Media Associate

About the Hiring Company:

Nine Dots Media Consulting Corp. is a dynamic digital creative agency that brings ideas to life for some of the most iconic brands under San Miguel Corporation. We specialize in crafting impactful content—from social media management and creative production to performance analysis and reporting—that helps brands connect with millions of Filipinos. As a proud subsidiary of San Miguel Foods and Beverage, Inc., we combine creativity, innovation, and strategy to make every campaign matter.

JOBDESCRIPTION

The CoE (Center of Excellence) is the media-governance team of San Miguel under Nine Dots Media Consulting Corporation, connecting Brands and the Media Agency of Record through a shared governance framework. Nine Dots Media is seeking an experienced, detail-oriented, and collaborative media professional to join our team as a Media Associate.

The role is responsible for the day-to-day governance of media strategy, planning, and buying for an assigned business unit within the SMC portfolio. Working closely with Brand teams and the Agency of Record (AOR), the Media Associate ensures that agreed media strategies, plans, and buying commitments are understood, executed, and delivered as promised, while surfacing risks, gaps, and opportunities for improvement to the Head of Media and Partnerships.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Serve as the primary CoE point of contact for the assigned business unit, overseeing the day-to-day relationship between Brand teams and the AOR.
• Facilitate alignment on strategy and planning, helping Brand teams clearly articulate their briefs and ensuring the AOR understands each brief well enough to build sound strategies and media plans.
• Monitor that the AOR builds and proposes the Full-Year Media Strategy and media plans aligned to the approved brief, and support Brand teams during plan review without holding sign-off.
• Track that the AOR buys and implements ad space across ATL and digital channels per the approved media plan and Media Glance, and monitor that campaigns run as scheduled, in brand-safe environments, and in line with category-specific ad regulations where applicable.
• Monitor that the AOR responds to Brand requests promptly, so day-to-day media operations run smoothly, and remain available to advise Brands during implementation.
• Cross-check the AOR's staffing and role coverage for the assigned business unit against the committed structure and headcount.
• Monitor reporting cadence and help Brand teams validate reports whenever discrepancies arise.
• Support commercial negotiation alignment, cross-checking the AOR's spending estimates and confirming that negotiated savings, bonus media, and added value are tracked and reported as agreed.
• Stay informed on invoicing and billing cycles, following through with the AOR and SMC Finance teams until billing issues are resolved.
• Capture brand-specific learnings and performance insights, contributing them to the CoE's shared knowledge base and playbooks for use across the portfolio.
• Support the annual Agency Performance Review by tracking the AOR's delivery against contracted KPIs on an ongoing basis and surfacing performance gaps for follow-up.
• Escalate risks, delays, or unresolved issues to the Head of Media and Partnerships, with clear recommendations for resolution.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, Advertising, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Solid working knowledge of both traditional media (TV, radio, print, out-of-home) and digital media planning, buying, and measurement principles.
• Strong understanding of client-side corporate media operations, including how an advertiser's in-house media or marketing function works with and governs an agency partner.
• Comfortable working with data, able to review media plans, budgets, and performance reports and identify inconsistencies.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to work confidently and collaboratively with Brand teams and agency partners.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills, with sound judgment on when to resolve issues directly and when to escalate.
• Detail-oriented, organized, and able to manage multiple brands, workstreams, and deadlines concurrently.
• Proficient in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for reporting, tracking, and presenting to stakeholders.

WORK EXPERIENCE

• 3 to 5 years of relevant professional experience in media planning, buying, and account management.
• Demonstrated experience managing FMCG or multi-brand portfolios, ideally spanning both traditional and digital channels.
• Client-side experience is required, ideally within a Corporate Media function or the in-house media/marketing team of an advertiser, rather than agency-side only.
• Experience working directly with media agencies on planning, buying, and performance governance from the client side.
• Prior exposure to agency transitions, agency performance reviews, or vendor management is an advantage.