level | Director |
| Salary | Not stated by the employer |
| Posted | 9 Jun 2026 |
| Last verified | 3 Aug 2026 |
| Source | Employer ATS (greenhouse) |
Description
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. So you’re interested in becoming an Associate Director of Planning? Let's dive into what that means:
Role type: Full-time Team: Strategy & Planning Reporting to: Director, Strategy Location: New York City, New York Compensation: 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. Work Authorization: Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States. We are unable to provide visa sponsorship or continuation for this position.
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.
In this role you will:
Translate client business objectives into outcome-driven, full-funnel media strategies that connect awareness, consideration, and conversion
Lead the development of comprehensive cross-channel media plans, including audience strategy, campaign-level budgeting, flighting, and investment allocation
Use performance data to inform planning decisions, diagnose issues, and drive optimization, incorporating historical performance, testing results, and learning agendas into future strategies
Design robust audience strategies leveraging first-party data, platform-native audiences, and second-/third-party data sources
Operate with a test-and-learn mindset, setting clear hypotheses and building structured testing roadmaps in partnership with data and client teams
Bring a performance lens to innovation, incorporating emerging media opportunities, new formats, and AI-enabled tools to improve efficiency and effectiveness in planning
Partner cross-functionally to ensure tight integration between data, creative, media, and strategy throughout the planning and activation process
Work closely with the data team on measurement and reporting, ensuring a holistic view of performance with clear, actionable insights
Serve as the day-to-day client lead and trusted advisor on media, performance, and optimization
Present media strategies, results, and recommendations to senior client stakeholders with clarity and confidence
Contribute thought leadership on industry trends, media innovation, and evolving best practices
We’re looking for someone who has:
4+ years of experience in media planning, with deep digital and performance media expertise
Experience working on performance-driven accounts (e.g., leads, sign-ups, donations, subscriptions), ideally within the Non-Profit sector or on large-scale clients ($30M+ in annual media spend)
A proven track record of developing and executing full-funnel, cross-channel media strategies that balance efficiency with growth
Deep understanding of the digital media landscape, including programmatic, social, and search
Strong experience with media planning and optimization tools (incl. Commspoint, Nielsen Media Impact, Comscore, Ad Intel, etc.)
Demonstrated expertise in audience strategy and segmentation, including syndicated research tools (MRI, GWI) and first-party data (predictive modeling, lookalike audiences, etc.)
Experience translating complex datasets into clear insights, implications, and recommendations
Advanced understanding of media