Associate Director, CDP & Data Activation

Eighty Five Sixty•Del Mar, CA

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

For over 15 years, 85SIXTY has been helping clients transform the way they reach, acquire and engage with their customers through an integrated combination of data, technology, cross-channel strategies, and creative thinking. Some might call us a full-service digital consultancy, but we like to think of ourselves as a partner that can both drive strategy and orchestrate delivery. Founded in 2010 by a veteran in retail, eCommerce, and digital, 85SIXTY was built around a consultative, high-touch approach that allows us to work across a broad spectrum of areas to increase our value to our customers. We are supporting today’s forward-thinking brands in their journey towards growth, whether that be financially, operationally and/or strategically. Solving whatever is thrown our way and translating it into simple solutions is at the core of 85SIXTY. We are looking for team members who fit that ethos. 85SIXTY is looking for an experienced Associate Director of CDP & Data Activation to join a growing practice at the intersection of customer data strategy, composable architecture, and cross-channel personalization. This role blends consulting and solution design with hands-on execution. You will lead client engagements, architect activation strategies, and build audiences directly in-platform. You are equally comfortable presenting a first-party data roadmap to a CMO and configuring a reverse ETL sync in Hightouch. That range is what makes this role distinctive. You will work across both packaged CDPs (Adobe Real-Time CDP, Segment) and composable approaches. You bring the judgment to know which architecture fits a client's maturity, stack, and goals. Adaptability across tools, platforms, and industries is essential — this role serves a diverse client portfolio across tourism, hospitality and consumer lifestyle brands. No two engagements look the same. Collaboration is central to how this role operates. You will work closely with teams responsible for data collection and tag management, data engineering, user experience and CRO, CRM and lifecycle marketing, and paid media ensuring that audience strategy and activation are connected to every layer of the customer experience. As the CDP practice expands, this role is positioned to grow with it. You will contribute to developing a team of audience strategists, reverse ETL specialists, data engineers, and agentic activation specialists, that shape the frameworks, standards, and points of view that define how 85SIXTY delivers in this space. This is a hybrid role. 85SIXTY has offices in San Diego and Denver.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in marketing, data science, computer science, business, or a related field; equivalent experience considered — advanced degree or relevant platform certifications (Adobe, Salesforce, Segment) a plus
5+ years of experience in CRM, customer data strategy, or MarTech consulting, with at least 3 years in a senior client-facing or advisory role at an agency, consultancy, or enterprise brand
Demonstrated experience leading enterprise digital transformation engagements, including stakeholder alignment, roadmap development, and multi-phase delivery across complex organizations
Proven ability to present, influence, and build trust with VP-, CMO-, and CXO-level executives, including facilitation of executive workshops, architecture reviews, and strategic planning sessions
Hands-on platform experience with one or more packaged CDPs (Adobe Real-Time CDP, Segment, mParticle) and working knowledge of composable/reverse ETL tools such as Hightouch, Census, or RudderStack
Practical experience architecting or overseeing implementations that unify CRM, web, app, offline, and media data for real-time audience activation and personalization
Proficiency in cross-channel lifecycle marketing strategy, including audience segmentation frameworks, suppression logic, frequency governance, and omnichannel journey design
Experience managing data flows between source systems and activation destinations including ESPs (Klaviyo, Braze, Iterable), paid media platforms, and CRM tools
Familiarity with warehouse-native data architectures and the ability to work alongside data engineers on SQL-based audience models, dbt transforms, and activation-ready data pipelines — SQL literacy required; engineering-level coding not expected
Experience advising clients on MarTech vendor evaluation, platform selection, and long-term governance models, including the ability to build and present business cases for technology investment
Working knowledge of first-party data strategy, consent and privacy compliance (GDPR, CCPA), identity resolution concepts, and data collaboration frameworks (clean rooms, data partnerships)
Experience coordinating cross-functional delivery teams spanning strategists, engineers, analysts, and platform specialists, with a track record of keeping complex engagements on scope and on schedule
Demonstrated ability to mentor and develop practitioners in audience operations, activation QA, and omnichannel enablement
Familiarity with agentic AI frameworks, AI-assisted journey orchestration, or automation tooling in a marketing context — hands-on experience a plus, intellectual curiosity and active learning a baseline requirement
Experience developing reusable frameworks, playbooks, or accelerators that improve delivery efficiency across client engagements

Nice To Haves

advanced degree or relevant platform certifications (Adobe, Salesforce, Segment) a plus
hands-on experience with agentic AI frameworks, AI-assisted journey orchestration, or automation tooling in a marketing context a plus

Responsibilities

Serve as a senior strategic and technical advisor for enterprise clients, leading digital transformation initiatives across customer experience, data strategy, personalization, and MarTech modernization.
Lead executive workshops, discovery sessions, roadmap reviews, architecture assessments, and technical design discussions with VP-, CMO-, and CXO-level stakeholders, guiding platform adoption and multi-phase solution strategies across scalable, composable customer data and activation ecosystems — spanning web, app, analytics, CRM, media, and email — aligned to CX transformation, acquisition, retention, engagement, operational efficiency, and revenue growth, serving as a trusted advisor throughout enterprise engagements.
Architect and oversee implementations of customer data, analytics, and personalization platforms that unify CRM, web, app, offline, and media data for real-time activation.
Develop scalable first-party data (1PD) strategies, audience frameworks, and cross-channel activation initiatives that drive compliant personalization, improve conversion rates and engagement, and deliver measurable marketing performance.
Own and manage the full data activation layer — including packaged CDPs (Adobe RTCDP, Segment), composable/reverse ETL tools (Hightouch, Rudderstack, Census), and warehouse-to-activation pipelines — building and maintaining audience segments, configuring reverse ETL syncs, and overseeing technical data flows from source systems to activation destinations including ESPs, paid media platforms, and CRMs.
Advise clients on MarTech architecture, governance, vendor evaluations, platform selection, and long-term operating models.
Align executive stakeholders, technical teams, and implementation partners while mitigating risks, resolving dependencies, and ensuring successful delivery across complex engagements.
Coordinate cross-functional teams including strategists, architects, engineers, analysts, and platform specialists to ensure alignment between technical execution and business objectives.
Mentor platform and operations teams responsible for audience operations, governance, activation QA, and omni-channel enablement.
Drive innovation and operational excellence through scalable frameworks, reusable solutions, and process optimization initiatives.
Contribute to the agency's agentic activation capability.