Sr. Marketing Specialist - Media Planning & Buying

Rally House is where fans celebrate the teams, traditions, and communities they love. Every day is an opportunity to create memorable experiences that bring fans closer to the moments and teams they care about most. Behind it all is a team fueled by energy, passion, and hometown pride. As we continue to grow, we're looking for team members who are excited to help shape the future of Rally House, deliver exceptional experiences, and make every fan feel right at home.

Job Description

The Sr. Marketing Specialist - Media Planning & Buying owns Rally House's traditional and sports-focused media planning, buying, and campaign execution. This role manages media investments across Regional Sports Networks, professional and collegiate athletics partnerships, connected TV, radio, streaming audio, out-of-home, and venue media. This individual develops media plans that drive store traffic, ecommerce growth, and brand awareness. The role serves as the primary day-to-day contact for media, team, league, collegiate, and marketing partners, ensuring campaigns are planned, executed, and optimized across Rally House markets.

This role partners with League Leaders, Partnerships, Creative, Performance Marketing, and Store Operations teams to support store openings, league moments, seasonal campaigns, NIL and collegiate relationships, professional sports partnerships, and major retail initiatives.

Responsibilities

Media Planning, Strategy, & Cross-Channel Alignment

- Owns media planning across Regional Sports Networks, professional sports and collegiate multimedia rights partnerships, connected TV, radio, streaming audio, out-of-home, and venue media in Rally House markets
- Develops annual, seasonal, and campaign-level media plans and recommends budget allocation across markets, partnerships, and channels based on business needs and performance data
- Researches emerging media opportunities to recommend new channels, sponsorships, and fan engagement platforms
- Helps forecast media investment strategies and partnership opportunities up to 12 months in advance
- Partners with Performance Marketing to align market-level campaign spend across traditional media, paid social, and SEM, using digital plans and results to inform traditional media decisions

Partnership Management, Buying & Negotiation

- Manages relationships with professional sports teams, collegiate athletics partners, media networks, vendors, and other media organizations
- Evaluates partnership proposals and sponsorship opportunities for strategic fit, return on investment, and opportunities to maximize impact through promotional assets, experiential components, and co-op programs
- Negotiates media rates, added value opportunities, bonus inventory, make-goods, and campaign enhancements
- Issues RFPs, reviews proposals, executes insertion orders, and manages media agreements

Campaign Execution & Trafficking

- Coordinates campaign setup and execution across media channels and partner platforms
- Manages trafficking of commercials, creative, sponsorship elements, and campaign assets
- Works directly with media partners to verify placement schedules, monitor delivery, and resolve campaign issues
- Collaborates with Performance Marketing on connected TV and streaming campaigns across Simplifi, YouTube, and other platforms

Budget & Billing

- Tracks media spend against budgets and reviews vendor invoices for accuracy and contract compliance
- Monitors partner fulfillment through proof of performance, affidavits, post logs, and delivery reports, resolving discrepancies and securing credits or make-goods as needed
- Partners with Accounting to ensure accurate invoice processing and timely vendor payments
- Maintains organized records of contracts, insertion orders, invoices, and campaign reconciliations

Measurement, Reporting & Optimization

- Analyzes delivery, audience reach, engagement, traffic, and sales trends to identify optimization opportunities
- Delivers post-campaign recaps with actionable recommendations and future planning insights
- Provides ongoing reporting to marketing leadership regarding budget utilization, market performance, and partnership effectiveness

Skills and Knowledge
Ability to analyze campaign performance, audience reach, and budget utilization to inform media strategies, Knowledge of sports media, professional and collegiate athletics partnerships, and sponsorship opportunities, Proficiency in media planning, reporting, and analytics platforms, Strong negotiation, vendor management, and relationship-building skills, Strong project management, communication, and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple campaigns and deadlines, Strong understanding of traditional media planning, buying, and campaign execution across multiple channels

Qualifications

- Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Advertising, Communications, or a related field
- 3–5 years of experience in media planning, media buying, advertising, or a related marketing role
- Experience managing media budgets, vendor relationships, and campaign execution across multiple channels
- Experience working with sports media, collegiate athletics, sponsorships, or multimedia rights partnerships preferred

Physical Requirements

- Ability to operate a computer, keyboard, mouse, and other standard office equipment
- Able to clearly view and read information on a computer screen
- Occasionally lift or move items up to 15 pounds

Location

- On-site in Lenexa, KS