Media Director Job Description Templates
Media director job description templates for agencies and brands, plus digital, social, media relations, and coordinator versions, with FLSA guidance.
Media Director Job Description Templates
6 templates spanning agency, digital, social, and media-relations directors, plus a church version and a coordinator alternative, with a pay benchmark table and the FLSA exempt-versus-non-exempt guidance every other template skips. Download as DOCX.
A media director leads media strategy, planning, and buying for an agency or brand. Writing the job description well starts with two decisions: which specialization you mean, since digital, social, and media relations are different roles, and whether you actually need a director at all or the hands-on coordinator a smaller business usually hires. Most templates give you one generic director page and skip both questions. This one does not.
At FirstHR, we are upfront that an agency media director is a senior, high-paid role, so these six templates run from agency, digital, social, and media-relations directors to a church and nonprofit version (the one small-organization media director that genuinely exists) and an honest media coordinator alternative for smaller teams. They add the pay benchmarks and the FLSA exempt-versus-non-exempt guidance the generic templates leave out. The guide to writing a job description covers the fundamentals, and the advertising manager templates cover the closely related management role.
What a Media Director Does
A media director plans, directs, and coordinates media strategy and buying: setting strategy across paid channels, managing large budgets, leading a team of planners and buyers, and owning performance. The role presupposes a media function, significant budgets, and direct reports, which is why it lives at agencies and large brands rather than small businesses.
There is no standalone federal occupation code for media director; the closest is advertising and promotions managers (11-2011), which the Bureau of Labor Statistics defines as planning, directing, or coordinating advertising policies and programs. That occupation reports a median well into six figures, consistent with this being a senior salaried position. The title also splits into digital, social, and media-relations specializations.
Media Director Duties and Responsibilities
Media director duties cluster into four areas: strategy and planning, buying and budgets, team and leadership, and performance and trends. A strong job description picks the responsibilities from each area that match the specialization and seniority you are hiring for.
The emphasis shifts by specialization: a digital media director leans into paid platforms and analytics, a social media director into content and community, and a director of media relations into press and reputation. For a structured way to scope the role, the guide to defining job responsibilities walks through the process.
Which Template Should You Use?
Pick the template by your specialization and whether you need a director or a coordinator. The core structure is the same across all six, but each emphasizes the duties, channels, and classification that fit a specific situation. Use this guide to choose the closest fit, then adjust.
6 Media Director Job Description Templates
Download all six as a single Word document or copy individual templates. Each follows the same structure: company and job summary, key responsibilities, qualifications, a classification note, pay, and how to apply, with an EEO statement. Fill in the brackets and post.
Template 1: Media Director (Agency / In-House)
The standard version: lead media strategy, planning, and buying across paid channels, managing budgets and a team of planners and buyers. The baseline.
Template 2: Digital Media Director
For a digital-first role: own paid search, social, programmatic, display, and video, with a data-driven, analytics-heavy approach.
Template 3: Social Media Director
For social leadership: set social strategy, lead organic and paid social, grow audience and engagement, and manage a social team.
Template 4: Director of Media Relations
For press and publicity: manage journalist relationships, lead PR campaigns, handle media inquiries and crises, and protect reputation.
Template 5: Church / Nonprofit Media Director
The real small-organization version: lead service production, streaming, social, and a volunteer team. Often the only media director a small org actually hires.
Template 6: Media Coordinator (Smaller-Business Alternative)
Not a director: the hands-on, non-exempt coordinator role a smaller business usually needs, supporting campaigns and content without leading a department.
FLSA: Why the Director Is Exempt
Unlike most entry-level marketing roles, an agency media director is salaried and exempt, and getting the classification right matters for how you pay the role. This is also something most competitor templates never address.
For the rules, the DOL covers the executive exemption in Fact Sheet #17B, and the exempt versus non-exempt guide and the Fair Labor Standards Act overview explain how the salary and duties tests separate a director from a coordinator.
Media Director vs Media Coordinator
The most useful question for a smaller business is not how to write a media director job description, but whether the role you need is a director at all. The two roles differ in scope, classification, and pay.
| Factor | Media Director | Media Coordinator |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Leads media strategy and team | Hands-on, individual contributor |
| FLSA status | Exempt, salaried | Non-exempt, hourly |
| Education | Bachelor's typical, MBA a plus | Associate or Bachelor's |
| Experience | 7+ years with leadership | Entry to mid-level |
| Pay | Commonly $112K to $170K | Commonly $44K to $63K |
| Best fit | Agencies and large brands | Smaller businesses |
If you run a smaller business and need someone to run campaigns and content, the coordinator is almost certainly the right hire. The marketing coordinator templates and the social media coordinator templates cover closely related roles worth comparing.
Skills and Requirements
Media director roles combine education, media expertise, and leadership. Scale the requirements to the specialization and seniority you are hiring for.
| Requirement | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Education | Bachelor's in marketing, advertising, or communications; MBA a plus |
| Experience | 7+ years in media, with team leadership and budget management |
| Channel expertise | Deep knowledge of the relevant paid or earned channels |
| Leadership | Proven management of planners, buyers, or specialists |
| Analytics | Performance measurement and optimization |
| Classification | Exempt, salaried under the executive or administrative exemption |
Keep the posting neutral and inclusive, since the EEOC prohibits job advertisements that show a preference based on a protected characteristic, and the SHRM guide covers the standard sections of a job description.
Media Director Pay
A media director is a senior salaried role that pays well above 80,000 dollars. Set your range to the specialization, seniority, and local market.
In practice, title-specific sources commonly place media director pay between roughly 112,000 and 170,000 dollars, with total pay including bonuses running higher. Early-career directors may start near 60,000 dollars. A media coordinator, the non-exempt alternative, typically pays 44,000 to 63,000 dollars, and a church or nonprofit media director often pays in a 40,000 to 70,000 dollar range. National compensation surveys are a useful reference for regional and industry detail.
From Hiring to Onboarding
The job description is step one. Once a candidate accepts, the same document becomes the basis for the offer and onboarding, and for a leadership hire who owns budgets, channels, and a team, a structured start matters.
Once your offer is ready, the offer letter template handles the next step, and an onboarding template gives the new hire a structured start. FirstHR connects the offer, paperwork, e-signatures, onboarding workflow, and org-chart placement in one place, so a marketing team, agency, or nonprofit can run the same process every time it hires. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a media-buying, ad, or campaign-management system, and it does not run payroll or administer benefits, so connect those separately. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a media director do?
A media director leads media strategy, planning, and buying for an agency or brand. The work clusters into four areas: strategy and planning (setting media strategy across channels and aligning it to business goals), buying and budgets (managing media buying and large budgets and negotiating with vendors), team and leadership (managing planners, buyers, and specialists and presenting to clients or leadership), and performance and trends (owning optimization and reporting and staying ahead of platforms and measurement). It is a senior management role that presupposes a media function, significant paid budgets, and a team to lead. The closest federal occupation is advertising and promotions managers. The title also splits into specializations like digital media director, social media director, and director of media relations, each of which this page includes.
Is a media director exempt or non-exempt under the FLSA?
Exempt, in almost all cases. A media director typically qualifies under the executive or administrative exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act: the primary duty is leading a media function and directing a team, on a salary far above the federal threshold of 684 dollars a week, with media strategy and budget decisions that involve discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance. A senior media director clears the highly-compensated-employee threshold easily. The practical result is a salaried role not owed overtime. This differs from a media coordinator, which is typically non-exempt and overtime-eligible because the work follows established procedures rather than setting strategy. A church or nonprofit media director is the one genuinely mixed case, where a smaller hands-on role may be either, depending on duties and pay. Classify by actual duties and salary, not the title. This is general information, not legal advice.
What is the difference between a media director and a media coordinator?
The difference is leadership, classification, and pay. A media director leads the media function: setting strategy, managing large budgets, directing a team of planners and buyers, and presenting to clients or leadership. It is a salaried, FLSA-exempt role that typically requires a bachelor's degree and seven or more years of experience, with pay commonly above 110,000 dollars a year. A media coordinator is the hands-on, execution-focused role: scheduling content, coordinating campaigns, tracking performance, and supporting media buys, without leading a department. It is typically a non-exempt, hourly role at an entry-to-mid level, with pay in roughly the 44,000 to 63,000 dollar range. For most smaller businesses, the coordinator is the realistic hire, since a dedicated media director presupposes agency or large-brand scale. This page includes both so you can match the document to what you actually need.
How much does a media director make?
A media director is a senior salaried role that pays well above 80,000 dollars a year. The closest federal occupation, advertising and promotions managers, had a median annual wage of 126,960 dollars as of the May 2024 data, with the 10th percentile under 63,000 dollars and the 90th percentile above 239,200 dollars. Commercial sources that track the media director title specifically commonly land between roughly 112,000 and 170,000 dollars, with total pay including bonuses running higher. Early-career media directors may start near 60,000 dollars, while experienced and senior directors reach well into six figures. By contrast, a media coordinator, the non-exempt alternative, typically pays between 44,000 and 63,000 dollars, and a church or nonprofit media director often pays in a 40,000 to 70,000 dollar range. Set your range to the seniority, industry, and local market. This is general information, not legal advice.
Do small businesses hire media directors?
Rarely. A dedicated media director presupposes a media function, significant paid-media budgets, and a team of planners and buyers to lead, which is a structure found at advertising agencies, media companies, and the in-house marketing teams of mid-size and large brands. Industry guidance generally places a viable in-house media function at paid-media spend in the hundreds of thousands of dollars a year or more; below that, the work is usually handled by an agency or a single generalist. Companies of 5 to 50 people rarely open this role. The notable exception is churches and nonprofits, which do hire a hands-on media director to run production, streaming, and communications, often in a 40,000 to 70,000 dollar range. For most other smaller businesses, the realistic hire is a media coordinator, which is why this page includes both a church version and a coordinator alternative alongside the agency director templates.
What is a church or nonprofit media director?
A church or nonprofit media director leads media, production, and communications for a faith or mission-driven organization. Unlike the agency role, this is a genuinely small-organization position: the work centers on live-service or event production (audio, video, lighting, and streaming), managing social media and content, and recruiting and leading a team of staff and volunteers. It is hands-on rather than purely strategic, and it is the one media director title that smaller organizations actually hire in volume. Pay is typically lower than an agency media director, often in a 40,000 to 70,000 dollar range, and the role may be full or part time. Because the duties and pay vary widely, the FLSA classification can be either exempt or non-exempt depending on the specifics. This page includes a dedicated church and nonprofit version built for that reality, separate from the agency templates.
What qualifications does a media director need?
Most media director roles require a bachelor's degree in marketing, advertising, communications, or a related field, with some senior roles preferring a master's or MBA. Employers typically expect seven or more years of experience in media planning, buying, or the relevant specialization, including team leadership and budget management. Core skills include deep knowledge of paid media channels and measurement, vendor and platform negotiation, analytics, and strong leadership and client communication. A digital media director needs platform and ad-tech expertise; a social media director needs platform and content depth; a director of media relations needs established journalist relationships and crisis-communications experience. A church or nonprofit media director is the exception, where hands-on production and AV skills matter more than formal credentials. Scale the requirements to the specialization and seniority you are hiring for. This is general information, not legal advice.
How does FirstHR help after I hire a media director?
FirstHR handles the people side of the hire, from offer through onboarding, for a media director, a coordinator, or a church media director. Once a candidate accepts, you can send the offer with e-signature, run a consistent first-week and first-90-days onboarding through the AI onboarding wizard and task workflows, deliver brand and process orientation through training modules, place the role and its reports on an org chart, and store the signed offer, I-9, tax forms, and policy acknowledgments in document management. Because pricing is flat rather than per employee, a marketing team, agency, or nonprofit pays one predictable rate. To be clear about scope, FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a media-buying, ad, or campaign-management system, so it organizes the hire and the new employee's first months, not your media operation itself. FirstHR does not run payroll or administer benefits, so pair it with those providers, and applicant tracking is coming soon.