Director, Marketplace Advertising

The Director of Marketplace Advertising owns Ashley's enterprise-wide retail media strategy and execution across all marketplace platforms, with direct accountability for media efficiency, growth acceleration, customer acquisition, and profit-scaled advertising performance.

This role serves as the central architect of retail media excellence, leading a team of marketplace media managers and analysts who execute campaigns across Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, Wayfair, and emerging platforms. The Director operates as the performance marketing counterpart to platform Marketplace Managers, ensuring advertising investment is fully aligned to platform strategy, assortment priorities, promotional calendars, and profitability targets. This role is highly data-driven, highly cross-functional, and deeply commercial.

Scope of Responsibility

• Channel Coverage: All national marketplaces
• Media Ownership: Sponsored Search, Display, DSP, Off-platform Retargeting
• Budget Ownership: Full retail media investment portfolio
• Team Leadership: Marketplace Advertisers, Media Analysts, Agency Partners
• Performance KPIs: ROAS, TACOS, NTB, Conversion Lift, Media-to-Sales Contribution

Primary Responsibilities

Enterprise Retail Media Strategy & Performance Ownership

Own and scale the marketplace advertising strategy across all platforms.

Translate enterprise growth goals into:

• Platform-specific media strategies
• Budget allocations
• Return thresholds
• Drive consistent improvement in:
• ROAS
• TACOS
• New-to-Brand acquisition
• Incremental lift vs. organic sales

Campaign Architecture, Optimization & Scale

Oversee:

• Keyword strategies
• Audience development
• DSP & display execution
• Full-funnel campaign architecture
• Ensure daily optimization across:
• Bid strategy
• Budget pacing
• Search term harvesting
• Placement performance
• Implement standardized testing frameworks:
• Creative A/B testing
• Audience testing
• Budget elasticity modeling

Media & Promotion Integration

Partner with:

• VP of Ecommerce – Marketplaces
• Platform Marketplace Managers
• Marketing teams from other sales divisions
• Ensure all major events (Prime, Cyber, Holiday, Platform Tentpoles) are fully supported by:
• Forecasted media investment
• Conversion-ready content
• Inventory availability
• Prevent overspend, under-scale, and margin erosion during peak events.

Team Leadership & Capability Building

Build, lead, and develop a high-performance marketplace advertising team.

Establish:

• Clear role segmentation (search, DSP, analytics)
• Training & certification paths
• Career progression frameworks

Lead team through:

• Performance accountability
• Weekly optimization rhythms
• Quarterly strategic planning

Data, Analytics & Attribution Leadership

Partner with BI and Analytics teams to:

• Build executive-level media dashboards
• Standardize incrementality reporting
• Develop LTV-informed media models

Establish consistent measurement across:

• Platform-reported metrics
• Internal sales systems
• Financial contribution models

Financial Governance & Budget Accountability

Own:

• Media budgeting
• Forecasting
• Reforecasting
• ROI guardrails

Partner with Finance on:

• Media accruals
• Budget reallocation
• Event-based investment strategies
• Ensure profit-scaled growth, not just revenue-scaled growth.

Platform, Agency & Vendor Leadership

Serve as the primary retail media authority with:

• Marketplace ad teams
• DSP providers
• External agencies

Lead:

• Quarterly business reviews
• Beta participation
• New ad product testing
• Ensure platform compliance and brand safety.

Automation, Tools & Future-Readiness

Own roadmap for:

• Bid automation
• Feed-based advertising
• Creative automation
• AI-driven forecasting

Evaluate and implement:

• Third-party ad tech
• Attribution tools
• Retail media optimization platforms

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, Analytics, Business, or related field required
• MBA or advanced analytics coursework preferred

Experience

• 8-12 years of digital or retail media experience
• 5+ years leading marketplace advertising teams

Direct ownership of:

• Multi-million-dollar marketplace media budgets
• ROAS- and TACOS-driven performance environments

Deep hands-on experience with:

• Amazon Ads
• Walmart Connect
• Wayfair Advertising
• Home Depot
• DSP platforms

Experience in:

• Full-funnel media strategy
• Incrementality testing
• Creative performance optimization
• Retail + brand media convergence

Core Skills & Expertise

• Retail Media Strategy & Execution
• Marketplace DSP
• Performance Attribution
• Budget Forecasting & Optimization
• Algorithmic Bidding Strategy
• Creative Performance Testing
• Audience & Funnel Architecture
• Executive-Level Performance Storytelling
• People Leadership & Team Scaling

Leadership & Behavioral Traits

• Operates with extreme clarity and accountability
• Balances speed with financial discipline
• Highly analytical but commercially decisive
• Comfortable leading high-expectation performance teams
• Thrives in fast-paced, algorithm-governed ecosystems