Demand Marketing Manager, Media Strategy in Indianapolis, Indiana at Project Lead The Way (PLTW)

OVERVIEW

The Demand Marketing Manager, Media Strategy is responsible for leading PLTW’s industry advertising, paid media, and digital campaign strategy to expand market reach, strengthen audience engagement, and drive measurable business outcomes across the K–12 education market. This role serves as the strategic lead for media planning, audience targeting, channel optimization, and performance analytics across paid digital, industry advertising, sponsorships, content syndication, webinars, and other promotional investments.

Reporting to the Senior Director of Demand Marketing, this position combines strategic planning with executional oversight and is accountable for shaping PLTW’s paid media investment strategy and translating performance insights into recommendations that improve marketing efficiency, audience engagement, and growth outcomes. This role partners cross-functionally with Brand, Product Marketing, Content, Creative, Events, and external agencies and vendors to ensure campaigns are insight-driven, effectively executed, and tied to measurable results. Occasional travel required.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead the development and execution of PLTW’s paid media, industry advertising, and digital campaign strategy, including channel mix, audience targeting, investment planning, and performance optimization.
• Own strategic media planning and budget allocation recommendations across paid digital, sponsorships, content syndication, paid email, webinars, and other demand-driving promotional tactics.
• Translate organizational priorities and audience insights into integrated media strategies that strengthen market visibility, improve engagement, and drive measurable business outcomes.
• Serve as the internal subject matter expert on paid media, digital advertising, vendor capabilities, audience targeting, and campaign performance best practices.
• Establish measurement frameworks, dashboards, and reporting cadences to evaluate campaign effectiveness and communicate insights and recommendations to leadership.
• Analyze campaign, channel, and audience performance using CRM, marketing automation, web analytics, and vendor reporting tools to optimize investments and improve outcomes.
• Provide leadership with clear, data-driven recommendations on media investments, vendor performance, campaign effectiveness, and future optimization opportunities.
• Design and lead structured testing strategies across audiences, channels, creative, messaging, and placements to improve efficiency, conversion performance, and return on investment.
• Create and manage integrated, full-funnel media campaigns that support engagement across all stages of the buyer journey.
• Continuously refine segmentation, targeting, and personalization strategies to improve lead quality, conversion rates, and campaign relevance.
• Define content and thought-leadership needs for media campaigns in collaboration with Product Marketing, Content, and other internal stakeholders.
• Manage pre-event and post-event media strategy to increase attendance, extend engagement, and improve follow-up performance.
• Manage relationships with external agencies and vendors, including evaluation of performance, scope, deliverables, and effectiveness.
• Manage paid media and advertising budgets in partnership with leadership, using performance data and business priorities to inform allocation decisions.
• Monitor K–12 education trends, competitive activity, digital marketing best practices, and emerging media opportunities to strengthen PLTW’s market presence and campaign effectiveness.
• Identify and recommend innovative approaches, new channels, and optimization opportunities within area of expertise.
• Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, business, or a related field of study, or equivalent related experience.
• Extensive experience in demand generation, paid media, digital marketing, performance marketing, or growth marketing.
• Demonstrated success designing and leading multi-channel marketing strategies that drive measurable business results.
• Experience with paid media, industry advertising, content syndication, retargeting, digital campaign strategy, and channel optimization.

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

• A customer-centric approach to all internal and external interactions.
• Values and leverages the unique strengths and perspectives of each Team Member.
• Takes pride in the work, celebrates success, and has fun.
• Approaches work with curiosity and experimentation.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to connect media investments and digital strategy to organizational priorities and measurable business outcomes.
• Ability to interpret attribution, conversion, audience segmentation, funnel performance, and ROI data and apply insights to improve campaign strategy and results.
• Strong decision-making and problem-solving skills, with sound judgment in balancing performance, budget, and strategic priorities.
• Proven ability to design and execute successful multi-channel campaigns while maintaining a strong focus on results and continuous improvement.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence cross-functional teams and present effectively to leadership.
• Strong project, vendor, and campaign management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines in a dynamic environment.
• Results-oriented, collaborative, and highly accountable, with a proactive approach and a mindset of curiosity and experimentation.
• Creative problem-solver who thrives in a fast-paced, collaborative, and remote-first environment.