Account Director, Audience Activation

NielsenIQ • New York, NY

3d • $117,250 - $150,000

About The Position

The Account Director, Audience Activation will be a key player in leading the sales initiatives for MRI-Simmons to grow our Advanced Advertising business, with solutions including data enrichment and audience activation. The ideal candidate will work collaboratively with the Media, Brand and Agency verticals to develop new sales opportunities, lead or participate in Advanced Advertising presentations, assist in developing new Advanced Advertising product initiatives, and finalize negotiations and contracts in relation to closing new business. This position will lead our engagement and penetration of Agency holding companies, specifically with Investment, Programmatic, Video and Activation teams, while supporting our relationships with their Client teams.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required
• 5–10+ years of experience in sales or business development within consumer research, advanced advertising, data enablement, audience data, or ad tech
• Proven success selling audience data solutions to brands and agencies
• Strong industry network across agency and brand stakeholders, including programmatic, activation, investment, video and digital teams
• Deep understanding of the advanced advertising and audience data ecosystem, including measurement and attribution solutions for digital media
• Demonstrated ability to communicate the value of audience and data‑driven solutions in a clear, compelling way
• Exceptional relationship management and executive‑level communication skills
• Strong negotiation skills with experience navigating complex commercial agreements
• Highly collaborative, proactive, and self‑directed
• Consultative, self-directed seller with a “hunter” mindset and the ability to create opportunity where none previously existed
• Comfortable leading complex, multi‑stakeholder sales cycles
• Strategic thinker who proactively identifies new use cases and growth opportunities

Nice To Haves

• Experience applying MRI‑Simmons (or similar syndicated audience data) to activation, planning, and partnership opportunities preferred
• Familiarity with Challenger sales methodology and MEDDICC frameworks preferred

Responsibilities

• Revenue Leadership: Identify and close new business and upsell opportunities focused on syndicated data, activation, custom research, and data enablement.
• Deal Ownership: Lead the end-to-end sales cycle, from pre-sales strategy and pricing negotiations to contract execution.
• Retention: Maintain a high standard of excellence, targeting a 95% renewal rate through proactive relationship management.
• Strategic Advisory: Act as a trusted partner to stakeholders across Research, Planning, Investment, and Activation teams (Programmatic, Video, and Linear). Continually expand relationships horizontally and vertically to ensure the MRI-S value proposition is well known and our solutions are utilized. Partner with clients on thought leadership initiatives.
• Product Influence: Partner with Product and Operations to funnel client feedback into our roadmap, ensuring our go-to-market strategy stays ahead of industry shifts.
• Operational Excellence: Maintain CRM accuracy and collaborate with internal teams to ensure delivery of products is on-time and in-line with client expectations.
• Client Success: Direct activities of your Account Management and Client Success teams to ensure agency teams have the appropriate trainings, new release updates and QBRs, and that their usage is monitored and actioned appropriately.

Benefits

• Comprehensive healthcare plan (medical, Rx, dental, and vision).
• Flexible spending accounts and a Health Savings Account (including company contributions).
• Life and AD&D insurance.
• 401(k) retirement plan including company matching contributions.
• Disability insurance.
• Tuition Reimbursement.
• Discretionary paid time off program and 11 paid holidays.
• Flexible working environment
• Volunteer time off
• LinkedIn Learning
• Employee-Assistance-Program (EAP)
• Flexible working environment
• Volunteer time off
• LinkedIn Learning
• Employee-Assistance-Program (EAP)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level