Vice President, Paid Media & Retail bei Dairy Management Inc.

Description

Rosemont, Illinois, United States (in-office Tuesday through Thursday; visa sponsorship and relocation are not available for this position)

People. Planet. Community.

Dairy’s journey starts on the farm, and the road we travel demonstrates our unwavering commitment to sustainable nutrition, as our farmers provide lasting and meaningful nourishment to people, the planet and our communities, both urban and rural.

We are a nonprofit organization located in the greater Chicagoland area and we're always looking for talented people to join our team who share the passion and motivation to promote the goodness of dairy.

Position Summary

We are seeking a dynamic and versatile Vice President to join our Marketing, Communications, and Affairs team. This role will lead and scale Dairy Management Inc.’s paid media efforts across retail media networks, e-commerce platforms, and strategic media partnerships.

This executive leader will define and implement paid B2B2C and commerce-enabled channel strategies that engage key audiences — including consumers, customers, and industry stakeholders — with dairy’s benefits, industry news, and actions. The role requires deep expertise in retail media and e-commerce campaign development, with the ability to connect media investment to sales performance, shopper behavior, and broader brand objectives.

The VP will partner with cross-functional national and local teams, including agencies, to build integrated campaigns, optimize performance, and grow impact across traditional, digital, and commerce media ecosystems.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Planning

• Lead the development and execution of comprehensive paid media strategies across digital, retail media networks (e.g., retailer onsite, offsite, and in-store media), e-commerce, and media partnerships in support of organizational goals.
• Ensure retail media and e-commerce strategies are fully integrated with broader marketing, communications, and brand initiatives — supporting both awareness and conversion objectives.
• Define the role of paid commerce media within the full consumer and shopper journey, from upper-funnel education to point-of-purchase activation.
• Provide day-to-day media agency oversight and collaborate closely with other MCA leaders to ensure integrated planning, alignment, and execution across channels.

Channel, Retail Media & E-commerce Campaign Management

• Oversee multi-channel paid media programs including paid search, paid social, display, programmatic, retail media networks, and e-commerce-driven placements.
• Lead strategic planning and activation across key retail and commerce partners, ensuring campaigns are optimized for shopper relevance, timing, and performance.
• Set strategic direction for channel mix, audience targeting, creative approach, messaging frameworks, and budget allocation across brand and commerce objectives.
• Optimize campaigns end-to-end — from planning and activation through measurement, sales impact analysis, and reporting.

Retail Media, Sales Data & Performance Analytics

• Establish KPIs and measurement frameworks that connect paid media performance to commerce outcomes, including sales lift, conversion, ROAS, and retailer-specific metrics.
• Analyze and interpret retail sales, shopper, and e-commerce data to inform optimization, future investment decisions, and strategic recommendations.
• Translate complex performance and sales data into clear insights and narratives for senior leadership and cross-functional partners.
• Leverage retailer and platform data to refine audience strategies, test new approaches, and scale successful tactics.

Media Partnerships & Vendor Relations

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with media partners, publishers, retail media networks, and platform representatives.
• Evaluate, negotiate, and structure media and retail partnerships that deliver incremental value, innovation, and measurable business impact.
• Stay current on evolving retail media capabilities and emerging commerce platforms to ensure DMI remains competitive and forward-looking.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate closely with creative, content, insights, and communications teams to ensure paid media — including retail and e-commerce — is fully integrated with messaging and storytelling.
• Engage with and support regional (State & Region) business development and marketing teams on local retail efforts for national/local collaboration on multi-channel paid media programs, including management of backend technology platform.
• Partner with e-commerce, Strategic Intelligence, retail and partnership teams to align media strategy with sales priorities, retailer partner needs, and performance insights.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to senior leadership on paid media, retail media, and e-commerce trends, opportunities, and risks.

Thought Leadership

• Stay abreast of industry trends, emerging retail media models, commerce innovation, and new technologies — including AI, automation, and advanced measurement — to elevate DMI’s paid media capabilities.

New Hire Salary Range -- $140,000-$185,000 annually. This is a salary range that DMI believes, at the time of this posting, that it might be willing to pay for the posted job in the location specified.

Requirements

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, business, or a related field.
• 10+ years of progressively responsible experience in paid media, performance marketing, or digital marketing leadership roles.
• Demonstrated senior-level experience leading retail media and e-commerce campaigns, ideally across multiple retailer platforms, and integrating them into broader brand and communications strategies.
• Proven ability to analyze and interpret sales, shopper, and e-commerce performance data to drive optimization and strategic decisions.
• Track record managing media budgets and delivering measurable ROI across both brand and commerce objectives.

Skills & Competencies

• Deep understanding of digital marketing, retail media ecosystems, e-commerce platforms, and performance measurement frameworks.
• Strong analytical capabilities with the ability to connect media investment to sales and business outcomes.
• Strategic thinker who can balance long-term brand building with near-term commerce performance.
• Strong negotiation skills and experience managing agency and media partner relationships.
• Exceptional leadership, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, data-driven decision-making, and continuous learning.
• Provide coaching, performance management, and development planning for direct reports.

Preferred Attributes

• Experience in CPG, food & beverage, retail, or agency environments with a strong commerce orientation.
• Familiarity with complex, multi-stakeholder or industry-led marketing organizations.
• Experience driving media innovation and scaling new retail media or commerce capabilities

Benefits

We know that in order to meet our goal of growing dairy demand, we need the best people. We offer competitive compensation and generous benefits to help our employees balance their work and personal lives. Our office is conveniently located, taking less than 10 minutes to walk from CTA's Blue Line Rosemont station. We offer regular and chocolate milk on tap.

Our comprehensive health and welfare plans offer medical, dental, vision, paid parental leave, life, short-term and long-term disability and flexible spending accounts (health care, dependent care, transit and parking). Our 401k provides up to a 10% match and includes a Roth account. DMI reserves the right to change or end its benefits plans or programs at any time.

Dairy Management Inc.™ is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer committed to the principles of diversity. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, ethnicity, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

ABOUT DAIRY MANAGEMENT INC.

Dairy Management Inc.™ (DMI) is funded by America’s nearly 28,000 dairy farmers, as well as dairy importers. Created to help increase sales and demand for dairy products, DMI and its related organizations work to increase demand for dairy through research, education and innovation, and to maintain confidence in dairy foods, farms and businesses. DMI manages National Dairy Council and the American Dairy Association, and founded the U.S. Dairy Export Council and the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. DMI works with state and regional promotion organizations to implement these programs across the country.

We regret it is not possible to communicate with candidates except those who most closely match our requirements. Thank you.