Find and hire a senior
Our director of advertising strategy and operations recruiters place senior advertising leaders. Executive search for directors and heads of advertising and media. We place leaders who run the advertising programs and creative, the media plan and buy, ad operations and technology, and digital advertising day to day, accountable for the work and the results, not just the strategy deck. Short list in 30-45 days.
Our director of advertising strategy and operations recruiters place senior advertising leaders
An advertising and media director owns the plan and the buy in market, not a strategy that someone else executes. We assess each short-list candidate on the advertising programs and media plans they actually ran, the results they drove, and how they managed the agencies and platforms that delivered them, because the seat is accountable for what ships.
This seat spans advertising strategy and creative, media planning and buying, and the ad operations and technology that run it. We calibrate to the balance your role actually owns, whether it leans strategy, media investment, or operations, and assess candidates against that real mix rather than a generic advertising title.
Our search practice includes recruiters whose specialty is advertising, media, and creative talent. They can tell a director who built and ran the plan from one who inherited an agency relationship, which is the distinction that decides this hire.
We run retained executive search for the leader who runs advertising and media. Director of Advertising, Director of Media Planning, Director of Media Buying, Director of Advertising Operations and Technology, and Director of Digital Advertising. These searches open when the advertising and media function needs a hands-on owner: a brand professionalizing its media plan and buy beyond an agency hand-off, a company bringing ad operations and technology in-house, or an organization consolidating advertising strategy, media, and operations under one director.
Every retained search starts with a 60-minute working session that ends in a written scope. The scope names what this seat actually runs, advertising strategy and creative, media planning and buying, ad operations and technology, digital advertising, marketing communications, the platforms and agencies it manages, the results it's accountable for, and who it reports to. We calibrate to the real function, not a title.
Advertising and media search turns on execution a resume reduces to strategy claims. We assess each short-list candidate on the advertising programs and media plans they genuinely ran, the buys they managed, the results they drove, and their command of the ad-ops and technology behind it. The written candidate document maps each candidate's hands-on advertising and media track record to your business.
Searches surface candidates from our direct-placement network first, deep in advertising, media, and creative talent, then expand via targeted outbound. Short list lands at roughly 6-8 named candidates with a written assessment per name.
Our retained agreements carry a no-fee replacement if the placement leaves or is asked to leave within 12 months. We calibrate hard on hands-on execution so the leader we place can run the plan, not just present it.
Most retained searches bundle these workstreams.
| Feature | Chameleon Collective | Traditional retained search firm | Contingency recruiter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time to short list | 14-21 days | 30-45 days | Variable, volume-driven |
| Run-the-plan assessment | Yes, written per short-list candidate | Variable, often a polite glance | Rarely, resume-keyword driven |
| Strategy + media + ad-ops calibration | Written scope across the mix | Job-description-driven | Job-description-driven |
| Dedicated advertising / media recruiting depth | Yes, recruiters who know the craft | Generalist | Generalist |
| Engagement fee structure | Retained, fixed cap | Retained, % of comp (typically 25-30%) | Contingency, % of comp on placement |
| Replacement guarantee | 12 months, no fee | 6-12 months variable | 30-90 days typical |
| Interim advertising / media bridge | Yes, from internal collective | No | No |
| Onboarding support | 90-day post-placement bridge | Limited to start date | None |
Common questions from CMOs, brand leaders, and founders evaluating an advertising and media director search.
Yes. This combined search covers the whole function: advertising strategy and creative, media planning and buying, ad operations and technology, and digital advertising. We calibrate to the balance your seat actually owns and assess candidates against that mix, rather than a generic advertising title.
A VP owns the working-media budget, the agency relationships, the org, and a leadership-team seat. A director runs the function and the programs: the advertising plan, the media buy, ad ops, and digital advertising in market. We assess directors on hands-on execution and results, not budget stewardship alone.
Most retained searches close in 45-60 days from kickoff to signed offer, with the short list in 14-21 days. Searches run longer when the seat spans an unusually broad strategy, media, and operations scope, which we flag during calibration.
Most Chameleon retained searches at this level run $35K-$75K with a fixed cap, depending on seniority and the breadth of the advertising and media mandate. We quote a fixed number after calibration, not a percentage of comp.
Both. We screen against the function mandate first, then you review every short-list candidate yourself with our written run-the-plan assessment as a reading aid.
Yes. Our collective includes Fractional and Interim advertising and media operators who can keep the plan in market while the search closes, then hand off cleanly to the permanent hire.
Our retained agreements carry a 12-month no-fee replacement guarantee. If the placement leaves or is asked to leave within 12 months, we run the search again at no fee.
Directly. The engagement partner runs your search end to end, with no junior researcher layer between you and the recruiter.
The advertising plan and the media buy cannot pause for a 45-60 day search. Our collective includes Fractional and Interim advertising and media operators who can keep the plan in market while the search closes, then hand off cleanly to the permanent hire.
Get In Touch
Engage director of advertising strategy and operations recruiters directly. Tell us what this seat runs and the results it's accountable for. We'll tell you what kind of search fits, how long it should take, and what the fixed cap will be.
Advertising and media director placements across consumer brands, retailers, and growth companies, where the leader runs the function hands-on: advertising strategy and creative, media planning and buying, ad operations and technology, digital advertising, and the marketing communications that carry it to market.
Tell us what this seat runs, advertising strategy, media planning and buying, ad ops, digital advertising, and the agencies it manages. We'll tell you what kind of advertising search fits.
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“When a business needed a leader who could run the advertising and media plan in market, Chameleon ran the search calibrated to hands-on execution and results, placing a director who could own the work rather than one who could only present the strategy.”
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