Director of Retail Media

Career Guide
Leads the strategy, operations, and revenue growth of a retailer’s or brand’s retail media program. Oversees ad products (onsite, offsite, in-store), partnerships, measurement, and P&L, directing teams to deliver advertiser performance and incremental profit.

Key Responsibilities

  • Define retail media strategy, roadmap, and pricing
  • Own P&L, forecasting, and revenue targets
  • Develop and optimize ad products (onsite, offsite, in-store)
  • Lead sales enablement, packaging, and go-to-market
  • Establish measurement, reporting, and attribution standards
  • Manage retailer, brand, and ad-tech partnerships
  • Ensure data privacy/compliance for first‑party data use
  • Hire, mentor, and performance-manage the team

Career Progression

Can Lead To
Senior Director of Retail Media
VP of Retail/Commerce Media
Head of Ad Products/Monetization
Transition Opportunities
Product Director (Ad Platforms)
Director of eCommerce/Performance Marketing
Director of Data/Ad-Tech Partnerships

Common Skill Gaps

Often Missing Skills
RMN monetization and pricing strategyClean room and first‑party data activationRetail attribution (incrementality, MMM/MTA)Programmatic retail media buying and optimization
Development SuggestionsTake IAB/The Trade Desk commerce media courses and complete an Amazon Marketing Cloud hands-on project; build a sample RMN P&L and pricing model to practice monetization decisions.

Salary & Demand

Median Salary Range
Entry Level$150,000–$185,000
Mid Level$185,000–$230,000
Senior Level$230,000–$300,000+
Growth Trend
rapidly_growing: Retail media ad spend is surging; more retailers launching networks

Companies Hiring

Major Employers
Walmart ConnectTarget (Roundel)Instacart
Industry Sectors
Retail & eCommerceAdvertising & MarketingConsumer Packaged Goods

Recommended Next Steps

1
Complete The Trade Desk Edge Academy (Marketing Foundations + Trading Essentials) and an Amazon Ads or AMC certification to build programmatic/RMN fluency.
2
Develop a case study: design an RMN product bundle, pricing tiers, and a forecast; validate with two industry mentors or agency partners.
3
Join the Retail Media Networks Association webinars and network with RMN leaders; seek a cross-functional rotation or pilot with a retailer or CPG brand.