Programmatic & Awareness Media Director

About the Role

Responsible for all aspects of strategizing and executing programmatic and awareness media campaigns across a variety of platforms and through direct media partnerships for clients. You are an expert when it comes to programmatic media and are proficient in at least one of the leading DSP platforms, including The Trade Desk, DV360, or Amazon DSP. You use your expertise to drive growth through initial planning, execution, monitoring, optimization, analysis, and reporting.

Beyond DSP activation, you understand how to execute high-impact campaigns across the broader awareness media landscape through direct partnerships, including endemic media, CTV, linear TV, Out of Home (OOH), and print.

This role will serve as the day-to-day subject matter expert (SME) for programmatic and awareness media for our clients, providing strategic recommendations, media planning, analysis, and reporting while responding to ad-hoc requests. You will be responsible for developing sophisticated media strategies, identifying the right channels and partners to reach target audiences, and delivering outstanding communication, service, and campaign performance for our clients.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the clients’ go-to expert in Programmatic and Awareness Media while overseeing the broader media strategy and performance of client campaigns
• Own end-to-end campaign strategy and execution across programmatic platforms, with a strong emphasis on The Trade Desk, as well as direct media partnerships
• Develop and execute integrated media strategies across programmatic, endemic, CTV, linear TV, OOH, print, and other awareness channels
• Establish and manage direct publisher and media partnerships, including negotiations, media planning, activation, and reporting
• Build and present multi-channel media plans with clear budget allocations, KPIs, pacing, and testing roadmaps
• Drive continuous optimization using a deep understanding of real-time bidding, audience segmentation, platform algorithms, and broader media performance
• Collaborate with creative and analytics teams to develop test-and-learn strategies that improve campaign effectiveness across channels
• Provide high-touch communication with clients, including strategic recommendations, performance reporting, and actionable next steps
• Stay ahead of trends across ad tech, emerging media opportunities, platform capabilities, and data privacy regulations to inform and future-proof campaign strategy
• Analyze performance across channels, synthesize insights, and deliver executive-level reporting and recommendations
• Develop strategic roadmaps and test plans that ladder up to client business goals with a strong focus on efficiency, scale, and brand impact
• Train and mentor junior team members in programmatic and broader media planning and activation best practices

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in paid media with deep, hands-on expertise in Programmatic advertising
• Strong proficiency in at least one major DSP, including The Trade Desk, DV360, or Amazon DSP; experience with The Trade Desk is highly preferred
• Experience establishing and managing direct media partnerships across endemic, CTV, linear TV, OOH, and/or print to support broader awareness media strategies
• Demonstrated experience with publisher negotiations, media planning and strategy, campaign activation, and reporting
• Experience developing sophisticated, multi-channel media strategies across both programmatic and direct media buys
• Skilled in media analytics, forecasting, pacing, testing, and translating insights into actionable recommendations
• Comfortable managing multi-million-dollar media budgets with accountability to campaign KPIs and broader business objectives
• Excellent communication and client-facing skills, with the ability to simplify complex media strategies and drive alignment
• Strong understanding of attribution, measurement, audience strategy, and incrementality testing
• Self-starter mindset with the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial, and collaborative environment