Associate Director, Enterprise Sales – Media

Title: Associate Director, Enterprise Sales – Media Location: New York About Darkroom Darkroom is the leading next-generation growth marketing firm engineering the brands of tomorrow. Founded in 2017, we set out to redefine what a modern agency could be, by replacing the inertia of legacy advertising behemoths with a model built for speed, intelligence, and measurable impact. At our core, Darkroom is a human services company powered by Shadow, a universal AI commerce layer that integrates executive-level strategy with proprietary agentic technology. This fusion enables our teams to deliver outsized returns by enhancing creative output, operational efficiency, and revenue generation across every stage of the customer journey. Our track record speaks for itself: billions in attributable revenue driven across e-commerce marketplaces, media networks, DTC ecosystems, and social commerce platforms. Every engagement feeds into our proprietary data infrastructure, enabling a continuous feedback loop that accelerates growth, improves margins, and compounds results across our client portfolio. What began as a boutique design studio has evolved into one of the fastest-growing private companies in America (Inc. 5000) and among the most effective performance media agencies of the 2020s (Varos). Our founders were recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 for advancing the intersection of technology, marketing, and advertising, cementing Darkroom's role as a defining player in the future of media innovation. About the Role Associate Director, Enterprise Sales owns a new-business revenue number across Darkroom's media flywheel: Paid Media (Meta, Google, TikTok, YouTube, and the broader paid social, search, and programmatic stack), Creator (creator and UGC programs, affiliate and whitelisting, ambassador and creator-led acquisition), and Performance Creative (creative strategy, production, and iteration built to move paid performance). You lead with paid media. Media management is the largest, highest-intent entry point into an enterprise brand's growth P&L, and it is where your hunt starts. Creator and Creative are how you widen the deal: once you are inside a brand's media operation, you are the person who sees that their creative is the bottleneck, their creator program is running on one-off deals instead of a system, and their acquisition engine is capped by supply rather than budget -- and who scopes and closes that work too. This is the enterprise seat. Your book is built on a smaller number of larger accounts: brands with meaningful media budgets where a single engagement carries base retainer plus a media-linked variable fee. One whale can be half a quarter. You will run a named target list, a defined category focus, and a deliberate multi-quarter pursuit motion rather than a high-volume funnel. You are a commercial, closer-minded operator who builds a book through platform partnerships, industry events, and targeted senior-level outreach -- and who also fields and closes the enterprise inbound that arrives in your practice. You will become the person the market associates with Darkroom's media offering: in the platform partner ecosystems, at the industry events that matter, and in the rooms where these deals get done. You will also own the upsell and cross-sell motion for your departments -- working the existing client base alongside our Managing Directors and strategy leadership to identify and close expansion into media, creator, and creative. This is a high-accountability role with clear revenue KPIs and uncapped commission that rewards self-sourced pipeline. If you want to own the media practice, build a durable enterprise network, and close tech-enabled marketing services you believe in, this is the role for you. Location: NYC strongly preferred. YOUR PRACTICE You own new business and expansion across three service clusters. The first leads; the second two attach. Lead with: - Paid Media -- full-funnel media strategy and management across Meta, Google, TikTok, YouTube, and programmatic/CTV; measurement and incrementality; media-linked variable engagements on enterprise budgets. Attach and expand into: - Creator -- creator and UGC content programs, affiliate and whitelisting, ambassador programs, and creator-led acquisition that feeds paid. - Performance Creative -- creative strategy, static and video production, and the testing and iteration cadence that keeps paid media scaling. You will build deep fluency in all three, the platforms behind them, and the buyer in each -- so that when a brand says "our CAC is climbing and we don't know why," "we need a creator engine before Q4," or "our creative can't keep up with spend," you are already scoping the deal. You will also carry the Shadow story into these conversations, since our AI commerce layer is a material part of why enterprise brands choose us over a category specialist. WHAT YOU'LL DO Primary -- Source and close new business, media-first - Own a quarterly new-business number across the media practice, led by paid media, denominated in quota credit (base retainer plus a share of the media-linked variable fee), so enterprise deals count like enterprise deals. - Build and work a partner ecosystem as a durable referral engine -- Meta, Google, and TikTok agency partner programs, measurement and attribution platforms (MMM, incrementality, and attribution vendors), Shopify Plus and enterprise commerce platforms, creator and affiliate platforms, and the private equity and brand holdco operating networks that control enterprise marketing budgets. - Represent Darkroom at industry events and conferences in your practice (Cannes Lions, Possible, Shoptalk, CommerceNext, Adweek, the Meta / Google / TikTok partner summits, and the creator-economy events where enterprise creator programs get decided), and build the senior relationships that surface deals. - Develop and pursue a named enterprise target ("whale") list of brands that fit the media practice, alongside a category focus defined during your first 30 days (beauty, apparel, CPG, consumer tech, health, subscription, etc.). - Field and close enterprise inbound that arrives in your practice. - Run a deliberate attach motion on every new deal: land the media engagement, then scope creator and performance creative into the same relationship rather than leaving it for later. - Lead the full commercial process: discovery, media audit, scoping, pricing, proposal, negotiation, and close, working within the deal desk guardrails. - Work with our marketing team to understand inbound strategy across content, creators, SEO, and other deal sources. Primary -- Own the upsell & cross-sell motion - Run a standing weekly expansion meeting with the Managing Directors of your assigned departments and strategy leadership, where you work the client base for upsell and cross-sell opportunities and drive the flagged deals to close. - The MDs surface the opportunity from delivery insight; strategy clears account health and capacity; you own the commercial motion and the close. - Proactively identify expansion through client conversations, performance data, and account signals -- you are the person the account team calls when an opportunity emerges. Secondary -- Practice fluency and onboarding - Maintain deep, current command of Darkroom's media service catalog -- paid media, creator, and performance creative -- and the platforms behind it. - Be present on onboarding calls for new clients in your practice to establish the expansion relationship from day one. - Maintain clean pipeline documentation in HubSpot and Notion (Sourced By, Closed By, Origination, Expected Monthly Variable Fee, deal stages) -- comp is calculated off these fields. WHAT YOU WILL NOT DO - High-volume cold prospecting for net-new logos outside your practice -- that is the outbound BDR's function. You source through partnerships, events, and targeted senior relationships. - Deliver QBRs. - Execute campaign changes, creative production, or optimizations -- that is the account team's responsibility. YOU SHOULD APPLY IF THIS SOUNDS LIKE YOU - 7+ years in a full-cycle Account Executive or equivalent sales role with a documented record of closing enterprise-scale deals. Agency, media, AdTech/MarTech, or SaaS experience strongly preferred. - Media credibility. You can hold your own with a VP of Growth or CMO -- CAC and LTV, incrementality and MMM, platform mechanics across Meta, Google, and TikTok, creative testing cadence, and creator-led acquisition -- and you can speak fluently enough about creator programs and performance creative to earn a technical buyer's trust. - Closer DNA. You have carried an enterprise quota and closed new-business and expansion deals with long cycles and multiple stakeholders. You are energized by revenue outcomes, and you source your own pipeline rather than waiting for leads. - Multi-service instinct. You do not sell one line item. You see the whole growth engine -- media, creator, creative -- and build the deal accordingly. - Network-builder. You know how to turn platform partners, holdco relationships, and conferences into a durable enterprise pipeline rather than one-off business cards. - Commercially instinctive. When you hear "we're consolidating agencies next year" or "our board wants CAC down 20%," you are already scoping the deal. - Self-directed operator. Highly organized, proactive, fast-moving. You do not need to be managed into motion. - Tool-proficient. HubSpot (or equivalent CRM), Notion, Google Workspace, Slack; comfortable reading performance data and dashboards, including ad platform and attribution reporting. - Polished communicator. Fluent English, strong video presence, comfortable presenting to founders, CMOs, and heads of growth at enterprise and growth-stage brands. HOW YOU'LL BE MEASURED - Quarterly new-business quota attainment (quota credit: new MRR plus a share of variable, per the Sales Quota & Commission Plan). - Media-led new business closed. - Attach rate -- share of new media deals that land with creator and/or performance creative attached. - Average deal size and named-target ("whale") conversion. - Upsell and cross-sell revenue closed. - Self-sourced pipeline generated (partnerships, events, outbound relationships). - Enterprise inbound deals closed in your practice. - Pipeline hygiene in HubSpot. WHAT IT'S LIKE TO WORK AT DARKROOM Darkroom is not a typical agency. We are looking for A players who want to build something great. We move fast, think deeply, and expect every team member to bring insight and rigor to everything they touch. We hold a high bar for performance, creativity, and ownership -- and we also support each other relentlessly. No egos, no red tape -- just world-class talent building something remarkable. We believe in autonomy with accountability, truth over comfort, and outcomes over optics. - Unlimited PTO + US holidays: Rebooting is part of the work. Take the time you need to stay sharp. - Remote-First Culture: Many roles are fully remote. Employees based in or near our New York or Lisbon HQs are expected to work hybrid with weekly in-office time. Hub locations include Brazil and Spain. - Health & Wellness: Company-sponsored medical, dental, and vision coverage. - Finances, growth, and retirement: Darkroom offers a robust 401(k) program with company match and profit-sharing opportunities to help you save and grow as the company grows. - Parental Leave: Flexible parental leave to support new parents during this important transition. - Growth: Our interdisciplinary model gives every Darkroomer exposure far beyond their core role. Grow your skills, expand your influence, and stay at the forefront of the industry. - Compensation Structure: Base salary plus uncapped commission on new-business, upsell, cross-sell, and inbound revenue, including the media-linked variable fee on every deal, with accelerators that reward self-sourced pipeline (partnerships, events, and outbound relationships pay a higher origination bracket than inbound). Full mechanics shared during the interview process. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT Darkroom is an equal opportunity workplace -- we are dedicated to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.