Sr Manager Media Strategy

Responsibilities

• CATEGORY STRATEGY & BUSINESS PLANNING - Lead media strategy across the category portfolio, ensuring individual category strategies align to Ulta Beauty business priorities, UB Media advertiser objectives, guest insights, and enterprise media opportunities while identifying opportunities that span categories and create broader enterprise value.
• This Lead cross-category strategic planning for annual planning, seasonal moments, and key enterprise initiatives, identifying opportunities that extend beyond individual categories or campaigns.
• Guide Managers in developing category roadmaps and strategic recommendations, providing senior-level consultation on complex business opportunities, investment decisions, and stakeholder needs.
• Partner with Merchandising, UB Media Sales, Analytics, Integrated Marketing, Core Media, and agency leadership to identify category growth opportunities and align media priorities across the organization.
• Identify opportunities to drive incremental revenue through advertiser investment, innovative media solutions, and scalable cross-functional partnerships and develop client-facing materials for Sellers to present to advertisers.
• Synthesize category performance, consumer trends, competitive activity, and marketplace developments to identify broader implications and inform future business and media strategy.
• AUDIENCE STRATEGY - Own paid media audience strategy across Core and UB Media, defining and evolving audience-first planning principles, frameworks, and capabilities that improve media effectiveness and business outcomes.
• Partner with Business Strategy, Analytics, CRM, agency teams, and other cross-functional partners to translate consumer insights and first-party data into actionable paid media audience strategies.
• Guide the application of audience strategy across category and integrated media plans, connecting audience selection, customer journeys, channel activation, and business objectives to improve media effectiveness.
• Establish audience planning best practices and frameworks that enable consistent application, measurement, and learning across the organization.

Requirements

• Minimum 10 years of experience developing integrated media strategies across traditional and digital channels – with a current emphasis on social and digital channels
• Experience leading integrated media strategy across multiple channels, business units, or stakeholder groups.
• 3+ years of experience leading complex media strategy and activation across audience-driven, performance, brand, and/or retail media initiatives.
• 3+ years of management experience
• Deep understanding of the media landscape, media consumption, and how to connect strategic thought leadership with activation across digital and traditional channels
• Strong understanding of consumer behavior, culture, media consumption, and category dynamics, with demonstrated ability to translate those insights into actionable media strategies.
• Strong understanding of audience-first marketing and the application of first-party data within media planning and activation.
• Able to manage multiple priorities from different parts of the business and influence resource allocation based on business impact
• Experience motivating and inspiring partner teams towards shared goals, translating channel needs and results for the context in which they are delivered
• Strong critical thinking and communication skills (written and verbal) – comfortable leading, presenting and contributing at all levels