Senior Director, IMX - Media & Retail Media Operations

Manager: Senior Director, Integrated Marketing Experience (IMX) 

Location: Shanghai, China 
Role Type: People Leader 
Language: Fluent English & Mandarin 

Please note: This role is not fully remote. The selected candidate will need to be based in Shanghai and follow our hybrid work setup 

Role Summary 

The Senior Director, Media & Retail Media Operations is the enterprise leader responsible for the governance, activation, and performance stewardship of paid media and retail media investments across the portfolio. The role oversees a significant annual media budget and ensures disciplined planning, buying, optimization, and measurement across brand, performance, and retail media channels. 

The role ensures seamless integration between brand media, performance media, and retailer media ecosystems to drive both brand growth and commercial impact. 

Operating at the intersection of Marketing and Customer & Commercial, this role partners with senior leadership and external agency executives to shape media strategy, strengthen retail media capability, and elevate measurement rigor. In parallel, the role builds and leads a high-performing media organization equipped to deliver operational excellence and future-ready capability in an increasingly complex media landscape. 

What you’ll do for us 

Enterprise Media & Retail Media Leadership 

• Lead the end-to-end media and retail media operations agenda across the system, overseeing a significant annual media investment budget and ensuring disciplined allocation aligned to strategic priorities 

• Set the long-term operating model for media execution, governance, and performance management across markets 

• Ensure investment effectiveness, efficiency, and transparency at scale 

Strategic Direction & Thought Leadership 

• Shape the strategic roadmap for media and retail media operations, anticipating shifts in consumer behavior, retail ecosystems, and platform evolution 

• Provide strategic guidance to senior Marketing and Commercial leaders on media investment choices, trade-offs, and long-term capability development 

• Translate business ambition into clear media priorities and operational frameworks 

Senior Stakeholder Engagement 

• Serve as a trusted advisor to the most senior stakeholders across Marketing, Commercial, Digital, and Franchise leadership 

• Engage directly with global agency leadership, retail media partners, and key external stakeholders to influence strategy, governance, and performance expectations 

• Represent media and retail media operations in executive forums, driving alignment and decision-making at the highest levels 

Retail Media Integration & Commercial Partnership 

• Lead integration of retail media capabilities into customer and channel strategies, in close partnership with Customer & Commercial Leadership 

• Establish frameworks for planning, activation, and measurement across retail media networks 

• Ensure retail media investments drive both brand growth and commercial outcomes 

Team Leadership & Capability Building 

• Lead, develop, and nurture a high-performing team of media and operations professionals 

• Build strong succession pipelines and invest in capability development to future-proof the organization 

• Foster a culture of accountability, learning, and continuous improvement 

• Provide coaching and strategic guidance that elevates team performance and enterprise impact 

Performance Stewardship & Continuous Improvement 

• Oversee media performance governance, including KPIs, ROI measurement, and learning agendas 

• Drive disciplined performance reviews and optimization cycles across markets and partners 

• Embed test-and-learn approaches to continuously enhance impact and efficiency 

Perform other job‑related duties as assigned, in response to evolving business needs and market dynamics 

Qualifications & Requirements 

Education 

• Bachelor’s degree required, Advanced degree preferred 

Experience 

• 15+ years of progressive experience in media, digital marketing, or marketing operations roles 

• 7–10+ years of leadership experience, including leading senior teams or cross-market functions 

• Proven track record managing large-scale, multi-market media ecosystems, including paid media and retail media networks 

• Significant experience working with global media agencies and managing complex agency operating models 

• Demonstrated experience operating in global, matrixed organizations; CPG or food & beverage experience strongly preferred 

• Experience managing substantial media investment budgets and driving measurable ROI at scale 

Functional & Technical Expertise 

• Deep understanding of paid media execution, media operations, and agency models 

• Strong knowledge of retail media planning, activation, and measurement 

• Experience with media governance, performance management, and ROI measurement 

• Ability to balance strategic ambition with operational discipline 

Leadership & Ways of Working 

• Enterprise-level leadership presence and credibility 

• Strong influencing skills across Marketing, Commercial, and external partners 

• Strategic thinker with a strong execution and operational mindset 

• Clear, confident communicator comfortable engaging senior executives