Digital Marketing/Communications Senior Specialist: Paid Media Activation — Programmatic, Paid Social & Paid Search

Company

Cox Automotive - USA

Marketing

Digital Marketing / Communications Sr Specialist

Individual ContributorCan work remotely but need to live in the specified city, state, or region

Yes, 5% of the time

Day

Compensation

Compensation includes a base salary in the range of $74,000.00 - $111,000.00. The base salary may vary within the anticipated base pay range based on factors such as the ultimate location of the position and the selected candidate’s knowledge, skills, and abilities. Position may be eligible for additional compensation that may include an incentive program.

*This position is remote/work from home. You need to reside within the Eastern or Central Time Zones (Atlanta is preferred). If you live near any of the office locations listed, the role will be hybrid.

The Digital Marketing / Communications Senior Specialist leads day-to-day activation of paid media campaigns across programmatic display and video, paid social, paid search, and account-based marketing in support of a subset of brands and products. This role builds and launches campaigns in demand-side and self-serve buying platforms, owns quality assurance before every launch, runs in-flight performance checks, and produces the campaign reporting that marketing partners rely on to judge results.

As paid media activation moves in-house, this role owns the operating standards that make the work repeatable: campaign taxonomy, naming conventions, QA checklists, and launch readiness criteria. The Senior Specialist works closely with the Manager on buying strategy and budget, with the Trafficker on creative and tag delivery, with Marketing Analytics on measurement and attribution requirements, and with MarTech on audience activation. Proactively recommends new platform capabilities, targeting approaches, and optimization tactics based on observed performance.

What You’ll Do

Campaign Build & Activation

• Builds and launches programmatic display and video campaigns in DV360 and partner demand-side platforms, configuring line items, inventory targeting, frequency caps, and pacing.

• Builds and launches paid social campaigns across platforms including Meta, LinkedIn, and YouTube, configuring objectives, placements, audiences, and delivery settings.

• Builds and launches paid search campaigns including keyword structure, match types, ad copy variants, extensions, negative keyword lists, and bid strategy selection.

• Configures audience targeting across retargeting, lookalike, intent-based, and first-party segments activated from the enterprise customer data platform.

• Leads day-to-day management of campaign activation across all three disciplines, sequencing build work against launch calendars and creative delivery dates.

• Coordinates with the Trafficker and respective teams on creative specifications, tag delivery, and landing page readiness ahead of go-live.

Quality Assurance, Taxonomy & Launch Governance

• Owns pre-launch quality assurance across all paid media campaigns, verifying targeting, budgets, flight dates, creative rendering, tracking, and landing page function.

• Owns campaign taxonomy and naming standards so spend and performance roll up consistently across platforms, brands, and reporting environments.

• Maintains the campaign launch checklist and enforces completion of tracking, creative, approval, and testing requirements before any campaign goes live.

• Implements version control for campaign assets and audience definitions to prevent errors from outdated materials.

• Documents build procedures and platform-specific configuration guides as the activation function is established.

In-Flight Monitoring & Optimization

• Runs scheduled in-flight performance checks, monitoring pacing, delivery, and efficiency against plan and flagging variances for resolution.

• Executes optimizations within defined guardrails, including bid adjustments, budget shifts across line items, audience refinement, and underperforming placement exclusions.

• Creates and executes test plans across ad copy, creative, audiences, and landing pages, and applies results to subsequent flights.

• Escalates delivery, inventory quality, or measurement issues to the Manager with a recommended course of action.

• Builds and maintains negative keyword lists and placement exclusion lists to improve efficiency and prevent wasted spend.

Reporting & Performance Analysis

• Produces recurring campaign reporting by platform, campaign, and audience, and provides written performance commentary to marketing partners.

• Designs and maintains paid media dashboards giving stakeholders visibility into impressions, click-through rate, cost per click, cost per lead, cost per acquisition, return on ad spend, viewability, and video completion rate.

• Conducts post-campaign analysis, documenting what performed, what did not, and what should change on the next flight.

• Partners with Marketing Analytics on conversion tracking accuracy and attribution requirements for paid media.

• Proactively reports on performance by channel and provides improvement recommendations.

Collaboration & Capability Development

• Works closely with internal channel experts and Product and Brand Marketing partners to translate campaign objectives into executable media builds.

• Identifies new platform features, ad formats, and industry trends and translates them into actionable recommendations for the paid media plan.

• Supports onboarding and knowledge sharing for specialist-level teammates and contract resources joining the activation function.

• Contributes to the paid media playbook, capturing build standards and platform best practices as they are established.

What’s in It for You?

Here’s a sneak peek at the benefits you could experience as a Cox employee:

• A competitive salary and top-notch bonus plans.
• Exceptional work-life balance, flexible time-off policies and accommodating work schedules.
• Comprehensive healthcare, with multiple options for individuals and families.
• Generous 401(k) retirement plans with company match.
• Professional development and continuing education opportunities.
• Inclusive parental leave policies, plus comprehensive fertility coverage and adoption assistance.
• Extra perks like pet insurance, employee discounts and much more.

Who You Are

Minimum:

• Bachelor’s degree in related discipline and 4 years’ experience in a related field. The right candidate could also have a different combination, such as a master’s degree and 2 years’ experience; a Ph.D. and 1 year of experience; or 8 years’ experience in a related field.
• Hands-on campaign build and activation experience across programmatic, paid social, and paid search — not planning or oversight alone.

• Demonstrated experience managing campaigns in a demand-side platform such as DV360, including line-item configuration and in-flight optimization.

• Experience supporting multiple brands or product lines in a matrixed enterprise environment.

• Analytical thinking at a skilled level; interprets campaign data, identifies root causes of underperformance, and recommends specific corrective action.

• Attention to detail; catches configuration, tracking, and creative errors before campaigns reach market.

• Process discipline; applies and improves standards for taxonomy, QA, and documentation.

• Communication; explains campaign performance and trade-offs clearly to non-technical marketing partners.

• Focuses on execution; manages concurrent campaign builds against firm launch dates with minimal guidance.

• Proficiency with DV360 or comparable demand-side platforms, Google Ads or Search Ads 360, and self-serve social buying platforms including Meta and LinkedIn, and account-based marketing platforms such as DemandScience, Terminus, or 6sense.

• Working knowledge of ad serving, tag and pixel behavior, and conversion tracking configuration.

• Fluency in media math including CPM, CPC, CPA, CPL, ROAS, viewability, reach, and frequency.

• Experience building reporting in a visualization environment such as Tableau, DOMO, or Power BI, and advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel.

• Familiarity with audience activation from a customer data platform such as Salesforce Data Cloud, and with project management platforms such as Monday.com.

Preferred:

• B2B paid media experience preferred.

Join the Cox family of businesses and make your mark today!

To be employed in this role, you’ll need to clear a pre-employment drug test. Cox Automotive does not currently administer a pre-employment drug test for marijuana for this position. However, we are a drug-free workplace, so the possession, use or being under the influence of drugs illegal under federal or state law during work hours, on company property and/or in company vehicles is prohibited.

The Company offers eligible employees the flexibility to take as much vacation with pay as they deem consistent with their duties, the company’s needs, and its obligations; seven paid holidays throughout the calendar year; and up to 160 hours of paid wellness annually for their own wellness or that of family members. Employees are also eligible for additional paid time off in the form of bereavement leave, time off to vote, jury duty leave, volunteer time off, military leave, and parental leave.Through groundbreaking technology and a commitment to stellar experiences for drivers and dealers alike, Cox Automotive employees are transforming the way the world buys, owns, sells – or simply uses – cars. Cox Automotive employees get to work on iconic consumer brands like Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book and industry-leading dealer-facing companies like vAuto and Manheim, all while enjoying the people-centered atmosphere that is central to our life at Cox. Benefits of working at Cox may include health care insurance (medical, dental, vision), retirement planning (401(k)), and paid days off (sick leave, parental leave, flexible vacation/wellness days, and/or PTO). For more details on what benefits you may be offered, visit our benefits page. Cox is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer – All qualified applicants/employees will receive consideration for employment without regard to that individual’s age, race, color, religion or creed, national origin or ancestry, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, physical or mental disability, veteran status, genetic information, ethnicity, citizenship, or any other characteristic protected by law. Cox provides reasonable accommodations when requested by a qualified applicant or employee with disability, unless such accommodations would cause an undue hardship.

EOE, including disability/vets

Applicants must currently be authorized to work in the United States for any employer without current or future sponsorship. No OPT, CPT, STEM/OPT or visa sponsorship now or in future.

About Us

Cox brings together the world’s greatest minds to help breathe life into new possibilities – and drive innovation for a better future. That’s why we look for individuals who share our pioneering spirit, have imaginative ideas and are fearless when it comes to tackling the world’s biggest challenges.

Our people love technology – and they love making a difference. They have a passion for finding new solutions and working with brilliant colleagues. Every day they dedicate themselves to a huge range of exciting projects, contributing to the Cox vision around the globe.

From engineering new sustainability solutions that conserve water and energy to creating the infrastructure for the smart cities of tomorrow, there’s no challenge too great for our pioneers. And there’s no shortage of opportunities for you to make a difference.

Come and experience the dynamic, collaborative and creative environments where your ideas are welcome and new discoveries are waiting. To help you grow to your full potential, we strive to support our employees in their career aspirations and promote the freedom to explore new horizons.