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.

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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.

Market Intelligence Report

Director of Retail Media is part of the Digital Marketing category.Explore our market intelligence report to see how AI and hiring demand are shifting for these roles.

See the market intelligence report

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

Complete The Trade Desk Edge Academy (Marketing Foundations + Trading Essentials) and an Amazon Ads or AMC certification to build programmatic/RMN fluency.

Develop a case study: design an RMN product bundle, pricing tiers, and a forecast; validate with two industry mentors or agency partners.

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.