Media Planner / Buyer – Part Time

Gard Communications is looking for a media buyer with experience in traditional and digital media, with a passion for coming up with innovative ways to communicate with our target audiences.

Established in 1979, Gard provides advertising, public relations, and digital services to clients primarily in the sectors of government, healthcare, transportation, education, and energy. The work we do has depth, and often the power to change public thinking. Our media buyer will work alongside our account management and creative teams and will report to the Director of Client Services.

• Collaborate with and advise account and creative leads on appropriate media channels for any given campaign.
• Research and analyze target audiences’ media consumption patterns with goal of providing optimal media mix recommendations.
• Develop media plans and budgets, and provide reasoning behind recommendations.
• Cultivate and nurture relationships with local and national media outlets.
• Develop and issue media RFPs and analyze responses.
• Execute media strategy and planning across traditional channels, and work alongside the digital team on strategy and implementation of digital campaigns.
• Negotiate rates, placement and added value.
• Create and manage insertion orders across all media types.
• Assist the PR team with sponsored content/paid media.
• Track and communicate creative due dates to ensure timely delivery of final material to media partners.
• Perform campaign measurement and make optimization recommendations.
• Reconcile media invoices against buys and resolve discrepancies.

• 2-5 years of experience in digital and traditional media buying. Includes but not limited to broadcast/cable, print, OOH, OTT, social media outlets and Google Ads.
• Strong negotiation skills.
• High attention to detail.
• Interest in advertising industry and its trends, and commitment to learning.
• Reasonable tech savvy, with familiarity with media buying software – such as Strata, Advantage or similar, as well as campaign management UI on major digital outlets.
• Previous agency experience is helpful, but not required; we are open to providing training to the right candidate.

• We are a helpful, responsive, collaborative lot, and we unfailingly support each other to bring the best to each client.
• We’ll help you grow professionally by providing an environment in which you can continue to explore and learn. We also offer professional development support such as for conference attendance, and membership to professional associations.
• We’re an established firm with a track record of retaining employees for many years. We understand that a sustainable work environment is one that offers stability, and values and supports each individual with respect.
• Our structure is egalitarian and we value initiative and self-motivation.
• We are committed to work-life balance. We stay focused on the work and manage our client projects with efficiency.
• We are centrally located downtown in a bike-friendly area right on the light rail. We are one block from the art museum and tree-filled parks.

Gard offers a competitive salary, premium heath and dental benefits for you and your family, and generous paid leave. Employees qualify for 401K, disability, and life insurance plans after 6 months.

We hold ourselves to high ethical standards at Gard. Part of our ethical practice includes the recognition that traditional hiring practices and operations disproportionately hurt the most marginalized people in society, including people of color, people from working class backgrounds, women and LGBTQ people. We are committed to making Gard a workplace that is both profitable and productive, and that advances the needs of both our clients and our employees.

We strongly encourage all applications.

Click the button below to email us your PDF resume and cover letter.