Social Listening & Monitoring Manager

About Athena

Athena is a creative place for leaders, risk-takers, creative thinkers and boundary-pushers. We partner with organizations looking to transform their presence, reputation, and performance. For over ten years, we’ve delivered business insights, marketing strategies, and brand activations for leading organizations in industries ranging from telecommunications to major league sports.   

Our people make Athena, Athena. They’re what help set us apart from traditional ad agencies and consultancies. As a Philadelphia Inquirer Top Workplace for three years running, we take pride in fostering a work environment where passion meets excellence. Our people are solutions-oriented individuals who eagerly roll up their sleeves to make work that works while sharing a couple of laughs along the way.    

About the Position

Athena is looking for a Social Listening & Monitoring Manager to join the Optimization & Reporting Team. The Manager is responsible for the success of a Fortune 50 brand’s 24x7 social media listening and crisis alerting execution, as well as supporting the client with social trend analysis management. 

This role leads the Corporate Communications real-time monitoring program, driving real-time understanding and situational awareness of the issues impacting the client’s business and brand on a day-to-day basis. The Manager is accountable for organizing key topics and priorities, managing resourcing and schedules, overseeing quality, and ensuring consistent delivery across a complex, fast-moving environment. 

The Manager serves as a primary point of contact for senior client stakeholders, exercises independent judgment in escalations and issue resolution, and takes ownership for workstream outcomes—including evenings, weekends, and periodic on-call escalation coverage. This role is ideal for a highly organized, strategic operator who thrives in high visibility environments and understands the impact of social and digital media on large organizations.

What you'll be responsible for:

Real-Time Monitoring Program Leadership (70%) 

• Lead day-to-day execution of the real-time monitoring program, ensuring consistent, high-quality 24/7 social listening and alerting coverage 
• Manage the overall day-to-day client relationship with the client, serving as a trusted escalation point and strategic partner 
• Serve as the primary operational owner for workflows, including monitoring priorities, alert thresholds, escalation protocols, and issue-level coordination 
• Act as a senior escalation partner during high-priority or emerging issues, exercising independent judgement to assess severity, triage response, and support timely escalation to leadership and client stakeholders when required 
• Coordinate real‑time incident response across internal and international analysts and cross‑functional teams, ensuring rapid communication, situational awareness, and continuity during evenings, weekends, and major moments 
• Partner closely with program leadership (Client and Athena leadership) to maintain alignment on expectations, response standards, and evolving business risks. 
• Own advanced scheduling and long-range planning, including escalation calendars and coverage plans, ensuring always-on readiness and smooth handoffs across shifts 
• Proactively communicate availability, coverage plans, and escalation schedules to clients and internal stakeholders 
• Opportunity to provide direct people management, coaching, and performance guidance for team members 

Escalation Governance & Coverage Planning (20%) 

• Own escalation governance, including documentation of escalation criteria, playbooks, severity definitions, and client‑approved response frameworks. 
• Serve as day‑to‑day owner of listening infrastructure for clients, including alert rules, topic configuration, automation monitoring, and issue troubleshooting 
• Continuously optimize monitoring frameworks to improve signal detection, reduce noise, and align alerts to evolving business and reputational risks 
• Oversee request intake for new alerts, topics, or dashboards related specifically to real‑time monitoring needs, prioritizing based on risk and business value 
• Maintain and moderate Teams channels to ensure clear, efficient communication of alerts, updates, and real‑time guidance 

Reporting & Insight Support (10%) 

• Provide secondary quality assurance on major and executive-facing reports, ensuring analytical rigor, accuracy, and clear storytelling 
• Translate complex social listening data into actionable, non-technical insights for cross-functional and executive audiences 
• Ensure alerts and real‑time insights are accurately reflected in executive and post‑incident materials 
• Partner with reporting leads to contextualize findings within broader social and digital narratives when required 

The skills and experience you should have:

• 4+ years of experience in marketing, communications, or PR, with strong project and program management expertise and an interest in data and analytics. 
• Proven ability to lead complex, high-visibility programs with multiple stakeholders and moving parts. 
• Hands-on experience with social listening platforms such as Sprinklr, Brandwatch, Salesforce, Crimson Hexagon, NetBase, or Hootsuite. 
• Experience managing social listening programs for a major brand (agency or corporate). 
• Strong strategic understanding of social listening and digital analytics capabilities. 
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex datasets into compelling insights and narratives. 
• Ability to think strategically and independently, making confident escalation and prioritization decisions without direct oversight. 
• Exceptional problem-solving, written, and verbal communication skills. 
• Experience developing executive-level presentations and operating within large corporate environments. 
• Experience in the telecommunications or entertainment industry, preferably within a large-scale corporate environment. 

• Medical/Dental benefits including of 1K Health Reimbursement Account
• Matching 401K
• Generous PTO policy
• Substantial Parental Leave Policy
• Hybrid Work Environment

Candidates must be willing to work hybrid (3 days on-site) in our Philadelphia, PA office.

Curious about your career path at Athena? This role is at the Manager/Sr. Manager Level within Athena’s career-path structure for the Optimization & Reporting Team. This team has the following levels of progression for growth and development. 

Analyst --> Sr. Analyst --> Manager --> Sr. Manager --> Director --> Sr. Director --> Managing Director

We strive to keep our application process open, easy, and as painless and transparent as we can make it. We need team members like you to join us. Ready to apply? Let’s get started.

Athena is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other basis prohibited by law. If you are an individual with a disability and need assistance in applying for a position, please contact us at 866.299.6040 or at AthenaGlobalAdvisors.com.