Principal, Paid Media (Boston)

Principal, Paid Media – Boston

Hybrid (3 days in-office)

Rival is a marketing consultancy for challengers—and we’re looking for a Principal to join our Boston team.

This isn’t a role for someone who wants to do “business as usual.” Our clients come to us because they need breakthrough marketing strategies that cut through complexity, beat incumbents, and create disproportionate impact.

As a Principal, you’ll lead consulting engagements that combine exceptional media, data and technology capabilities with creative challenger thinking—helping brands unlock growth with premium, high-impact solutions.

What You’ll Do

• US Regional Leadership & Growth: Lead, scale, and manage the US media team. Take ownership of regional performance, resource allocation, cross-functional team orchestration, and the professional development of senior staff.
• Executive Client Partnership: Serve as the senior strategic advisor to C-suite clients. Guide high-level, multi-million dollar media investment strategies, ensuring all campaigns align with enterprise-wide business objectives and drive measurable revenue growth.
• Integrated Delivery & Creative Strategy: Champion a unified approach across media, strategy, and creative disciplines to ensure seamless, cross-channel campaign execution. Partner with creative and brand leaders to establish robust learning agendas, drive rapid, data-informed creative testing, and ensure all media activations are anchored in a cohesive communications architecture that elevates both brand positioning and performance outcomes.
• Enterprise Data & Measurement Vision: Champion the adoption of advanced, privacy-first measurement frameworks (e.g., MMM, enterprise MTA, and complex incrementality testing) across the client portfolio, translating sophisticated data into board-level business narratives.
• AI Transformation & Innovation: Direct the strategic rollout of AI and automation initiatives across the region. Focus on transforming the agency's operating model to improve margins, unlock novel, proprietary service capabilities, and establish the agency as an industry leader in AI-driven media solutions.

Why Rival, Why Now

• A consultancy built differently. We’re four years in, growing fast, and proving there’s a premium alternative to the bloated incumbents.
• Global perspective. Work with ambitious clients across North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
• Small team, big impact. With boutique sizing, every project is high visibility and high impact—no hiding in the back row.
• Direct influence. Work alongside Rival’s founders, shaping the consultancy’s future as much as our clients’.

Who Thrives Here

We don’t hire CVs, we hire people who think and act like challengers.

• You’ve run significant portfolios of business in a consultancy or agency, delivering premium marketing strategies.
• You bring both expertise and opinion across paid media planning, buying, analytics, or data 
• You’re highly organized and deliver excellence without compromise.
• You think like an entrepreneur—curious, bold, and unafraid to get stuck in.

Extra points if…

• You’ve helped scale a start-up, agency, or consultancy.
• You’ve lived the battle of challengers vs. incumbents.

Premium Compensation, Real Upside

We believe in rewarding excellence with premium upside, not average paychecks.

• Base Salary: Competitive within consultancy/agency benchmarks.
• Profit Share: Twice-yearly distributions (eligibility after 90 days), tied to performance.
• Employee Liquidity Plan (“shadow stock”): Share in Rival’s long-term success—without the friction of traditional options (eligibility after 1 year)

At Rival, our approach to compensation is mid-market base, top-market upside — we invest in our people and ensure everyone shares in the success we build together.

• Health & Dental Insurance – 50% employer-covered
• 401(k) Match – up to 4% of pay
• 21 Days Paid Vacation+ public holidays
• Profit Share – paid twice yearly
• Employee Liquidity Plan (ELP) – shadow stock with real upside
• Paid Family & Medical Leave (MA employees)
• Office-first, flexible work model (3 days in office)
• All the tech + tools to do your best work, wherever you are
• Quarterly Team Weeks & global collaboration
• All-expenses-paid Rival Retreats
• Year-round “surprise & delight” experiences

About Rival

Rival is a marketing consultancy built for challengers. Incumbent best practices deliver average results—we don’t do average. We apply challenger brand thinking to help CMOs achieve outsized impact with smarter, leaner, bolder marketing strategies.

Our Hiring Philosophy

We’re building a consultancy that’s both premium and progressive—a home for the world’s best marketing talent and a model for diversity in our industry.

Our commitments:

• Clarity and fairness in every process
• Respect for candidates’ time (including paid tasks)
• Speed and transparency in communication
• Feedback opportunities throughout
• You’ll speak to a range of people in different roles, to give you a flavour of what it’s like here

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

We know diverse perspectives drive better strategies. Rival is committed to building a consultancy where individuality fuels innovation. Authenticity isn’t an initiative—it’s a requirement.