Associate Director, Programmatic & Social Activation

Position Summary

The Associate Director, Programmatic & Social Activation is responsible for leading the execution, optimization, and delivery of programmatic and paid social media campaigns. This role combines strategic leadership with hands-on platform management, ensuring campaigns are accurately trafficked, efficiently managed, and optimized to achieve business objectives. The ideal candidate possesses deep expertise in programmatic and social activation platforms, exceptional attention to detail, strong budget management skills, and experience working directly with media partners and campaign stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

Campaign Activation & Execution

• Lead end-to-end activation of programmatic and paid social campaigns across multiple clients and business categories.
• Execute and manage campaigns directly within DSPs, social platforms, ad servers, and third-party technology platforms.
• Oversee campaign setup, trafficking, QA, launch, pacing, optimization, and reporting.
• Ensure accurate implementation of audience targeting, tracking pixels, conversion events, and creative assets.
• Troubleshoot delivery, tracking, and performance issues while proactively identifying solutions.

Partner & Stakeholder Management

• Serve as a primary point of contact for direct media partners and platform representatives.
• Collaborate with agency teams, clients, vendors, and platform partners to ensure campaign success.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with publisher and technology partners.
• Participate in partner meetings, campaign reviews, and strategic planning discussions.
• Communicate campaign performance, optimization recommendations, and insights to internal and external stakeholders.

Budget & Financial Management

• Manage campaign budgets across multiple accounts and channels.
• Monitor pacing, spend delivery, and forecast accuracy to ensure campaigns meet financial goals.
• Identify and resolve budget discrepancies, billing issues, and delivery concerns.
• Ensure adherence to client investment strategies and agency financial processes.

Optimization & Performance Management

• Analyze campaign performance data and implement optimization strategies to improve KPIs.
• Develop actionable insights and recommendations based on campaign results.
• Leverage platform tools, audience insights, and performance trends to drive efficiency and effectiveness.
• Monitor industry trends and emerging technologies to identify opportunities for innovation.

Team Leadership & Development

• Provide guidance and mentorship to activation specialists, analysts, and managers.
• Review campaign setups and QA processes to ensure operational excellence.
• Support training initiatives and knowledge sharing across activation teams.
• Contribute to process improvements, workflow efficiencies, and best practices.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Advertising, Communications, Business, or related field.
• 6+ years of experience in programmatic and paid social media activation.
• 2+ years of leadership or team management experience.
• Hands-on keyboard experience executing campaigns within major DSPs and social platforms.
• Experience trafficking campaigns and managing ad operations processes.
• Strong knowledge of:
• DV360
• The Trade Desk
• Amazon DSP
• Meta Ads Manager
• LinkedIn Campaign Manager
• TikTok Ads Manager
• Google Campaign Manager 360 (CM360)
• Experience managing substantial media budgets across multiple campaigns simultaneously.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel and campaign reporting tools.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience managing direct partner and publisher campaigns.
• Familiarity with data clean rooms, audience onboarding, and measurement solutions.
• Experience with verification, brand safety, and attribution platforms.
• Understanding of retail media, connected TV (CTV), digital video, and emerging media channels.
• Relevant platform certifications (Google, Meta, The Trade Desk, Amazon DSP).

Key Competencies

• Exceptional attention to detail
• Budget management and financial stewardship
• Campaign trafficking and quality assurance
• Strategic thinking and execution
• Platform expertise and technical proficiency
• Communication and stakeholder management
• Team leadership and mentorship
• Problem-solving and decision-making
• Time management and prioritization

Success Measures

• Consistent achievement of campaign KPIs and client objectives.
• Accurate campaign setup and flawless execution.
• Effective budget pacing and financial management.
• Strong relationships with media partners and internal stakeholders.
• Delivery of actionable insights and optimization recommendations.
• Development of high-performing activation teams and operational excellence.

This role is ideal for a highly detail-oriented digital media professional who enjoys balancing strategic leadership with hands-on campaign execution and platform management.

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This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on relevant experience, other job-related qualifications/skills, and geographic location (to account for comparative cost of living). The Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. For this role, benefits include: health insurance, vision insurance, dental insurance, 401(k), Healthcare Flexible Spending Account, Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account, vacation days, sick days, personal days, paid parental leave, paid medical leave, and STD/LTD insurance benefits.

Compensation Range

$90,000-$125,000 USD

This role is hybrid, requiring three (3) days per week in the office. The remaining two (2) days may be worked remotely. Specific in-office days will be discussed during the interview process, with flexibility to align with team needs. Please note that the number or required in-office days may be adjusted over time, potentially increasing the number of required in-office days based on business needs.

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