Executive Director, Digital

Vericast is the financial institution (FI) performance partner. We help banks and credit unions drive growth, improve efficiency, increase engagement and navigate change through the power of data, technology and people. Our advanced analytics, data-driven insights and integrated solution set enable better execution with agility, precision and scale. That’s why thousands of financial institutions look to Vericast and our 150 years of financial services expertise to help them achieve more.

The Executive Director of Digital is a senior strategic leadership role responsible for defining Vericast's cross-channel digital strategy and leading the productization of standalone digital channel offerings (programmatic, paid search, paid social, emerging formats) as the organization evolves into a full-service performance marketing agency for banks and credit unions. This role owns the strategic vision for how digital channels are architected, positioned, and brought to market — focused on strategy, product definition, and go-to-market readiness rather than campaign execution or ongoing client account management.

Reporting to the VP, Product FS, this position serves as the organization's senior authority on digital agency strategy and operations. The Executive Director ensures that new digital channel capabilities are strategically sound, competitively differentiated, and market-ready — providing the strategic depth, product expertise, and client-facing narratives that the go-to-market and sales enablement teams need to position Vericast's digital offerings with credibility. The ideal candidate brings deep experience operating at scale inside a major financial institution or agency serving financial services, has led cross-channel media strategy across significant budgets, and has the organizational fluency to guide a team through standing up new capabilities in a regulated industry.

This is a critical leadership hire supporting our strategic transformation. The Executive Director will shape how digital channel products are designed, how the agency function operates at the strategic layer, and how Vericast establishes credibility as a digital media partner for financial institutions.

KEY DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

• Cross-Channel Digital Strategy & Product Leadership: Define and own the integrated cross-channel digital strategy — how programmatic, paid search, paid social, and emerging digital channels are architected to deliver measurable outcomes for FI clients; Lead the strategic configuration and productization of standalone digital channel offerings, ensuring each channel product is well-defined, competitively positioned, and ready for market; Provide the sales enablement team with strategic product detail, positioning frameworks, and client-facing narratives they need to effectively represent digital channel offerings to prospects and clients; Establish media planning standards, methodologies, and quality frameworks that ensure strategic rigor and consistency across the digital portfolio; Guide platform strategy decisions across channels — evaluating deployment approaches, audience strategy, measurement architecture, and technology partnerships from a position of operating experience; Define measurement and attribution strategies that align to program, channel, and campaign objectives — ensuring the right KPIs, reporting frameworks, and success criteria are in place to demonstrate business impact; Partner with peer channel directors (Programmatic, Paid Search, Paid Social) to ensure strategic coherence across channels (40%)
• Agency Operations & Strategic Infrastructure: Serve as the organization's senior practitioner on agency operations — bringing real-world knowledge of how full-service media agencies are structured, operated, and scaled; Define the strategic operating model for the digital agency function, including workflow design, escalation frameworks, and cross-functional coordination protocols; Lead organizational change management as the team navigates new channel launches, vendor partnerships, and evolving campaign complexity; Validate and pressure-test organizational assumptions — staffing ratios, margin models, workload distribution — against real-world agency benchmarks; Build and develop the media strategy function — identifying when headcounts are needed, how to structure roles, and how to sequence capability buildout (20%)
• Go-to-Market & Product Positioning Support: Provide the sales enablement team with strategic media narratives, product positioning detail, and digital channel expertise they need to build compelling materials and collateral; Serve as a strategic resource available to support senior client conversations where deep digital media expertise adds value (e.g., bank CMO presentations, strategic planning sessions); Contribute to new business development by providing strategic media authority in pitches, proposals, and RFP responses as needed; Support channel-direct transition planning by developing the strategic frameworks and rationale that inform how new offerings are introduced to FI marketing teams (20%)
• Strategic Planning & Market Intelligence: Serve as internal subject matter expert on agency best practices, digital media trends, and cross-channel innovation in financial services marketing; Monitor the competitive landscape and identify opportunities in cross-channel digital media for mid-market banks and credit unions ($2B–$50B assets); Evaluate emerging channels, ad formats, and technology partnerships for integration into Vericast's digital offering; Stay current on privacy regulations, measurement innovations (identity resolution, clean rooms, attribution modeling), and platform changes that impact digital strategy; Partner with Data Engineering and Analytics teams to integrate proprietary consumer financial data and identity resolution assets into cross-channel targeting and measurement strategies (15%)
• Compliance & Governance: Ensure digital channel product designs and strategy frameworks comply with financial services regulations including UDAAP, Fair Lending, TCPA, CAN-SPAM, Reg Z, GLBA, FCRA, and CFPB guidelines; Partner with Compliance and Legal to embed regulatory requirements into channel product design and media planning standards; Develop compliance-forward strategy frameworks that proactively address regulatory constraints (5%)

EDUCATION

• Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, Advertising, Business, Communications, or related field (Required)
• Master's Degree or MBA (Preferred)
• In lieu of the above education requirements, a combination of experience and education will be considered

EXPERIENCE

• 12+ years of progressive experience in digital media strategy, media planning, or agency operations with advancement into senior leadership (Required)
• 5+ years working with or within financial services organizations (banks, credit unions, fintech, insurance, wealth management), with demonstrated understanding of compliance requirements and marketing objectives in regulated industries (Required)
• Proven experience leading cross-channel digital media strategy spanning programmatic, paid search, paid social, and/or emerging channels — not just single-channel depth (Required)
• Experience overseeing $50M+ in total media budgets across multiple channels and/or clients (Required)
• Track record of building or transforming agency/media operations — including process design, team structure, capability buildout, or organizational transformation (Required)
• Experience with in-house media model design or agency insourcing at a financial institution or comparable regulated enterprise (Strongly Preferred)
• Demonstrated success leading organizational change management in environments undergoing strategic transformation (Strongly Preferred)

• Background in strategic engagement with senior marketing executives — articulating media strategy and positioning agency value at the executive level (Required)
• Proven ability to build and develop teams including defining roles, justifying headcounts, and structuring functions from scratch (Required)

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS/ABILITIES

• Strategic & Cross-Channel Expertise: Expert understanding of how programmatic, paid search, paid social, and emerging channels integrate into cohesive cross-channel strategies; Deep knowledge of media planning methodologies, budget allocation frameworks, and portfolio-level optimization; Strong command of audience strategy — identity resolution, first-party data activation, lookalike modeling, retargeting, contextual targeting; Expertise in measurement strategy — selecting and designing the right measurement approaches (attribution, incrementality, offline conversion, reporting frameworks) based on program and channel objectives; Ability to evaluate platform strategy decisions from a position of real-world operating experience
• Agency Operations: Practitioner-level understanding of how media agencies are structured, staffed, and operated at scale; Ability to build organizational infrastructure: SOPs, governance frameworks, escalation protocols, and cross-functional coordination; Strong change management instincts — able to guide teams through ambiguity, restructuring, and new capability buildout
• Financial Services Acumen: Deep understanding of FI marketing objectives (deposit acquisition, loan origination, credit card activation, branch traffic, digital banking adoption); Working knowledge of financial services compliance: UDAAP, Fair Lending, TCPA, TILA, GLBA, FCRA, CFPB guidance; Understanding of FI customer journeys and the challenge of connecting digital media to offline business outcomes
• Communication & Executive Presence: Exceptional ability to translate complex media strategy into clear narratives for both technical and non-technical audiences; Strong presentation skills for leadership briefings and strategic product discussions; Ability to influence without authority and build consensus across senior leadership and cross-functional teams

COMMUNICATION AND CONTACTS

• Internal: Regular strategic partnership with VP, Product FS and SVP. Close collaboration with VP Account Services, peer channel directors (Programmatic, Paid Search, Paid Social), VP Product (legacy products), Sales Enablement, Data Engineering, Analytics, Creative Services, Compliance, and Legal.
• External: Available for senior-level FI client engagement where strategic digital expertise adds value. Strategic interaction with platform and vendor partners. Representation at industry events.

DECISION MAKING

Owns the cross-channel digital strategy framework and digital channel productization standards Makes independent decisions on channel architecture, measurement framework design, and media planning methodology

Provides organizational design recommendations — team structure, staffing models, capability sequencing Provides strategic counsel to VP, Product FS and SVP leadership on digital strategy, vendor partnerships, and capability roadmap

Escalates major compliance concerns, strategic pivots, or material resource allocation changes to leadership

OTHER

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: Direct management of future media strategy hires within the digital strategy function; Functional mentorship of Senior Account Planners on media strategy and channel integration; Responsible for defining and building the media strategy function as the agency scales

WHY THIS ROLE MATTERS: This is a rare opportunity to define the strategic foundation of a specialized digital media agency — from the ground up. You won't inherit a playbook; you'll write it. As the most senior digital strategy leader in the organization, you'll shape how channels are productized, how the agency operates, and how Vericast establishes credibility as a digital media partner for financial institutions. Define the strategy: Architect how cross-channel digital media works across the entire portfolio. Build the function: Design team structures, establish operating standards, and create the strategic infrastructure the organization needs. Leverage unique advantages: Proprietary consumer financial data, identity resolution assets, established FI relationships, and omnichannel integration with direct mail. Sit at the leadership table: Strategic counsel to senior leadership on the digital agency's direction and growth. Shape the market: Help define what a specialized FI digital media agency looks like a model generalist agencies can't replicate

PHYSICAL DEMANDS / WORKING CONDITIONS

• • Extended use of computer monitor in remote office environment
  • Occasional travel (up to 15%) for client meetings, leadership offsites, vendor engagements, and industry conferences

Base Salary Range: $180,000-$200,000

Position is eligible for an annual bonus incentive program.

Applications will be accepted until the posted deadline April 4, 2026 or until a sufficient candidate pool has been identified.

The ultimate compensation offered for the position will depend upon several factors such as skill level, cost of living, experience, and responsibilities.

Vericast offers a generous total rewards benefits package that includes medical, dental and vision coverage, 401K with company match and generous PTO allowance. A wide variety of additional benefits like life insurance, employee assistance and pet insurance are also available, not to mention smart and friendly coworkers!

At Vericast, we don’t just accept differences - we celebrate them, we support them, and we thrive on them for the benefit of our employees, our clients, and our community. As an Equal Opportunity employer, Vericast considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin or ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other classifications protected by law. Applicants who have disabilities may request that accommodations be made in order to complete the selection process by contacting our Talent Acquisition team at [email protected]. EEO is the law. To review your rights under Equal Employment Opportunity please visit: www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf.