Head of Social & Programmatic

*PLEASE NOTE: this position is located in Charlotte, NC, Seattle, WA, or Denver, CO and requires attendance in office three days a week.*

Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States. LendingTree and its affiliates (“LendingTree”) will not provide or assume sponsorship for employment visas for this position, now or in the future.

LendingTree is building a new leadership role to run paid social and programmatic performance marketing across both the Lending and Insurance businesses. Today, these channels are a meaningful share of company revenue; however, there is still a ton of opportunity to enhance our current strategy and improve our market share.

• Cross-vertical strategy and competitive response: Set and run the paid social and programmatic strategy for both Lending and Insurance—two businesses with different funnels, margins, and competitive sets—under one coherent channel strategy. Translate competitive intelligence into a differentiated creative and channel strategy.

• Performance, channel expansion, and the entire funnel: Enhance and scale our current lower-funnel marketing campaigns to help us continue extracting more value out of today’s program. Develop and execute a comprehensive social and programmatic strategy, helping us expand to all platforms that our customers use in their daily lives. Help us develop and stand up a real, high-performing mid-funnel/upper-funnel layer where we have no presence today.

• Team leadership: Lead and grow a team that today spans Meta performance trafficking, programmatic trafficking, creative/video production, and static creative (~10+ FTE across both verticals), and continue building out a high-performing team.

• Budget ownership: Manage and scale a paid media budget significantly, with direct accountability for revenue, profit (VMD), and margin by segment—not just volume.

• Measurement, attribution, and platform risk management: Partner with the Measurement team to close known gaps—Meta post-view visibility, Floodlights/conversion passback, and cross-channel incrementality—so investment decisions are made on trusted data. Stay ahead of platform-level shifts and be able to quickly adapt to changes in the ecosystem.

• Executive communication: Represent the social and programmatic program to senior leadership, including making the case for continued investment with a clear, defensible growth story.

You’ll lead a team spanning Meta performance trafficking, programmatic trafficking, creative/video production, and static creative, with approximately 10+ FTE across Lending and Insurance. You’ll partner with the Measurement team and represent the social and programmatic program to senior leadership.

Travel required: Teams are dispersed between Charlotte and Seattle. This position requires travel to both locations on a consistent basis.

• 8+ years in performance or growth marketing, with at least 3 years directly managing paid social and/or programmatic teams and budgets of $50M+.

• People-management experience—you’ve hired, developed, and managed a multidisciplinary team across media, creative, and analytics, and can scale one.

• Deep, hands-on platform expertise across Meta and at least one of YouTube, TikTok, or Reddit—you can go deep with your own team on strategy, not just manage an agency relationship.

• Experience building and defending a multiyear investment case to senior leadership—you can speak fluently in both media metrics and P&L terms, including revenue, margin, and CAC/LTV.

• Working knowledge of attribution and measurement tradeoffs, including last-click versus incrementality and platform-reported versus server-side conversions—you know when to trust a number and when to question it.

• Experience in lead generation, marketplace, fintech, insurance, or another highly regulated/high-CAC vertical is strongly preferred.

• Direct experience with programmatic/DSP buying in addition to social platforms.

• Comfort directing creative and content strategy—you don’t need to be a producer, but you should know the difference between a performance ad and a brand platform, and when each is the right tool.

• Experience competing against a mix of brand-led and performance-led competitors in the same category.

• Experience standing up or scaling an influencer/creator program from scratch.

In the first 6–12 months, we’d expect this person to:

• Stand up at least one new channel at a significant scale to help us diversify our traffic mix in this category, with a real measurement plan attached—not just a media buy.

• Identify priority hiring needs, develop the existing team, and establish a team structure that supports continued growth.

• Have a point of view, backed by a test, on whether mid-funnel/upper-funnel investment lifts performance beyond last-click attribution.

Life at LendingTree

We’re a collaborative, entrepreneurial team that’s curious, creative, and always ready to roll up our sleeves and get things done. You’ll work alongside smart, driven people who care about doing great work — and about helping each other succeed.

We believe the best ideas come from different perspectives, and we’re committed to creating a workplace where people feel welcomed, valued, and empowered to make an impact. You’ll have the trust and flexibility to do your best work, the opportunity to take ownership and try new things, and teammates who genuinely enjoy working together.

And while we work hard, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We celebrate wins, recognize great work (our GSD — Get Stuff Done — Award is a fan favorite), and make time to have some fun along the way.

Come grow with us, make an impact, and help us build what’s next.

What We Offer

We want you to feel supported at work and beyond. Our benefits and programs are designed to help you stay healthy, recharge, plan for the future, and bring your best to whatever matters most to you.

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) matching
• Generous time off
• Wellness programs and resources
• Annual performance bonus eligibility

About LendingTree

As the nation’s leading online financial marketplace, LendingTree lets consumers shop and compare offers for personal loans, mortgages, credit cards, insurance and more. We help people find the best fit, so they can make the right financial decision at the right time.

Our founder, Doug Lebda, started LendingTree in 1996 after his own frustrating house-hunting experience. What began as a simple idea to make loan shopping easier has grown into a platform that empowers millions of people to make smarter financial decisions every day.

The Details

Base Pay: 200,000-240,000

The base pay offered may vary based on internal factors, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Incentive Compensation: This position is eligible for an annual performance bonus.

Work Authorization:  This role is not eligible for immigration sponsorship. Please do not apply for this role if you will need employer sponsorship now or in the future to begin or continue employment.

Everyone Belongs Here

LendingTree is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion (or creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status.

If you believe you need a reasonable accommodation in order to search for a job opening or to submit an application, please email us at [email protected].

Qualified candidates must be able to perform the essential functions of this position satisfactorily with or without a reasonable accommodation.  This job post is not necessarily an exhaustive list of all essential responsibilities, skills, tasks, or requirements associated with this position.  While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the position posted, LendingTree reserves the right to modify or change the essential functions of the job based on business necessity.

CCPA Disclosure