Paid Media & Public Relations Manager

Schaumburg, IL
Full Time
Manager/Supervisor
Rittal & Eplan LLC has built a strong tradition of innovation and takes pride in a progressive approach to engineering. We design and manufacture the world’s leading industrial and IT enclosures, racks, and accessories, including high-efficiency, high-density power management and climate control systems for industrial, infrastructure, and data-driven applications.
As a challenger brand in the U.S. industrial automation market, Rittal & Eplan requires a sophisticated, earned-led media strategy that builds credibility, accelerates visibility, and drives influence across technical buying audiences.

Job Summary
The Paid Media & Public Relations Manager will lead Rittal & Eplan’s, earned-first media and advertising strategy across industrial automation and electrical engineering audiences, respectively. This role owns where and how Rittal & Eplan and Eplan shows up in the market—deciding where dollars are invested, which media outlets matter, and how paid media accelerates earned credibility.
This position balances strategic leadership and hands-on execution, with accountability for planning, allocating, optimizing, and defending media spend. The ideal candidate brings deep industrial automation domain knowledge, an established network across trade media and associations, and the confidence to say “no” to low-value placements.
The Paid Media & PR Manager partners closely with in-house marketing managers who own SEO, business unit, channel and product marketing strategies while utilizing a team that executes creative and copywriting .The Paid Media & PR Manager understands how paid and earned media integrate with the larger marketing ecosystem as it relates to SEO, AI driven discovery, product, channel and BU marketing strategies that drive growth.

Compensation: $110,000 - $140,000 + Bonus

Key Responsibilities
Earned-First Public Relations Leadership
  • Develop and execute digital-first and traditional PR strategies that prioritize earned media as the primary driver of credibility, influence, and brand authority.
  • Create and position newsworthy, data-driven content (including, but not limited to: press releases, articles, interviews, industry reports) designed to attract high-quality media coverage and natural backlinks.
  • Establish and maintain senior-level relationships with industrial trade journalists, editors, publishers, industry influencers, and industry associations across verticals including but not limited to, panel builders, machine builders, food & beverage, rail, utilities, automotive & tier suppliers, logistics, and baggage handling.
  • Secure consistent coverage in influential industrial publications, reinforcing brand credibility while gaining share of voice.
  • Manage earned media measurement and reporting using Cision and/or new tools that capture tracking reach, media pick-up, sentiment, share of voice, and competitive insights.
  • Listen for and identify emerging narratives and trends that Rittal and Eplan can leverage to drive thought leadership and media visibility
Paid Media & Advertising Strategy Ownership
  • Lead planning, allocation, and optimization of paid media investment across industrial trade publications, industry events, digital platforms (such as social media and account-based marketing retargeting), sponsorships, and integrated media packages, in collaboration with the marketing managers. 
  • Negotiate and secure high-value, multi-channel media partnerships, ensuring message pull-through, audience quality, and commercial impact.
  • Apply a commercial mindset to advertising decisions, prioritizing placements that drive reach, credibility, and influence with technical buyers, not vanity impressions.
  • Confidently assess media quality and decline low-value opportunities that do not meet performance, brand, or audience standards.
  • Optimize campaigns based on performance data including impressions, CTR, SOV, leads captured, ROAS, and where possible, revenue attribution via tagging and dashboards.
Strategic Integration & Cross-Functional Partnership
  • Partner closely with Business Unit Marketing Managers, and Digital Marketing (SEO & analytics) to ensure earned and paid media align with business priorities, launches, and vertical strategies.
  • Ensure PR and advertising investments support Rittal & Eplan’s Owned Media strategy, reinforcing key narratives and consistent message pull-through across channels.
  • Collaborate with the SEO Manager to ensure earned media placements and brand mentions are optimized for modern discovery (search, AI answers, and knowledge panels) without duplicating SEO ownership.
  • Provide media insights that inform broader brand awareness, positioning, and competitive strategy discussions.
Measurement, Insight & Influence
  • Own PR and advertising performance reporting, translating data into clear insights and investment recommendations.
  • Track and communicate performance across:
    • PR: reach, coverage, media mentions, pick-up, impressions, sentiment, share of voice
    • Advertising: impressions, CTR, SOV, leads, ROAS, and revenue influence
  • Understand keyword lift, visibility trends, and dashboards at a strategic level while partnering with SEO for execution and analysis.
  • Continuously evaluate emerging media formats, platforms, and industrial thought-leadership opportunities.
Qualifications
  • Bachelor’s degree in marketing, Communications, Journalism, Business, or related field.
  • 10+ years of experience in B2B industrial automation, and/or electrical engineering sectors, or with a leading industrial automation publication or media group.
  • Established media network across industrial trade publications, associations, and digital outlets.
  • Proven success leading earned-first PR strategies with paid media used strategically to amplify credibility and reach.
  • Strong advertising expertise with experience owning budgets, negotiating media buys, optimizing spend based on performance and managing media schedules
  • Familiarity with SEO and AEO fundamentals as they relate to PR and media visibility (experience is a plus, not a requirement).
  • Demonstrated ability to operate confidently at both strategic and executional levels.
  • Highly analytical, commercially minded, and comfortable making firm investment decisions.
  • Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills within complex, technical industries.
Why This Role Matters
This role plays a direct role in changing Rittal & Eplan’s market visibility and credibility in the U.S. industrial automation landscape. The Paid Media & Public Relations Manager will shape how the market perceives Rittal & Eplan—deciding where we show up, how we’re talked about, and which audiences we influence first.

#LI-HS1
#CorpIND

If you require reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process due to a disability, you may contact the company’s Human Resources Department at (937) 399-0500.

This option is reserved for individuals who require accommodation due to a disability.

Rittal LLC and Eplan are proud to be an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. EEO, including Disability/Vets.

Share

Apply for this position

Required*
We've received your resume. Click here to update it.
Attach resume or Paste resume
Attach resume as .pdf, .doc, .docx, .odt, .txt, or .rtf (limit 5MB) or Paste resume

Paste your resume here or Attach resume file

To comply with government Equal Employment Opportunity and/or Affirmative Action reporting regulations, we are requesting (but NOT requiring) that you enter this personal data. This information will not be used in connection with any employment decisions, and will be used solely as permitted by state and federal law. Your voluntary cooperation would be appreciated. Learn more.
Invitation for Job Applicants to Self-Identify as a U.S. Veteran
  • A “disabled veteran” is one of the following:
    • a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or
    • a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.
  • A “recently separated veteran” means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.
  • An “active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran” means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.
  • An “Armed forces service medal veteran” means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.
Veteran status


Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability
Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability Form CC-305
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026
Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Please check one of the boxes below:

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.

You must enter your name and date
Human Check*